Workload increased following strike, union says
More than 300 grievances were filed against the College Employer Council in Ontario after employees returned to work following a three week strike.
Employees filed the grievances as a result of issues arising from their return to work following a 2006 strike. The union representing the employees — the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union — called for compensation for an increased workload following the return from the strike.
The strike ended when the parties reached a new collective agreement. In addition to the agreement, the parties negotiated a "return-to-work protocol" that set out the terms for the employees’ return to work on March 27, 2006. The protocol provided that the work stoppage would not be treated as having been worked and, therefore, employees’ salaries would be reduced accordingly.
The protocol also required employees to complete the delivery of their courses and their course material, despite the time lost during the work stoppage. To facilitate this, the protocol set out a reduction in time spent on professional development. Despite the protocol, however, employees took issue with their return to work.
The grievances were divided into six broad categories. The parties agreed that a limited number of claims in each category would be representative for all of the claims in that category for the sake of managing the large number of grievances.
The first group of grievances — claims for complementary functions — claimed teachers were required to perform additional work in order to complete the school semester within the time frame set out by the employer. According to the union, this work would result in the employees working overtime and should, therefore, result in overtime payments.
The employer, however, asserted the strike and return to work were atypical circumstances and the additional work performed by employees to complete the semester on time was addressed in the return-to-work protocol. The arbitration board — made up of chair Norm Jesin, employer nominee Carla Zabek and union nominee Pamela Munt-Madill — agreed and dismissed the claims covered by this category.
Claims for additional teaching contact hours and claims for extra hours worked by academic counsellors were addressed together. The union claimed employees were required to teach additional contact hours even though the semester was not extended and employees should be compensated for those additional hours.
Similarly, the union claimed academic counsellors should be granted overtime pay for additional work performed as a result of their return following the strike.
The employer, however, argued that even if the work performed by these employees was greater than the weekly maximums, the grievances could only succeed if the additional work was authorized by the employer.
The arbitration board found these categories raised arguable claims and should be allowed to proceed.
The next group of grievances demanded compensation for lost time for activities in the non-teaching period. The academic year is divided into teaching and non-teaching periods. In an effort to complete the delivery of courses despite the work stoppage, the parties agreed to a reduction in time spent on professional development.
Because this issue was covered in the return-to-work protocol, the employer argued, the employees had no right to grieve for lost time in the non-teaching period.
The arbitration board agreed and the grievances covered by this category were dismissed.
Another group of grievances claimed compensation for course revisions and associated additional work.
The arbitration board found these claims were covered by the protocol in the same way the claims for complementary functions were and the grievances were therefore dismissed.
The final group of grievances concerned miscellaneous claims, all of which were dismissed by the arbitration board.
In conclusion, the arbitration board found the grievances claiming additional teaching contract hours and extra hours worked by academic counselors raised arguable claims and should be allowed to proceed.
All other grievances were dismissed.
Reference: College Employer Council and the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union. Arbitration board — Norm Jesin, Chair; Carla Zabek, Employer nominee; Pamela Munt-Madill, Union nominee. Feb. 25, 2015.
