Manitoba teachers' union accused of unfairly pushing out executive because she's running for PCs

Manitoba teachers' union accused of unfairly pushing out executive because she's running for PCs

Serena Klos says MTS removed her from elected union roles by relying on policy that wasn't enacted yet

A Progressive Conservative candidate is accusing the Manitoba Teachers' Society of ousting her as an active member of the provincial executive and president of the Sunrise School Division's teachers' association because she joined the Tories.

Serena Klos, who's been nominated to run for the PCs in the McPhillips constituency in the next election, said she was told by the teachers' society it was a conflict of interest for her to remain in her roles.

The union cited a new policy, which requires elected union leaders to take a leave when seeking public office, in explaining its decision; however, Klos and other attendees of last week's meeting of the Sunrise Teachers' Association told CBC News the policy was described by MTS representatives in attendance as a draft that hadn't been adopted yet. It was passed on Tuesday, the union said.

Last week, Klos was removed as president of the Sunrise Teachers' Association by two-thirds of executive members in a secret ballot.

"In my heart of hearts, I'm doing this [job] for the right reasons — to make life better for my fellow teachers … so to hear my local removing me from office was hard to hear," she said.

MTS is the provincial organization that represents Manitoba's public school educators, while teachers' associations represent members at each school division.

NDP candidates weren't pushed out

Klos said she believes MTS, which says it's non-partisan, is targeting her because of her ties to the Progressive Conservatives.

In the last decade, two current MLAs — Mike Moyes and Mike Moroz — remained executives of their teachers' associations for some time after becoming NDP nominees.

Klos was announced as a PC candidate in July.

A week later, she was placed on a leave of absence from MTS's provincial executive until after the next provincial election, which is scheduled for fall 2027.

MTS said its decision was aided by the conflict of interest sections of its constitution and bylaws.

The constitution says if a member's personal interests conflict with their union duties, they must "disclose the interest, withdraw from the meeting and shall not attempt to influence other members with respect to the matter."

"Nothing says that if there is a conflict that we are going to remove you from office," Klos said.

In a statement, the Manitoba Teachers' Society didn't explain how the constitution permits a removal from office when the document only references withdrawing oneself from a meeting.

MTS president Lillian Klausen said the union conducted a comprehensive review of its governance policies and bylaws with consulting firm Bison Research and Development, which identified the lack of rules around elected union leaders seeking public office as a "gap."

She said the new policy "reflects best practices followed by teacher organizations across Canada."

Members of the provincial executive are "entrusted with sensitive, confidential and strategic information," and it's important MTS maintains its independence, Klausen said.

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Klos said over the last few months, a series of phone calls and meetings made her feel MTS was trying to push her out of her elected union positions.

The July meeting where she was put on leave from the provincial executive was the first time she saw what was then the yet-to-be-adopted policy requiring MLA candidates to excuse themselves from elected union positions, she said.

The policy was never presented to the executive before that, she said, and was only announced after she became a Tory candidate.

Klos said she examined the teachers' society constitution and bylaws before deciding to run as an MLA to ensure she wasn't breaking rules.

In August, Klos was encouraged by an MTS official to skip summer seminars, the annual training provided to members of local teachers' associations, she said.

"It was told to me that if I come, people might not want to speak freely, because they know that I am running with the PC Party in the next provincial election," Klos said.

Klos followed that person's recommendation but said it stung to hear those comments from people she's worked alongside and advocated with.

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She said she has "the same determination to do what's right and best for all teachers across the province of Manitoba" as she did before running for provincial office.

"That's always been the core of who I am," Klos said.

In late August, Klos was told seven executive members of the Sunrise Teachers' Association wanted an emergency meeting to discuss her potential conflict of interest.

Klos said she's since learned three executive members of the Sunrise local who attended summer seminars were approached by MTS representatives, who said the association needed to discuss Klos's alleged conflict.

MTS didn't say whether it wanted the emergency meeting, only saying the union local requested it.

Klos said she was told the emergency meeting was described to the Sunrise local executive as an opportunity to gather information.

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"I knew it was going to lead into a motion to remove me from office," she said, and she was warned a vote could happen.

In a Sept. 1 email viewed by CBC News, MTS executive director Arlyn Filewich said, "Until now, the conflict [of interest] has not been dealt with appropriately" by the Sunrise local.

"In contrast, MTS provincial executive immediately met in the days following the announcement [of Klos' candidacy with the Tories] to place [her] on leave."

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Two Sunrise executive members said by email that they were concerned about MTS's intentions with the emergency meeting, which was ultimately cancelled because the union said quorum wasn't reached.

The Sept. 15 meeting of the Sunrise Teachers' Association, a regularly scheduled executive meeting according to board minutes, was turned into an emergency meeting, Klos said.

Other attendees, who spoke to CBC News on the condition they not be named because they fear repercussions, said the local executive was told by MTS representatives who attended the meeting that if they didn't deal with the conflict of interest, the provincial executive would.

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They said it appeared they were being strongly encouraged to remove Klos from office, even if it wasn't explicitly said.

"I felt like I was in the line of fire," said Klos, who was at the meeting.

She believes some executive members felt they had no choice but to vote her out.

"It was very hurtful, because I don't believe that there was any conflict," she said.

She filed an appeal of her removal from the Sunrise Teachers' Association this week.

Klos believes her removal is especially unfair because previous NDP candidates who were on the executives of teacher associations didn't face the same scrutiny.

Moyes was nominated as the NDP's candidate in Riel in April 2022 and finished his term as an executive member of the Louis Riel Teachers' Association that summer, the local confirmed.

He was also acclaimed to the executive for the 2019-20 school year in April 2019, two months after his candidacy for that year's provincial election was announced. His term started in September, the same month as the election.

Meanwhile, the NDP announced Moroz as its River Heights candidate in May 2022. The Winnipeg Teachers' Association said Moroz completed his term with the local the following month and didn't seek re-election.

Moyes and Moroz became MLAs in 2023.

Ian Froese covers the Manitoba Legislature and provincial politics for CBC News in Winnipeg. He serves as president of the legislature's press gallery. He studied U.S. culture, media and politics as a 2025 World Press Institute fellow. You can reach him at ian.froese@cbc.ca.