GSB# 2019-2598

UNION# 2019-0234-0298

IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION

Under

THE CROWN EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT

Before

THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD

BETWEEN

Ontario Public Service Employees Union (Faccin)

Union

• and -

The Crown in Right of Ontario (Ministry of the Solicitor General)

Employer

BEFORE

Gail Misra

Arbitrator

FOR THE UNION

Dan Sidsworth Ontario Public Service Employees Union Grievance Officer

FOR THE EMPLOYER

Michelle LaButte Treasury Board Secretariat Employee Relations Advisor

HEARING

July 10 and September 28, 2020 (by videoconference)

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 (now, the Ministry of the Solicitor General) 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.

7David Faccin is a Fixed Term ("FXT") Correctional Officer ("CO") at the Vanier Centre for Women ("Vanier"). He filed a grievance on December 2, 2019 claiming that although he had filed an Expression of Interest, contrary to Appendix COR19 and Appendix 24 of the collective agreement, the Employer did not include him in a rollover to a full-time permanent CO position. By way of remedy, among other things, the Grievor seeks to be immediately converted to permanent status and seeks full redress.

8The Grievor believes that on some unspecified date he was bypassed on a rollover of COs at Vanier. Given the date of the grievance, it appears that Mr. Faccin was grieving regarding the November 6, 2019 Memorandum of Agreement ("MOA") between the parties, pursuant to which there were to be eight CO rollovers at Vanier.

9Mr. Faccin had taken a secondment from his FXT CO position at Vanier to a temporary assignment as an Industrial Officer at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex in January 2018. He remained in that assignment until April 28, 2019, at which time he returned to his position at Vanier as a FXT CO.

10As noted above, pursuant to the MOA between the Union and Employer, on November 6, 2019 eight FXT COs at Vanier were to be rolled over to the regular service. At that juncture, the Grievor had returned as a FXT CO at Vanier as of April 28, 2019. In order to be eligible for rollover an individual must have worked as a FXT CO for a minimum of one year immediately preceding the posting seeking Expressions of Interest in that facility. The Grievor did not meet that threshold qualification as he had been working at Maplehurst as an Industrial Officer until the end of April 2019, so he was not considered for rollover in November 2019.

11Having considered the facts, and the submissions of the parties, and for the reasons outlined above, this grievance is dismissed.