Workplace Wire - Connecting Employers to Developments in Labour, Employment & Pension Law

Dans une décision rendue aux petites heures du matin vendredi dernier, le président de la Commission des relations de travail de l’Ontario (« CRTO »), Bernard Fishbein, a tranché que les manifestations politiques que planifiait la Fédération des enseignantes et des enseignants de l’élémentaire de l’Ontario (« FEEO ») étaient illicites. Le président de la CRTO a conclu que toute interruption de travail en raison de telles manifestations, même si celles-ci étaient à caractère purement politique, était interdite par la Loi de 1995 sur les relations de travail (« LRTO »). Alors que la décision impliquait seulement la FEEO, elle s’applique vraisemblablement à toutes les enseignantes et à tous les enseignants de la province.

En fait, cette conclusion n’est pas si surprenante. En vertu de la LRTO et de la Loi de 2012 donnant la priorité aux élèves (le fameux projet de loi 115), tout arrêt de travail entrepris alors qu’une convention collective est en vigueur est strictement interdit. Or, le 2 janvier dernier, la ministre de l’Éducation imposait de nouveaux contrats de travail par voie de décret aux employeurs et aux syndicats du secteur de l’éducation toujours sans contrat suite à l’expiration de leurs conventions collectives le 31 août dernier. Ces décrets ont pris effet sur le champ et les nouveaux contrats de travail sont en vigueur pour une période de deux ans, soit jusqu’au 31 août 2014. Quoique plusieurs syndicats du secteur de l’éducation se sont opposés vigoureusement au projet de loi 115 – notamment en en contestant la validité constitutionnelle devant les tribunaux – les conventions collectives renouvelées demeureront valides, à moins d’avis contraire par les tribunaux.

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Today the NDP MPP from Essex, Taras Natyshak, tabled an amendment to the Labour Relations Act that would allow unions (and employers) to apply for interest arbitration in a long lockout (or strike) where conciliation or mediation has failed.  The Board would be empowered to order interest arbitration for all outstanding issues if it determines that the strike or lockout has been ongoing for 180 days and  a collectively bargained settlement is unlikely within 30 days.  If the Board orders interest arbitration, the strike or lockout is immediately brought to an end, employees are to be reinstated on terms and conditions of employment frozen at the pre-labour dispute levels, and the dispute would be referred to interest arbitration.  The parties would be given the opportunity to agree upon a private arbitrator, but failing agreement, the Labour Relations Board would appoint one.  A decision must be rendered within 45 days and is binding upon the parties for a period of two years.

This legislation is a copycat bill substantially mirroring amendments made to the Manitoba labour relations statute about a decade ago.  There is little experience with the Manitoba legislation as the Manitoba board has issued decisions in only a handful of cases.  What is clear though is that the legislation substantially impacts upon the bargaining dynamic in tough rounds of bargaining in that province.  Its noteworthy that in Manitoba, an application can be made after only 60 days of strike or lockout.

While this bill is a private member’s bill, it is nevertheless very concerning as it is reflective of a current and disturbing trend by government to interfere with the fundamentals of free collective bargaining.  It will be important to closely watch the response that it receives in the Legislature

On October 15, 2011, workers at US Steel's "Hilton Works" in Hamilton voted to accept the Company's final offer, ending a lockout that had begun over 11 months earlier.  This lockout represented the longest labour-management confrontation in Hamilton labour history, and ended in a settlement that many regard as a foregone conclusion, despite the Union's long and determined struggle to maintain the status quo.  (The best descriptions of the ongoing dispute can be found in the Hamilton Spectator, including the most recent article written by Steve Arnold). 

A copy of the terms of the agreement can be found here: US Steel-USW Tentative Agreement Oct 2011.pdf

At some level, USW Local 1005 members and its executive "took one for the team" by holding out for so long, in what many outsiders (including this author) regarded as an impossible struggle.

The defining issues in the lockout were economic, the largest one being the Company's demand for concessions on the pension plan.  The Company wanted to de-index pension benefits for current and future retirees under the existing defined-benefit pension plan, and close the defined-benefit plan to any new employees.  Instead, new employees would have their retirement security provided through a group RRSP, and the company's liabilities would be capped at its per-hour contributions.

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On June 21, 2011, the federal government introduced Bill C-6, the Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act to bring an end to the Canada Post labour dispute that had commenced with rotating strikes on June 2, 2011, and became a lockout on June 14.

Like Bill C-5, the Continuing Air Service for Canadians Act, Bill C-6 provides for resolution of the dispute by means of interest arbitration, using the "final offer selection" method.

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