The content of a “staffing survey” regularly conducted by the union during work time and sanctioned by the collective agreement became the subject of a dispute.
The employer said that the information sought by the union exceeded the scope of what was permitted by the collective agreement and filed a grievance to that effect.
The Union grieved the employer’s refusal to allow the survey to be conducted.
Under the terms of the collective agreement between the union and the school board, the union was permitted to conduct a “Bargaining Unit staffing survey” during its regular, monthly staff meetings.
The surveys had been conducted since 1978 with a view to ensuring that employer and union numbers regarding staffing needs could be reconciled. In general, the surveys queried teachers about the number and types of classes they were teaching.
While the union would then share information it acquired about staffing needs with the employer, it did not share any additional information that was not strictly relevant to the process of reconciling staffing needs.
Information used for other purposes
With the advent of computerized record keeping, that method of staffing reconciliation became redundant. Nevertheless, the surveys were still conducted. However, the information collected was not regularly shared with the employer and was instead used for a number of other purposes, including preparing for staffing meetings, bargaining and lobbying.
Consequently, during bargaining, the employer proposed removing the survey provisions from the collective agreement. The union refused.
The next time before granting permission to conduct a survey, the employer asked to see the survey. The employer gave permission to the union to conduct the survey despite the union’s refusal of the employer’s request to see the survey.
However, when the employer later acquired a copy of the survey, it determined that the subjective thrust of the survey questions did not conform to what was contemplated by the collective agreement. The employer then rescinded its permission, and both parties filed grievances.
The union agreed that the survey was qualitatively different than previous surveys. However, before the Arbitrator, the union argued that the time allotted for conducting the survey was time that the union had negotiated. The union was not obliged either to provide the employer with a copy of the survey or the results. Even if the union’s right to conduct a “staffing survey” was limited by the language of the collective agreement, the union argued that the term “staffing survey” should be interpreted broadly.
The employer disagreed. The entitlement to conduct a survey on school time was strictly governed by the collective agreement. The language provided for a survey on staffing not an outlet to critique school principals or administration, the employer said.
The Arbitrator agreed. The union’s entitlement under the collective agreement was restricted to conducting a “staffing survey.”
Citing examples in the collective agreement, “staffing” was concerned with “developing and proposing a staffing model … based on projected enrollment and staff allocation,” the Arbitrator said.
Not a staffing survey
“The survey that the Union sought to conduct was not a survey to consider overall staffing needed in light of enrollment or other matters. It was not, in my view a ‘staffing survey’ as conducted by the parties in the past or as contemplated by the collective agreement,” the Arbitrator said.
The Arbitrator agreed that the term “staffing survey” should not be narrowly construed and that some material in part A of the proposed survey was appropriate.
“However, having regard to Part B and the overall tenor of the survey, and the fact that the information sought was qualitatively different … than information sought in prior surveys, I have concluded that the survey is not a staffing survey as contemplated by the collective agreement.”
The union was not prevented from surveying its members with respect to the amount of administrative support they received, but “the union is not entitled to conduct such a survey during regular school hours in the time allotted in [the collective agreement].”
The employer did not violate the collective agreement.
