Workers at Nico Wynd Estates in Surrey have gone on strike for the first time in decades after suffering under abusive management staff. The workers of the golf club and restaurant have been striking for more than two weeks, but the employers are refusing to address their grievances. “Most of the council were out golfing during this period of strife and unease,” a worker remarked.
About 30 workers, unionized with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2, are maintaining a picket line at Nico Wynd Estates. The strike kicked off on October 1st with a barbecue organized by the union.
Between staff who work the grill at the estate’s restaurant and the groundskeepers who keep the complex clean, the biggest common issue were grievances with a management that cares little about worker safety, timely wages, or input from employees with decades of experience on the job.
“It’s been an all-out assault on seniority right from the get-go,” Mike Greveling, a shop steward and groundskeeper, told The North Star. He has worked at Nico Wynd and called it home for over 20 years.
In defense of recall rights
Management is trying to get rid of recall rights, putting seasonal and restaurant workers at risk. Recall rights guarantee that laid off workers will be the first to be called back to the job when their position is re-opened. It gives some job security to these workers.
“If they got rid of [recall rights], they would lay somebody off — like me who’s been there for 20 years — and wouldn’t hire them back,” Greveling explained. He adds that he’s “got a wife, a kid and a mortgage.”
An absence of recall rights in future collective agreements means management could turn towards lower paid and less experienced staff, or even use contractual gig work to replace its unionized workers.
“If you mean nothing and you’re replaceable, you’re not trained properly, you’re just replaced [by the] next person in line. They like that, because it keeps them in a very firm control where people are afraid to lose their job because they don’t want to disappear off schedules,” Greveling remarked.
Abusive working environment
“It’s been five years of lies, deceit and covering up the truth,” Greveling said. He adds that most residents of the estates are “kept in the dark” about the corruption of the management team.
In 2024, Nico Wynd’s president at the time, Phil Nameth, was found harassing and intimidating a unionized worker after she refused to follow his instruction not to speak to the police about a confrontation he had with a co-owner of the golf club. Nico Wynd was ordered to pay the worker $27,500 in damages.
Cindy Charles, the general manager, was found complicit in Edwards’ behaviours for refusing to open a proper investigation and ignoring the worker’s harassment report. Workplace harassment and bullying are among the primary grievances at the picket line.
Workers are also accusing Charles of abuse and negligence of workers’ rights. Mike Greveling gives the example of an injured colleague. “There’s a fellow off right now on a WorkSafe injury. What injured him hasn’t even been fixed yet. We’ve kind of pushed the boss to, hey, we should probably get somebody on this. It’s just been ignored.
Respect disappeared with new management
“We had always negotiated and communicated well,” Greveling told us. According to him, the union had a positive working relationship with the previous management body. Nico Wynd is managed by a council of elected residents, who then employ a general manager and a superintendent to take care of facilities.
Mike reports that most of the highlighted problems began when a new general manager, Cindy Charles, took over five years ago. Greveling describes her as “anti-union.”
“The council changed all at once [and] jumped on the opportunity to try to wrestle control of everything from everybody,” the shop steward remarked. He also indicates that the council has been reducing the hours of workers who “disagreed, or do not have the right look or personality.”
The groundskeeper used to feel like a valued member of the team when Nico Wynd sent him for training and education. With the new management team, Greveling said he was stripped of his right to seniority and respect. “I see things that need to be done and I’m not given the time to do it because I’m not the boss and I’m not respected.”
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