District School Board of Niagara v. The Canadian Union of Public Employees and its Locals 152,468 and 1442, 1998 CanLII 18312

[1998] OLRB REP. JULY/AUGUST 589

0195-98-PS District School Board of Niagara, Applicant v. The Canadian Union of Public Employees and its Locals 152,468 and 1442, Ontario Public Service Employees Union, Local 260, Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, Association of Professional Student Services Personnel. Responding Parties

BEFORE: Inge M. Stamp, Vice-Chair.

APPEARANCES: Brenda Bowlby, Jim Brown, Dave Easton, Bonnie McArthur and Ann Gronski for the applicant; John Elder, Dan MacLean, Stan Brown, Dave Walters and Frank Ventresca for CUPE; Richard Blair, Connie Huziak, Jill Morgan, Trace)' Mussat and Bridget Krajnak for OPSEU; Josh Phillips and Beverley Wilson for the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation ("OSSTF'); Sandra Nicholson and Robin Tallon for the Association of Professional Student Services Personnel ("APSSP").

DECISION OF THE BOARD; July 20, 1998

1. This is an application under the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act, 1997 ("Bill 136"). Previous decisions have been issued by the Board in this matter on April 24, 1998 and May 8, 1998.

2. The District School Board of Niagara ("DSBN") is the new School Board, the result of the amalgamation of the Lincoln County Board of Education and the Niagara South Board of Education ("Lincoln" and "Niagara South").

3. The parties were unable to agree as to the number of bargaining units and a hearing was held to hear the submissions with respect to that issue. On the day of the hearing the applicant took the position there should be four bargaining units:

4. Plant

5. Professional

6. Instructors

7. Office/Clerical/Technical.

8. APSSP, OPSEU and OSSTF agree there should be four bargaining units. CUPE opposes this structure and asserts there should be three bargaining units, Plant, Instructors and Office/Clerical! Technical.

9. The plant unit was represented by CUPE at Lincoln and by CUPE Local 468 at Niagara South. It is agreed that CUPE will represent this unit at DSBN.

10. The professional unit was represented by APSSP at Niagara South. At Lincoln there was no separate professional unit. The persons performing this work were part of the office/clerical/technical bargaining unit represented by CUPE Local 1442.

11. The Instructors unit was represented by OSSTF at Niagara South. There was no bargaining agent representing persons performing that work at Lincoln.

12. CUPE argued that the profes­sional/instructional support persons should be included in the CUPE office/clerical/technical bargaining unit at the new Board. It is CUPE's concern that the professional unit is a small unit in terms of numbers, approximately 43 after amalgamation, vs. CUPE's 700 in the office/clerical/technical unit. CUPE asserts, if the smaller unit prevails there would be no opportunity of movement within the bargaining unit as there is currently in the larger unit.

13. APSSP argued strenuously for its bargaining unit and opposes becoming part of CUPE. It is their view they do not have a great deal in common with the employees in the office/clerical/technical unit. It is APSSP's position that the qualification requirements would make upward mobility within that unit unlikely and it is not likely that there would be too much in the way of downward mobility.

14. The applicant in its brief described the professional unit as follows:

Professional Unit

all employees of the District School Board of Niagara in the District of Niagara regularly employed for not less than 17.5 hours per week in professional student services related to psychology, social work, interpreting and counselling, including, for the purposes of the clarity, the following:

Career Counsellor

Interpreter

Youth Counsellor/Case Worker

Adjustment/Attendance Counsellor

Skills Development Counsellor

Speech Language Pathologist

Assessment Counsellor (Psychometrist)

and excluding the Chief Psychologist, Supervisors and persons above the rank of Supervisor, teachers as defined by the Education Act, students employed during the summer months or on a co­op or work experience basis, or any other employee covered under another collective agreement.

11. Having considered all of the submissions of the parties, it is the Board's view that four bargaining units are appropriate as set out above. These are Plant, Professional, structors and Office/Clerical/Technical.

12. With the assistance of a Labour Relations Officer the parties reached agreement on a number of issues as follows:

Board File No. 0195-98-PS

Between:

District School Board of Niagara

Applicant

and

Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 152

and

Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 468

and

Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1442

and

Ontario Public Service Employees Union

and

Association of Professional Student Services Personnel (Niagara Chapter)

and

Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation

Responding Parties

The parties to the above matter agree to resolve their differences as follows:

1. This proceeding is an application to which the provisions of section 136 applies.

2. (a) The parties agree that the instructors unit is as follows:

All employees of the District School Board of Niagara in the District of Niagara employed as Adult Basic Education Instructors and English As A Second Language Instructors in the Board's secondary panel, save and except Supervisors, persons above the rank of Supervisor. Teachers, as defined by the Education Act, Vice-Principals, and Principals, employees in a bargaining unit covered by existing collective agreements.

(b) The parties agree that the plant unit is as follows:

All employees of the District School Board of Niagara in the District of Niagara. regularly employed in plant operations, including care-taking and maintenance services and all bus drivers and cafeteria employees, save and except (assistant) supervisors and persons above the rank of (assistant) super­visor.

(c) The parties agree that the agreed bargaining unit in the office, technical and instructional support unit is as follows:

All employees of the District School Board of Niagara in the District of Niagara regularly employed as office, clerical, technical and instructional support staff, save and except

• Supervisors and persons employed above the rank of Supervisor;

• Department Managers, Assistants, Co-ordinators and persons above the rank of Department Manager;

• Employees engaged as Vice-Principals, Principals or Department Heads;

• Chief Accountant;

• Board Lawyer;

• All Human Resources Department employees employed in a mana­gerial or confidential capacity and for the purposes of clarity those

positions include:

1. Recruitment and Equity Coordinator

2. WCB Disability Management Coordinator

3. Salary Benefits Coordinator

4. Records Clerk

5. Labour Relations Manager

6. Assistant Superintendent

7. Personnel Officer

8. Benefits Administrator

9. Secretary to the Asst. Superintendent

10. Secretary III

11. Recording Secretary

12. Secretary to the Board Lawyer

13. Students employed during the school vacation period

and pending resolution by the Board, excluding as well Secretaries/ Administrative Assistants to Supervisory Officers, Assistant Super­intendent of Plant Services, excluding the secretaries to the Associ­ate Director and Director of Education. Secretaries to the Property Manager, Budget and Accounting, Business Administrator, and Superintendent of Business,

and excluding as well on the same basis as above, the Payroll Control Clerk.

3. The parties agree to defer the dispute over the exclusion of persons regularly employed for less than 17.5 hours per week until after the representation vote. N.B. This refers to the Professional Unit only.

4. The parties also agree to and request that any votes arising out of this application be held in the third week of September (ie) commencing with Sept. 2lst/98.

Dated at Toronto this 25th day of June 1998

"David Walters" "Jim Brown"

for CUPE For Applicant

"Connie Huziak" "Roberta Tallon"

For OPSEU For APSSP

"Bev Wilson"

For OSSTF

13. The parties have agreed the votes are to be held in the third week of September starting September 21, 1998. The parties have further agreed to meet with Board Officer Pat Whyte on July 24, 1998 to deal with vote arrangements, voters' lists and any issues arising out of this decision. The "Notice of Vote" will be issued after the parties have met with the Board Officer and agreed to the date, polling times, polling stations etc.

14. As stated earlier in this decision CUPE locals represented the plant bargaining units at Lincoln and at Niagara South. Having regard to the agreement referred to in paragraph 6 of this decision the Board appoints CUPE as the bargaining agent for the Plant unit at DSBN.

15. This matter is referred to the Registrar and the Manager of Field Services.