Government ordered to apply Collective Agreement to Court Reporters
On March 1, 2013, the Grievance Settlement Board issued an order to the Government of Ontario that the Collective Agreement must apply to all court transcript work.
The Ministry of Attorney General has continued to refuse to implement the Hunt Award issued last September. GSB Vice-Chair Nimal Dissanayake has issued an award ordering that “The employer shall forthwith cease its violation of the collective agreement by failing to apply the collective agreement to Court Reporters”… and… “The employer shall forthwith apply the collective agreement to court reporters performing bargaining unit work of production of transcripts…”.
This is another major victory for Court Reporters tasked with the important work or taking, producing and certifying court transcripts in the Province of Ontario. As a result of this award, taking and producing court records is all bargaining unit work. Therefore, the collective agreement is applied to the people performing this work. Workers are entitled to get hourly wages, shift premiums, overtime, benefits, pension credits, etc.
It is important to note that the government was clear in their submission that “its intention is to…contract out the work of producing transcripts.”
Court Reporters are once again encouraged to get all transcript work authorized by their supervisor in advance of completing the transcript. This ensures that you will be properly paid if you have to do the work in the evening or on a weekend.
