What’s a Blawg? A Blawg is an online journal or blog dealing with topics related to the law.
This Blawg will contain posts with tidbits of legal info you might find useful in your toolbox for building worker power within OPSEU/SEFPO. Various staff in the Contract Enforcement Division will contribute posts on useful cases and topics. The format will be posts, not a textbook nor comprehensive — rather, a way to share sparks of knowledge you can use while organizing, bargaining, and enforcing workers’ rights.
The Contract Enforcement Division of OPSEU/SEFPO includes the Arbitrations Unit, the Pension and Benefits Unit, and the Worker Safety Unit.
If you have specific questions about contract enforcement issues in your workplace, please speak with your coworkers, steward, local president or connect with OPSEU/SEFPO staff.
Contract Enforcement Blawgs:
Case Comment: Workers fight to respect the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation Holiday
In 2021, the Federal government enacted Bill C-5 to create a new federal holiday to be observed on September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The purpose was to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Call to Action #80 by creating a holiday which seeks
Case Comment: Protecting Precarious Employment
In the College sector, partial-load Academic employees deal with a form of precarious employment that involves a series of semester long contracts. Because the work is divided into contracts which last a few months and are episodic in nature, disputes naturally arise with the Employer about what rights these workers
Fighting the WSIB’s Alarming Record of Denying Chronic Mental Stress Claims
The fight to advance workers’ rights includes pushing to expand and enforce just compensation for injured workers. On one front, some progress has been won to recognize chronic mental stress as a compensable workplace injury in Ontario in recent years. But the large number of denials for chronic mental stress
Case Comment: How the “precautionary principle” allowed TDSB to put some workers on unpaid leave
COVID-19 has been a complex challenge for employers – and unions – to balance the rights and interests of workers in the face of a global pandemic. In a key decision in March of 2022, the well-respected arbitrator William Kaplan issued a decision about a grievance filed by CUPE Local
Classic Case Comment: Challenging Employers’ rules with the “KVP test”
OPSEU/SEFPO members often want to know when and how they can use the grievance process to challenge unreasonable Employer edicts. Arbitrators have ruled that Employers do have the legal power to issue policies and rules unilaterally under their right to manage the workplace. But this power is not without limitations.
Pension to the Max – Deciding when it’s best to begin receiving payments
“Normal retirement age” in Canada is age 65. This is when you can begin to collect your full Canada Pension (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS), and employer pension payments. You may choose to continue working and delay receiving your pension payment. But you can’t delay your pension payments forever. Income