GSB#2020-2555

UNION#2020-0290-0032

IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION

Under

THE CROWN EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT

Before

THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD

BETWEEN

Ontario Public Service Employees Union (Adu)

Union

• and -

The Crown in Right of Ontario (Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services)

Employer

BEFORE

Gail Misra

Arbitrator

FOR THE UNION

Gregg Gray Ontario Public Service Employees Union Grievance Officer

FOR THE EMPLOYER

Karen Martin Treasury Board Secretariat Employee Relations Advisor

HEARING

December 13, 2021 and March 7, 2022

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 the Solicitor General as well as the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services restructuring initiatives around the Province. Through the MERC (Ministry Employee 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.

7Steven Adu is a Fixed Term ("FXT") Recreation Officer ("RO") at the Roy McMurtry Youth Centre. His date of hire is May 6, 2019. On November 2, 2020 Mr. Adu filed a grievance claiming breaches of various provisions of the collective agreement. By way of remedy, he seeks appointment to a permanent full time RO position.

8In particular, the grievor claims that the Employer has unfairly distributed hours of work to other FXT ROs. As a result, the grievor claims that although he started on the same date as two other ROs, they had more hours than he did when the Employer posted the seniority hours for FXT ROs as of October 18, 2020. At that time Kwame Adjei had 2954.00 hours, Zackary Poyser had 2952.25 hours, and the grievor had 2914.00 hours.

9Mr. Adu has not provided any other information to support his claim and has not been able to identify any occasions when others were given hours that could or should have been offered to him. It is therefore unclear how or when this approximately 40 hour discrepancy occurred. The onus in this case is on the Union and grievor to show how the Employer has acted improperly in the equalization of hours.

10In any event, an approximately 40 hour difference in the total hours of three people over the course of an 18 month period is not an extreme differential. Without any evidence regarding when or how this relatively minor difference in the hours worked occurred, it is difficult to find that the Employer has breached its obligation to try to average the hours of work in accordance with the Correctional bargaining unit collective agreement.

11For the reasons outlined above, this grievance is hereby dismissed.