Grievance

Locals in OPSEU SEFPO frequently come to agreements with Employers on the best way to implement Collective Agreement rights and procedures between bargaining cycles. This is a fairly predictable need – sometimes only when the parties are implementing a new right do they realize that it looks different from what they were expecting.  The parties...

The worker who files a grievance has choices along the way about how it gets resolved.  The grievor can agree to resolve the issue through a negotiated settlement agreement, can choose to proceed to an arbitration hearing where an arbitrator will issue a final and binding legal decision on the grievance, or at any time...

Filed a grievance late? The Arbitrator has the power to extend the timelines Most, if not all, collective agreements provide a timeline within which a worker is permitted to file a grievance. Some Collective Agreement provide a generous timeline, such as 30 days in the Ontario Public Service, others as little as seven days in...

The OPSEU/SEFPO Grievance Form has been given a fresh update for the first time in decades.  The changes are subtle but important to polish up this tool to enforce the rights workers have fought for and won in their contracts and legislation.  The revised form is cleaner and more streamlined, to eliminate duplication and unnecessary...

Sometimes the road to enforce negotiated benefits is complicated and involves a lot of stops on the way. This is a post about a series of decisions about a letter of understanding in the MPAC Collective Agreement. This letter outlined the compensation that employees were entitled to when leaving their employment and was intended to...

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 claims have left workers without...

After Canada’s Governor General proclaimed September 30 a federal holiday in honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2021, the Ontario Government refused to recognize the holiday for Ontario Public Service (OPS) employees in 2022. It was a shameful move on the part of the Ford government, given that the time for...

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...

View the decision View the memorandum of settlement here On October 26, 2022, the Grievance Settlement Board (GSB) issued a decision related to the mandatory completion and submission of COVID-19 “Rapid Antigen Tests” by employees on their own time, before attending the workplace (please see attached the decision in GSB #2021- 3633 and 2021-4288). This...

More than 150 community members, OPSEU/SEFPO members, labour activists and allies gathered outside Community Living Association for South Simcoe’s (CLASS) head office in Alliston, Ontario, on March 7 to protest the termination of three union leaders from OPSEU/SEFPO Local 332 who were fired for raising health and safety issues in the workplace. The rally received...

Over 50 people rallied today in Alliston, Ontario to send a message to Community Living Association for South Simcoe (CLASS) Executive Director, Andrew Walker, to protect the safety of Developmental Service workers at CLASS and reverse his unfair firing of three workers who raised Health and Safety issues. Participants included workers, community members, and allies...

ALLISTON ON – The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO) is calling for the employer at Community Living Association for South Simcoe (CLASS) to take immediate action in the wake of numerous incidents of workplace violence in the past year.  CLASS staff, who are members of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 332, have faced an increase in physical...