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 Ocers 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.
In , the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) dismissed an application
for certication 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 certication 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-
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