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In a ground-breaking decision, an arbitrator has ruled that
spiritual care service associates – or chaplains as they were previously called
-- can be included as dues-paying members of OPSEU.
Arbitrator C. Gordon Simmons has ruled that spiritual care
service associates at the Providence Community Care Centre (PCCC) mental health
site in Kingston and any of its satellite sites are employees under the
collective agreement of Local 431.
Despite the employer’s many objections and arguments, Arbitrator
Simmons found that the spiritual care associates had a community of interest
with other members of OPSEU. In his ruling he said that the workers “form an
integral part of the clinical teams which serve patients of the former Kingston
Psychiatric Hospital and therefore are members of the union and should have dues
deducted.”
Furthermore, he stated: “I find the core duties performed by
(spiritual care service associates) to be similar to those duties of other
members of the clinical teams. Each team member brings certain elements of
expertise to the conference table in relation to specific patients which
contribute to the overall health and well-being of the patients they care for.”
The ruling is significant for several reasons, said Local 431
president Sheryl Ferguson.
“This was a big test of our scope language which was ordered by
the Ontario Labour Relations Board,” she said. “The test proved that it’s not
your title that puts you in a bargaining unit, but the work you do.”
Ferguson also said “this puts to rest the assumption that
religious or spiritual providers are somehow second-class workers in Ontario.
They should enjoy all the rights and privileges afforded a member of the
bargaining unit. For too long they risked termination if they questioned the
employer.
“This shows that they do no simply lead a religious service
inside the organization but they are part of the treatment process”
The employer argued that the associates exercised a certain
level of pastoral confidentiality and that they not only provided a service to
patients but also to non-union staff members. The employer said that by
receiving this confidential information and not being able to share it with
others could put the associates in a conflict of interest with their Union.
Vice Chair Simmons said that he could not “envisage a situation
arising where an individual would reveal information to a spiritual care
services associate that could have some impact, adverse or otherwise, on some
relationship concerning the union.”
OPSEU filed a policy grievance with PCCC in January 2004 when
they found out that chaplains were no longer hired on a fee for service basis.
All of the affected employees signed union cards because they wanted to belong
to OPSEU but the employer refused to deduct union dues. |
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