London, ON: Monday, GoodLife Fitness, Canada’s largest fitness club chain, received an Application for Certification filed by the Workers’ United Canada Council relating to a number of its clubs in Toronto. This Application and GoodLife’s response to it will affect over 1,500 GoodLife Personal Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors in the GTA, who will be asked to vote on whether or not they want to be unionized.
For the past 37 years, David ‘Patch’ Patchell-Evans, Founder & CEO of GoodLife, has stuck by his commitment to listen to his employees, and that commitment still stands today.
“I made the decision a long time ago that the best way to have caring and engaged staff, is to show them that I care about them as well, and the greatest thing that I can do is listen to what’s important to them and let them have a significant say in how we run our business,” says Patch.
“It’s important to note that we are not anti-Union at all, we are pro-employee,” says Jane Riddell, GoodLife Fitness Chief Operating Officer. “We respect our employees’ right to make their own decisions about union representation. We trust their judgement and whatever happens, we will respect the outcome. That being said, we absolutely believe that our employees do not need a Union. We believe in our open door communication policy and think its benefits have been demonstrated by the great growth and success we have all enjoyed. The bottom line is that we like dealing directly with our employees and having the privilege of treating each one of them as an individual.”
“We expect the Ontario Labour Relations Board to hold a vote early next week,” says Riddell. “We want all of our employees to feel empowered to vote and we will do whatever we can to make this possible for them. The decision about whether or not they will be unionized will be made by a majority of the people who actually vote, so we want everyone who will be impacted to have a say in the decision.”
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Media Contact: Krista Maling, Director of Public Relations, GoodLife Fitness: kmaling@goodlifefitness.com.
GoodLife Fitness Associates: Please contact associaterelations@goodlifefitness.com.
Krista Maling Gleason
Public Relations Director
Marketing & Public Relations Department
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GoodLife FITNESS
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