Ontario Public Service Employees Union (Webber et al) v. The Crown in Right of Ontario (Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services), 2019 CanLII 42408

GSB# 2015-3193

UNION# 2016-0229-0001

IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION

Under

THE CROWN EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT

Before

THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD

BETWEEN

Ontario Public Service Employees Union (Webber et al)

Union

• and -

The Crown in Right of Ontario (Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services)

Employer

BEFORE

Gail Misra

Arbitrator

FOR THE UNION

Dan Sidsworth Ontario Public Service Employees Union Grievance Officer

FOR THE EMPLOYER

Al. J. Quinn Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services Senior Employee Transition Advisor

HEARINGS

January 18, 2019 and April 18, 2019

DECISION

1Since the spring of 2000 the parties have been meeting regularly to address matters of mutual interest which have arisen as the result of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services as well as the Ministry of Children and Youth Services restructuring initiatives around the Province. Through the MERC (Ministry Employment Relations Committee) a subcommittee was established to deal with issues arising from the transition process. The parties have negotiated a series of MERC agreements setting out the process for how organizational changes will unfold for Correctional and Youth Services staff and for non-Correctional and non-Youth Services staff.

2The parties agreed that this Board would remain seized of all issues that arise through this process and it is this agreement that provides me the jurisdiction to resolve the outstanding matters.

3Over the years as some institutions and/or youth centres decommissioned or reduced in size others were built or expanded. The parties have made efforts to identify vacancies and positions and the procedures for the filling of those positions as they become available.

4The parties have also negotiated a number of agreements that provide for the "roll-over" of fixed term staff to regular (classified) employee status.

5Hundreds of grievances have been filed as the result of the many changes that have taken place at provincial institutions. The transition subcommittee has, with the assistance of this Board, mediated numerous disputes. Others have come before this Board for disposition.

6It was determined by this Board at the outset that the process for these disputes would be somewhat more expedient. To that end, grievances are presented by way of statements of fact and succinct submissions. On occasion, clarification has been sought from grievors and institutional managers at the request of the Board. This process has served the parties well. The decisions are without prejudice but attempt to provide guidance for future disputes.

7A group grievance was filed, in the lead name of Steven Webber, by Correctional Officers at the Ontario Correctional Institute on January 25, 2016, claiming a breach of the MERC Memorandum of Agreement ("MOA"), as it regards the April 24, 2014 "Resource Position Management (RPM) Schedule".

8Pursuant to the MOA regarding the RPM Schedule, the Employer was going to collapse existing RPM Correctional Officer schedules into the main schedule at each institution when compressed work week agreements were re-negotiated (para. 1 of the MOA). When the RPM schedule was collapsed, the parties had agreed that these positions would be incorporated into the regular schedule, and, would be backfilled as operationally needed and required (para. 3 of the MOA).

9The Webber Group filed the grievance to bring to the attention of the Employer that the RPM positions at that institution had not been collapsed into the main schedules. Based on the Union's submissions, it would appear that discussions between the local parties at the Ontario Correctional Institute had stalled at that time. The Webber Group claimed damages for lost opportunities in not being assigned to backfill the RPM positions that would have been incorporated into the main schedule. The backfill opportunities would have been at the regular rate of pay for fixed term members, and at overtime rates for regular members.

10Having reviewed the documents and the parties' submissions, including the MERC Memorandum of Agreement, as it regards the April 24, 2014 "Resource Position Management (RPM) Schedule"; the April 25, 2014 Memorandum from Steven Small regarding the Resource Position Management Schedule; and the January 26, 2017 Memorandum of Agreement regarding Classified Correctional Officers Compressed Work Week Schedule for the Ontario Correctional Institute, I am satisfied that no one was disadvantaged at the time, and as such, this grievance is dismissed.