Ontario schools had volunteers perform tasks of eliminated positions

Volunteers at some Ontario schools violated a collective agreement by replacing eliminated bargaining unit positions.

The collective agreement for the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) had a provision limiting the use of volunteers “only to enrich programs or provide other services” that didn’t adversely affect or permanently replace bargaining unit employees.

In the 2012-13 school year, the TDSB made cuts to its staff. Volunteers were used at six schools to help fill in the gaps:

• 
Albion Heights school lost a half-time clerical position, so a volunteer worked in the school office performing the duties of the eliminated position.

• 
Bala Avenue Community School lost an educational assistant (EA) position and a clerical position. Parent volunteers assisted children with reading and other tasks in classrooms and one parent worked in the office one or two days per week performing some of the clerical tasks.

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Portage Trail school lost an EA position. The school had volunteers every day in classrooms and lunchrooms, with one particular volunteer in a classroom on an “almost full-time basis” from September 2012 to January 2013.

• 
Bedford Park Public School lost an EA position. Parent volunteers worked in the school office performing clerical tasks and helping teachers with photocopying and filing.

• 
Gledhill Junior Public School lost a half-time EA position and parent volunteers were in classrooms doing many tasks that the EA had done, such as supervising students and organizing classrooms. The school had a longstanding practice of parents helping in classrooms.

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RJ Lang Elementary and Middle School lost two EA positions and a half-time office assistant. A parent who was a lunchroom supervisor moved to the office to perform some of the office duties while student volunteers helped during the lunch hour answering phones and making photocopies. Other parents helped in classrooms.

The union filed multiple grievances claiming the TDSB “recruited and assigned unpaid volunteers to do the work of the laid-off support staff in breach of the collective agreement.”

The arbitrator found that the volunteer at Albion Heights performed all the core functions of the eliminated clerical position in violation of the collective agreement.

The arbitrator also found that none of the parent volunteers at Bala Avenue directly replaced the eliminated positions, as they could be considered “an enrichment of the language program” that was permitted. However, the volunteer working in the office essentially replaced the bargaining unit clerical position and was contrary to the collective agreement, the arbitrator said.

At Portage Trail school, the fact that volunteers worked every day meant that there was work for an employee — particularly for the volunteer who worked nearly full-time in a classroom for more than four months, said the arbitrator.

However, the arbitrator also found that while volunteers in the Bedford Park office may have done individual tasks of the clerical position, there was no evidence they replaced the position. The tasks could relate to other parent activities and could be considered “other services” as allowed by the agreement, said the arbitrator.

The same could be said for the parent volunteers in the Gledhill classrooms, according to the arbitrator. They were doing what they had been doing before the cuts and there was no evidence they replaced the eliminated positions.

Finally, the arbitrator determined that student volunteers in the office at RJ Lang school had been part of leadership training for years and the parent volunteer had been performing certain office duties for some time as well. There was insufficient evidence to link them with the eliminated position, said the arbitrator.

The arbitrator ruled that the TDSB violated the collective agreement with volunteers at three of the schools — Albion Heights, Bala Avenue, and Portage. Volunteers at the other three schools did not replace eliminated bargaining unit positions.

Reference: CUPE, Local 4400, Unit C and Toronto District School Board. Elizabeth McIntyre — arbitrator. 
Stephen Flaherty, Donna Walrond, Kathleen Tate for employer. Ian McKellar, Anna Hutchinson, Rick Kuberski for union. March 25, 2019.