Arbitrator Finds Co-ordinator Duties Should Be Considered in Assessing Whether a Professor Has Sessional Status

An arbitration award in St Lawrence College and OPSEU Local 417 rendered on March 26, 2018 is potentially very significant to the distribution of work between full-time, sessional, partial load and part-time professors by a college. This College Update reviews the award and its possible impact on college staffing decisions going forward.

Supreme Court of Canada Affirms Management Rights Must Be Exercised Reasonably and Consistently with the Collective Agreement

It is critical for employers in the unionized context to remember that when creating policies or workplace rules as an exercise of management rights, the rule must constitute a reasonable “balancing of interests” and must be consistent with the collective agreement. In Association of Justice Counsel v. Canada (Attorney General), the Supreme Court of Canada…

New Private Member Bill Proposes “Card Check” Unionization, First Contract Arbitration Model for Ontario

On April 4, 2017, the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Ontario introduced private member legislation that would amend the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act) to bring “card check” union certification back to Ontario for the first time since 1995, and to implement a new first contract arbitration process. It is important to note that private…

Leaves of Absence, Procedural Matters and More

In this latest edition of our School Board Update, we are bringing you summaries of three recent cases which will be of interest. They deal with abuse of process at arbitration, entitlement of part-time and custodial employees to miscellaneous leaves, and the balancing of religious freedom with other statutory requirements…

Ontario Proposes Key Reforms to the Framework for Collective Bargaining in the Education Sector

Significant proposed reforms to the existing framework for collective bargaining in the education sector may change the way school boards and unions negotiate agreements – and could impact the outcomes achieved at the table. Find out what may be in store…

Arbitrator Rules That He Has No Jurisdiction Over ETFO Central Grievance Concerning Report Cards

In a significant decision, Arbitrator Hayes has concluded that, as a Central Arbitrator, he does not have jurisdiction under the central terms of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) collective agreements to consider a grievance concerning a school board’s instructions to teachers regarding the preparation of report cards…

Advantage CPD: Labour Relations – It’s 2017 and Everything Old is New Again

With the new Saskatchewan Employment Act, pending federal labour law reforms, Alberta’s Bill 4 amending who has the right to strike and Ontario legislation under review, the labour relations world appears to be filled with change – and yet for practitioners many of these changes seem familiar. For those operating under collective agreements, change is less certain…