Abramsky issues further decision on Court Reporters
January 26, 2010
On December 4, 2009, GSB Vice-Chair Abramsky issued a
further decision regarding the ongoing issues involving the production
of transcripts by Court Reporters.
In July, 2009, the employer announced a scheme to
further contract in the transcription portion of the Court Reporter’s
duties. This was the very issue that took us to the Grievance Settlement
Board in 2006. Your Union went back to Vice-Chair Abramsky to ask her to
stop the employer from ignoring her previous decision. The Union was
successful in prohibiting the employer from proceeding with their plan
at that time.
The issue of remedy remains and the question about
retrospective and prospective remedy remains. That is, pay and benefits
that are owed on work already performed and a plan which included
transcription work being done by OPSEU Court Reporters in the workplace.
On December 4, 2009,
Vice Chair Abramsky issued her decision. In that decision she says
that the GSB does not have the jurisdiction to prospectively rule on
what the employer might do. In other words, she can’t decide on
something that has yet to happen. Since the employer, up to that point,
had merely announced their plan, but not implemented it, the Board could
not provide any orders. The decision also pointed out that the status of
the transcription work had already been clarified in the 2006 award It
said that transcription work is the work of bargaining unit court
reporters. The GSB told us that if the employer were to implement its
plan, the Union would have to grieve that implementation at that time.
Any new plan by the employer that has anyone other than bargaining unit
court reporters completing transcript work would raise new facts and new
issues than those canvassed in the 2006 Hunt award and therefore require
new grievances. OPSEU is prepared to take forward any violation of the
2006 award issued by Vice-Chair Abramsky.
A meeting is scheduled on March 9, 2010 at the GSB to
work on the remedies that remain outstanding. We will keep you posted as
new developments arise.
