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Ontario Shores manager shows DeNiro-Stiller movie clip to intimidate staff

“Is this the message management truly wants to send to staff about their working relationship?" - Warren (Smokey) Thomas, OPSEU President.

logo for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE)Whitby (14 Sept. 2012)  – Dietary staff failed to get the joke when their Ontario Shores manager showed them a clip from the 2000 film “Meet The Parents” during a staff meeting earlier this year.

In the YouTube clip, Robert DeNiro corners his future son-in-law in a tuxedo rental dressing room after finding drug paraphernalia among the bridal party. DeNiro reminds Stiller of his “circle of trust.”

“If I can’t trust you, Greg, I have no choice but to put you outside the circle. Once you’re out, you’re out. There’s no coming back.”

“I will be watching you, studying your every move,” DeNiro warns. “I will bring you down, baby. I will bring you down to Chinatown.”

“Veiled threats of this nature are not acceptable in the modern workplace,” says Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President of the 130,000-member Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) which represents the workers at the Whitby mental health hospital. “Is this the message management truly wants to send to staff about their working relationship?

The OPSEU/NUPGE has complained about the incident and has yet to receive either an explanation or apology for the inappropriate video

The video comes amid deteriorating labour relations at the Whitby hospital.

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The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE