Legal decisions

In November 2021, in a stated attempt to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the OPS including the Ministry of the Solicitor General and the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services introduced the “Ontario Public Service COVID-19 Safe Workplace Directive”. The Directive required mandatory COVID-19 rapid antigen testing for all unvaccinated staff entering...

In any Collective Agreement, the grievance procedure will include required steps and timelines for those steps.  Employers love to make technical legal arguments and try to avoid dealing with the real problem a worker is raising at the heart of a grievance.  It’s important for the Union to stay on our toes about procedures, as...

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 to honour First Nations, Inuit...

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 have to further work, 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...

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. There are circumstances in which...

“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 Tax Act regulations mean you...

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...

Doug Ford rammed through Bill 124 last year. This legislation amounts to unacceptable interference with our collective bargaining rights enshrined in the constitution. OPSEU will not allow it to stand unchallenged. Bill 124 is a violation of section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, undermining our rights to free collective bargaining. By...

Toronto – The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) filed a charter challenge today regarding the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Labour Dispute Resolution Act, also known as Bill 178. The union maintains this Act, which forced an end to the college faculty strike in November 2017, violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and...

Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President of OPSEU, will be on the Roy Green radio show on Sunday, August 27 at approximately 4:05 p.m. to discuss a fine imposed on the Royal Ottawa Hospital. On August 16, the hospital was fined $75,000 – three years after a patient attacked and repeatedly stabbed a nurse at its Brockville...

Toronto – A court ruling that the Ontario government violated the rights of education workers here has solidified collective bargaining rights for workers across Canada, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says. "Yesterday's decision is a great victory for education workers in Ontario," said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. "It confirms what we’ve been saying...