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 April
26, 2010
The Honourable Dalton McGuinty
Premier of Ontario
Legislative Building
Room 281, Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A1
Dear Premier McGuinty:
I am writing to you today to bring to your attention a
matter of urgency regarding the denial of democratic rights for
thousands on Ontario college workers.
Over a year and a half ago, your government finally
changed an archaic law that denied thousands of part-time college
workers their right to join a union. This was a momentous day for these
workers. It appeared to be the end of a four-year fight by OPSEU to
finally unite these women and men with their full-time unionized
colleagues.
Little did we know then that the struggle was just
beginning. In a process that took months, thousands of part-time college
workers signed union cards then finally voted to unionize.
17 months ago, part-time college academic staff cast
their ballots. Six months ago, part-time college support staff cast
theirs. Today, those votes remain sealed in ballot boxes, uncounted.
How can this happen? How can thousands workers legally
cast ballots and have them ignored? Not in a developing country
struggling with deficient democratic institutions, but right here in
Ontario.
Under the amended Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA),
35 per cent of the workers affected must sign union cards in order for
the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) to order a vote. Under Section
31 of the CCBA, the Colleges are allowed to challenge the number of
cards the union has signed if they don’t feel the union has signed
enough cards.
In both the cases of the academic and support workers,
this is exactly what the employer has done.
To justify their challenge, the employer must produce
their own list of the number of employees affected by the certification
vote. The employer then “floods” the list with
employees who clearly wouldn’t be part of union
bargaining unit. The result is mediation and litigation at the OLRB that
takes months and even years, with the employer using every method at
their disposal to delay the meetings.
To make matters worse, the Colleges get to manipulate
the timing of the workers’ contracts. With 24 colleges spread across
Ontario, union card-signing takes months. All the employer has to do is
make sure that those who signed cards aren’t working when the union
certification application is filed. Under the Act, those signed cards
don’t count.
I don’t believe that this denial of democracy for
part-time workers is what your government had in mind when you changed
the law. While we applaud the legislation that allows part-time college
workers to unionize, the law is rendered useless if the employer is
allowed to flaunt the process with a mountain of frivolous challenges
that ties up the parties for years in mediation and litigation.
The monetary costs of these delays are outrageous. The
roughly $5,000 per day of hearings the Colleges are spending fighting
the certification vote could be better spent providing education for
Ontario’s post-secondary students and the re-training of displaced
Ontario workers.
A law that has no practical use is no law at all. The
amended CCBA does allow part-time college workers to unionize, but to
date it is completely failing in practice. Thousands of Ontario workers
continue to have their bargaining rights denied.
I demand that your government take action. The law you
passed inadequately addresses the realities faced trying to secure
bargaining rights for part-time college workers. I ask that you direct
the employers at Ontario’s 24 community colleges to immediately withdraw
their challenges to the certification votes and allow the ballots to
finally be counted. It is your duty to ensure that not only are the laws
of this province followed, but the intent of those laws is followed as
well.
I ask that you act on this without delay. Democracy
delayed is democracy denied, and that is unacceptable in this province
and in this country.
Sincerely,
Warren (Smokey) Thomas
President
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
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