February 9,
2007
Union pulls
plug on classification grievance process
OPSEU has ended
its participation in the process that was supposed to clear
up the backlog of classification grievances in the OPS.
“It is with
great regret that we have made this decision,” said Eric
Morin, OPSEU chair of the Central Enforcement and Renewal
Committee (CERC). “For 15 months the OPSEU members and staff
on the Joint System Sub-Committee (JSSC) have done
everything in their power to settle these grievances. In
2005, when we negotiated this process for settling
classification grievances, we believed that it would result
in these cases being settled on their merits.
“We now believe
that this employer never had any plan to put adequate
funding into settling these grievances,” he said. “That to
us is the textbook definition of bargaining in bad faith.”
The union is
exploring all possible legal options to challenge the
employer’s behaviour at the JSSC.
Since November
2005, the JSSC was able to reach agreement on just 10 per
cent of the 8,200 outstanding classification grievances.
“The JSSC
process is a flawed process that offers no realistic hope
for us of settling the overwhelming majority of our
outstanding grievances,” Morin said. “We need a process that
includes arbitration as an option.”
Flawed process
In the 2005
round of OPS bargaining, OPSEU and the government bargained
changes to the process for settling classification
grievances. The government agreed to appoint mediator Gerry
Lee to assist the parties in reaching settlements.
“At the
end of the day, our mediator did not have the power to
arbitrate, which means that, where the parties didn’t agree,
he did not have the power to impose a settlement,” said
Moira Cowan, a member of OPSEU Local 108 and the
longest-serving member of the JSSC. “Without arbitration,
the employer was able to just do nothing – and get away with
it.
“We as a
committee want all OPSEU members to know that we did
everything possible to make this process work, which is the
main reason it took as long as it did,” Cowan said.
“We did not want
to give up on the process while there was any hope that it
could work. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the
employer refused to recognize the obvious merits of the
grievances we put forward.”
Lynda Ferguson
of OPSEU Local 629 joined Cowan on the committee in
September. Marg Simmons, who as a member was chair of
OPSEU’s OPS bargaining team in 2004-05, is now the staff
lead hand for the JSSC.
Mike Harris’s
contribution
OPSEU members
with OPS classification grievances suffered a major setback
in November 1995. That’s when Tory Premier Mike Harris
changed the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act
(CECBA) to make it illegal for an arbitrator to order that a
Crown employee be reclassified. OPSEU has been trying to
solve this problem in bargaining ever since.
“At
different times, the JSSC has made progress on
classification grievances for some members – when the
employer agreed,” said OPSEU President Leah Casselman.
“Unfortunately, the current mediation process is not
arbitration. It is now clear that there is only one way
forward, and that is for us to win back the rights Mike
Harris took away. The Liberals need to change the law to
give Crown employees the same rights to resolve
classification grievances that other unionized workers in
Ontario enjoy.”
Join the campaign to
change CECBA
Beginning today,
OPSEU is launching a campaign to undo the damage Mike Harris
did to CECBA and change the law to permit arbitrators to
rule on classification grievances. OPSEU members can take
the following actions now:
-
Find out more. Read the Q & A
document on the OPSEU web site at
http://www.opseu.org/ops/frontlines/feb0907qanda.pdf.
-
Stay tuned
for the schedule of regional meetings planned so you can
hear directly from the OPSEU members on the JSSC.
-
Sign and send an e-mail to your
local MPP and Premier Dalton McGuinty. Go to
http://www.opseu.org/ops/jssc/sendmppemail.htm
to send a generic message or customize your own.
-
Visit your
local MPP. Take a group of co-workers from the riding
with you. Ask your OPSEU board members for help. Tell
your MPP you want his or her support in changing CECBA
now – and you won’t take no for an answer. Let
your MPP know that, if this issue is not resolved right
away, you will definitely be working with your union to
make this an election issue.
Authorized
for distribution by Leah Casselman, president.
Download
February 9, 2007 Issue of
Frontlines
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