December
9, 2005
New
deal on security screening limits invasion of members’
privacy
OPSEU has
negotiated strict limits on a government plan to
impose security checks on members who work with
sensitive identity documents. In 2003, Management
Board Secretariat (now the Ministry of Government
Services) announced a plan to force certain OPS
employees to submit to invasive security checks. In
the 2003 plan, the security checks would have included
all the checks federal employees are subject to:
• a
criminal record check;
• a national security check;
• a credit check;
• a “known to local police” check; and
• a fingerprint check.
In the
settlement ordered yesterday by the Grievance
Settlement Board (GSB), the credit check and the
“known to police” check will not be allowed. The
fingerprint check will be used only if needed as a
last resort to establish a worker’s identity.
About
2,600 OPSEU members will be subject to the criminal
record check. They may also face a national security
check by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
“The
policy now is a more rational reponse that balances
our concerns around privacy with the employer’s
concerns about security,” said Eric Morin, chair of
OPSEU’s Central Enforcement and Renewal Committee (CERC).
“This
is a concrete example of how unions can protect their
members from employer attacks on their privacy.”
“A lot of
our members who have been through, for example,
marital breakup might have a bad credit rating, but
that doesn’t mean they are going to turn to crime,”
said Barry Scanlon, chair of OPSEU’s Enforcement and
Renewal Committee for the Ministry of Community Safety
and Correctional Services.
“And just
about every union activist in the OPS is ‘known to
police’ for one reason or another. That doesn’t make
us security risks.
“We didn’t
agree to the security checks, but we have changed how
they will be done,” he added. “Basically, the
screening for members who work with drivers’ licences,
birth certificates, health cards, and so on will be
the same as the screening already in place for
correctional officers and the like.”
Who’s
affected and how the screening will work
Security
checks will apply to workers who have access to forms
and secure databases in the following areas:
•
driver’s licence issuing (MTO);
• birth certificate issuing (MGS);
• health card issuing (MoH);
• GO-PKI (computer security across the OPS);
• payroll and benefits (MGS); and
• iServe datacentres (MGS).
New hires
in these areas have been screened since Sept. 1, 2005.
Screening of existing staff will begin after Jan. 1,
2006. At no point will members’ OPS managers receive
information about individual security checks. Managers
will not know whether an individual has refused
screening or not. They will only know if an individual
has clearance or not. The screening will work as
follows:
1. OPS
managers identify what positions need security
clearance.
2.
Managers forward the names of people in those
positions to the Emergency Management and Security
Branch (EMSB) of MGS.
3. EMSB
contacts people for permission to run the check(s).
Individuals may refuse. If they do, they are denied
clearance to work in their job and enter a special
redeployment process (see number 11).
4. Where
people agree to the checks, EMSB forwards names to the
Ontario Provincial Police for a criminal record check
through the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC).
5. The OPP
reports back to EMSB.
6. EMSB
reports the results of the check(s) to the
individuals. EMSB may also contact the individual for
further information before making a final decision.
7. If an
individual receives security clearance, he or she
continues in his or her job.
8. If an
individual is denied security clearance, he or she may
contact EMSB to discuss the reasons for the denial
and, if desired, provide additional information (or
explanation).
9. If an
individual is still denied clearance, he or she will
receive an appeal application. Appeals go directly to
the GSB.
10. The
GSB will notify the union and the employer. If the
member consents to the release of relevant information
to the union, the union will rely on it to take the
grievance forward. The GSB, the employer, and the
union have all agreed to keep the member’s information
and identity confidential throughout the grievance
process.
11. If the
grievance fails, the individual enters a special
redeployment process. The employer may:
• modify
the worker’s duties so that he or she is no longer
involved in work requiring security clearance;
• re-assign him or her to a different job; or
• continue to pay him or her until the matter is
settled.
Individuals moved out of their jobs because they fail
or refuse a security check may not bump other workers
with less seniority. Instead, the employer searches
for a vacancy for the individual for up to six months.
At any time during the six months the person may also
be offered a different position and provided with
training.
12. If an
individual doesn’t have a job after six months, the
matter is referred to the Joint Employment Stability
Subcommittee (JESS), where the employer and the union
will work together to find a remedy.
“The
union’s goal is to make sure everybody lands on their
feet,” said Eric Morin of the CERC. “We believe no one
should be out of a job because of a failed or refused
a security check.”
Read
the full text of the GSB order at
www.opseu.org/ops/FrontlinesDec0905order.pdf .
Read the cover letter at
www.opseu.org/ops/FrontlinesDec0905ordercoverletter.pdf
Original
authorized for distribution by Leah Casselman,
president.
Download
December 9, 2005 Issue of Frontlines
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