November 3,
2006
Liberals table bill on
successor rights, “whistle-blower” protection for Crown
employees
Three years after promising to restore successor rights to
Crown employees, the McGuinty Liberals have finally tabled a
bill in the Legislature to do it.
Gerry Phillips,
Minister of Government Services, rose in the Legislature
yesterday to introduce the Public Service of Ontario Statute
Law Amendment Act. If passed (and there is no reason to
think it won’t be) the new law will give Crown employees the
same rights already enjoyed by other Ontario workers.
So-called
“successor rights” give unionized workers whose work is sold
or transferred to a new employer the legal right to move
with their jobs with their union and their collective
agreement intact.
“This
legislation happened because our members have kept the
political fires burning under successor rights for more than
10 years,” said Eric Morin, OPSEU chair of the Central
Enforcement and Renewal Committee for the OPS. “This is a
huge victory for all our members, but especially our
activists who never stopped believing that ‘same rights’
could become a reality.”
The restoration
of successor rights also helps over 6,000 OPSEU members who
work at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and other Crown
agencies.
“The current
government has said quite clearly that it will not privatize
the LCBO, but governments come and government go,” said
OPSEU president Leah Casselman. “Restoring successor rights
makes privatization a more expensive option for any
government in the future, and therefore it should be less
likely to happen.”
The government
also introduced “whistle-blower” protections for Crown
employees who speak up about wrongdoing. Employees will now
be able to go directly to the Integrity Commissioner without
fear of reprisal, the government says.
“It’s a step in
the right direction,” said Morin. “We need time to look at
it and determine exactly what it means, but as long as the
Integrity Commissioner’s office has the resources it needs,
I think it’s a positive move for the OPS.”
See below for
details on how successor rights interact with the OPSEU
collective agreement in the OPS.
How making
successor rights legal will affect OPSEU members in the OPS
If passed, the new legislation to return successor rights to
Crown employees will affect the rights of some OPSEU members
whose work moves out of the OPS in future.
In bargaining in
1996 and 1999, OPSEU made great leaps forward on contract
language to make up for the loss of successor rights. The
1996 strike forced the government to make “reasonable
efforts” to find jobs for OPSEU members with the new
employer when their work moved out of the OPS. In addition,
the jobs offered had to be “at terms and conditions that are
as close as possible to the then existing terms and
conditions of the employees in the bargaining unit.”
OPSEU grievances
related to “reasonable efforts” brought privatization of the
OPS to a virtual standstill for most of 1997. The settlement
of those grievances brought more improvements to the
contract in 1999. Those improvements set out specific rules
for four different types of transfer. In some cases, these
rules give members more options when deciding whether to
move to the new employer or not.
Job security
matters related specifically to transfers of work out of the
OPS are governed by Appendix 9 and Appendix 18 of the
collective agreement.
Nothing in the
new legislation changes the language of the collective
agreement. However, the CERC has negotiated an agreement
with the government that covers the interaction between the
new legislation and the collective agreement. Yesterday’s
legislation depended on the deal being signed.
The
agreement says that, where there is a “sale of business”
as defined by the Labour Relations Act, Appendices 9 and
18 of the collective agreement do not apply. Instead,
employee rights are modified as follows:
1. When workers take a job with a successor employer,
they keep their collective agreement rights and their
service and seniority. They don’t receive termination or
severance pay.
2. If any employees do not receive a job offer from the
successor employer, they receive a surplus notice and
can exercise all their rights under the OPS collective
agreement (bumping, enhanced severance, etc.).
3. Employees who resign their OPS job after receiving
notice that their work is being transferred, but before
they receive a job offer from the successor employer,
give up all their rights under the collective agreement.
4. Employees who refuse a job offer with the successor
employer receive termination pay but give up all other
rights under the collective agreement.
Some transfers of work out of the OPS may not be a “sale of
business.” In that case, Appendices 9 and 18 continue to
apply just as they do now.
“We think we’ve
achieved our main goal with this agreement, which was to
keep OPSEU members working at high-quality jobs,” said CERC
chair Eric Morin.
To view the text
of the agreement between OPSEU and government, visit
http://www.opseu.org/ops/frontlines/frontlinesnov032006attach.pdf.
MERC calls Day
of Action for Nov. 16 as MNR continues to crumble
“Ministry of No Resources” launches pre-budget campaign
The OPSEU leadership team in the Ministry of Natural
Resources is calling on all OPSEU members to join in a “Day
of Action” Nov. 16 to protest budget cuts in their ministry.
“Our ministry is
crumbling around us,” said Elaine Bagnall, OPSEU chair of
the MNR Ministry Enforcement and Renewal Committee (MERC).
“The MNR can no longer
adequately perform even the most basic tasks of its
mandate.”
Bagnall pointed
to cuts to operating budgets for Conservation Officers and
provincial parks as just two areas that are starved for
funding this year.
“An ordinary
citizen can no longer walk into an MNR office to get
information, because the doors are locked,” she said. “In
our forests, the Ministry has only the dimmest idea of what
the forest companies are actually doing, because we don’t
have enough staff to police their activities.”
MNR now stands
for “Ministry of No Resources,” MERC member Dave Fluri said.
On Nov. 16, the MERC is asking OPSEU members to wear black,
attach orange flag tape to their car aerials, and sign
petitions to send to local MPPs.
OPSEU locals
with members in the MNR are planning activities to attract
media attention as well.
“This is not just a one-time thing,” said Fluri. “We will be
asking members to wear black at work every Thursday between
now and the provincial budget.
“This Ministry
needs an immediate cash injection and a long-term funding
commitment.”
The MERC is
inviting OPSEU members in other ministries to join the
protest.
“We realize that
we are not the only ones under the gun,” said Bagnall.
“There are no fewer than 14 other ministries that have seen
their budgets flat-lined and are facing the same types of
problems we are.
“We hope to
build this campaign in the months ahead so that funding for
public services is an issue in the next budget and the next
provincial election.”
Original authorized for distribution by Leah Casselman,
president.
Download
November 3, 2006 Issue of
Frontlines
.gif){kind=small}
