CECBA Trade Union Rights and Obligations

• Author: Timothy Hadwen - David Strang - Leonard Marvy - Don Eady
• Profession: Director, Legal Services Branch, Ontario Ministry of Labour - Associate Director, Management Board Secretariat - Solicitor, Ontario Labour Relations Board - Partner, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP
• Pages: 398-436

 

CECBA Trade Union Rights

and Obligations

A. INTRODUCTION

e bargaining agents for government and desig nated Crown agency employees

are of four types:

a)trade unions under the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act (CE-

CBA) with bargaining u nits in the public service: t he Ontario Public Service

Employees’ Union (OPSEU), the Association of Management, Administra-

tive and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario (AMAPCEO), and the

Professional Engineers of the Govern ment of Ontario (PEGO);

b)trade unions or a ssociations for government employee s covered by speciali zed

statutory regimes: the Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA) under

the Public Service Act (PSA), Part II; the Federation of Provinc ial Schools Au-

thority Teachers (FOPSAT) under the Provincial Schools Negotiations Act ;

c)voluntarily recog nized bargaini ng agents for special types of public ser vants:

the Association of Law Ocers of the Crown (ALOC), the Ontario Crown

Attorneys Association (OCAA), and the Association of Ontario Physicians

and Dentists in Publ ic Service (AOPDPS); and

d)trade unions under CECBA with bargaining units at the designated Crown

agencies: OPSEU (incorporating the former Ontario Liquor Boards’ Em-

ployees Union (OLBEU)) and others.

e Public Serv ice and Labour Relation s Law Statute Law Amendment Act, S .O. , c.

 [CECBA,], as amended , c. , s. –; , c. , s. –; , c. , s. ; ,

c. , Sched. J, s.  [CECBA].

e Amalgamate d Transit Union Local  holds bargai ning rights with t he Greater

Toronto Transit Authority/GO Transit. e Can adian Union of Public Employees, L ocal



Chapter : CECBA Trade Union Rights and Obligations

e two types of CECBA trade unions, those in the public service and those

at the designated Crown agencies, a re discussed below in this se ction, along with a

review of the labour law t hat governs the rights and obligations of CECBA unions.

e bargaining agents not covered by CECBA are discussed in Chapter ,

under Special Clas ses of Government Employment.

B. CECBA TRADE UNIONS

)Legislative Hi story

Prior to the passage of CE CBA, , the col lective bargaining of Crown employ-

ees and employers was largely carried out under the PSA, which provided for

some representation by employee associations, acc ompanied by binding i nterest

arbitration on a number of issues.

e Labour Relations Act (LRA) did not, and does not, apply to t he Crown.

In , the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) dismissed an application

for certication brought by the Civil Serv ice Association of Ontario (CSAO) on

behalf of employees of the Niagara Parks Commission because those employees

were not covered by the LRA.

Under the PSA scheme, three organizations were formed that were t he pre-

cursors of current tr ade unions: the CSAO, precursor to OPSEU; the Liquor Con-

trol Board of Ontario (LCBO) and Liquor Licence Board of Ontario Employees’

Association, precursor to the OLBEU; and the OPPA. e histories of OPSEU

and the OLBEU are addressed b elow in this section; while t he OPPA is dealt with

in Chapter , under Special Cl asses of Government Employees.

e  introduction of CECBA is generally discussed in Chapter , Legisla-

tive History at . e particular focus here is on the designation of bargaining

agents. Under the Act, the government reser ved to itself the power to make regula-

 holds bargaini ng rights at the Workers Safety a nd Insurance Board . e Labourers

Internationa l Union of North America, Lo cal , Brewery, Professional a nd General

Workers Union and the Internation al Association of Machi nists and Aerospace Work-

ers, Distric t  hold bargaining r ights in connection wit h employees employed by the

Metro Toronto Convention Centre. In add ition to the employees of the Liquor Cont rol

Board of Ontario (L CBO), OPSEU holds bargaining rig hts in connection with t he em-

ployees of the Ontar io Pension Board and the Workplace Safet y and Insurance Appea ls

Tribunal. e United Steelworke rs of America holds bargai ning rights with resp ect to

employees of the Ott awa Congress Centre. See Gr ievance Settlement Bo ard website,

Stakeholders: Trade Unions/B argaining Agents: .

An Act to Provide for Co llective Bargaining for Crow n Employees, S.O. , c.  [CECBA

].

, S.O. , c. , Sch. A.

SeeNiagara Parks Commission, [] OLRB Rep. Apr. . See also R. v.Ontario Labour

Relations Board ex. p. Ontario Housing C orp., []  O.R. ,  D.L.R. (d)  (H.C.J.).

       

tions prescribing al l of the following: the entities representing t he Crown (such as

the Workmen’s Compensation Board (WCB)); the scope of bargaining units; and

the bargaining agents themselves. e CSAO was designated as the bargaining

agent for the main bargain ing unit of public servants. Separate ba rgaining units of

employees of the Niagara Park s Commission and the Niagara Parks C ommission

Police Department were created and the C SAO was also designated as the bargain-

ing agent. A bargaini ng unit of employees of the LCBO and of the Liquor Licence

Board of Ontario was established and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and

Liquor Licence Board of Ontario Employees’ Association (“the Association”) was

designated. Final ly, Local  of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)

was designated as the employee organization for employees working for the On-

tario Housing Corp oration within the Municipal ity of Metropolitan Toronto.

In addition to the designation process, employee organizations could and

did acquire bargaining rights through the certication procedures set out in

CECBA, . For example, CUPE Local  was granted representation rights

for a bargaining unit of employees of the Workers’ Compensation Board by the

Ontario Public Service Labour Relations Tribunal (OPSLRT). Over the years,

the OPSLRT granted representation r ights to a variety of other groups of Crown

employees. In its rst c ase the OPSLRT noted that:

e legislature by creating a separate legal structure for collective bargaining by

Crown Employees obviously con sidered that collective b argaining in t he public

sector of Ontario should not be treated in the same manner as private sector

collective bar gaining. us, in admin istering the Act, this Tribuna l must treat

such decisions with caution and only use them when they appear appropriate

for the public sector….

In our opinion, a structure providing for a strong, healthy, collective bar-

gaining relationship between the employee organization and the employer is

the one most likel y to complement the functioning of govern ment in Ontario.

Such a relationship means the parties come to the bargaining table on equal

terms.

CECBA , s. , O. Reg. /.

Workmen’s Compensation Board, OPSLRT T/, October , .

See, for example, Addiction Research Foundation, OPSL RT  T//, November

, ; Amalgamated Transit Union Local  and Toronto Area Transit Operating

Authority, OPSLRT T//, September , ; OPSEU and Metropolit an Toronto

Housing Authority an d Community Guardian Company Ltd., OPS LRT T//, Sep-

tember , , as wel l as various private ambu lance service s that were deemed to be

Crown agents as a resu lt of certain earlier OPSL RT decisions: OPSEU and Ministry of

Health —McKechnie Ambul ance Services Inc. , OPSL RT T//, November , .

Ontario Housing E mployees Union, Local , CUPE, OFL, CLC v. e Crown in Ri ght

of Ontario (Ontario Hou sing Corporation, Windso r, Oshawa, Hamilton Authorities) v.

CUPE (Intervenor), OPSLRT T//, October ,  at , –. e OPSLRT Vice-