2012 Budget and OPS collective bargaining

4/18/2012

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2012 Ontario Budget

• In the 2011 Budget, the downsizing of the public

service (OPS and BPS combined) resulted in per

capita program spending at around $8,560, which is

the lowest among the provinces and 11% below the

average program spending across the other nine

provincial governments.

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2012 Ontario Budget

• Ontario delivers government services with the lowest

number of public service employees at 7.4 per 1,000

of population

• This is lower than any other province or the federal

government.

• But it’s not enough!

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2012 Ontario Budget

• In the 2011 Budget, the government put the

emphasis on deficit reduction, largely on the backs of

the OPS and the Broader Public Service, and this

theme continues in the 2012 Budget.

• Central to the government’s plan to balance the

budget by 2017/2018 is “strong action to manage

current and future compensation costs”.

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2012 Ontario Budget and its Implications for Bargaining

• The Budget states that to ensure that the fiscal

goals are met, the deficit is eliminated and that

key services such as Health and Education are

preserved, collective bargaining has to be linked to

the sustainability of public services.

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• The Budget targets three key sets of negotiations in

2012:

– the education sector – Teachers and education

workers

– Ontario Doctors (OMA)

– Ontario Public Service, specifically OPSEU and

AMAPCEO

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• While the Budget’s wording is rather vague and

opaque, there are two conclusions we can draw from

it:

– No money will be brought to the table.

– The Budget is based on no increases in

compensation in collective bargaining.

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• In his budget speech, Duncan stated that the

government respects the collective bargaining

process and its public-sector partners.

• Duncan also stated in his speech that they are

“prepared to propose the necessary administrative

and legislative measures to protect the public from

service disruptions”.

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2012 Ontario Budget and its Implications for the OPS

• The government repeated its commitment to a

further reduction of the OPS by 1,500 positions

starting April 2012 and to be completed by March

2014.

• 1,000 of these positions have already been identified

• However, the government states that this reduction

of the OPS will not compromise essential front-line

core services.

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2012 Ontario Budget and its Implications for the OPS

• The Budget document is purposely vague

• It is the enabling legislation that will be tabled over

the coming months that will make the government’s

intentions clear

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OPS Bargaining - Timelines

• Local Demand Setting Meetings to be completed by May

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• Results of Local Demand Setting meeting (including

election results) to be submitted to the Regional Offices

by June 4

• Regional Bargaining Conferences on June 9 (Saturday)

• Central Bargaining Conference on June 23 (Saturday)

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OPS Bargaining – Timelines (cont’d)

• Team training – September 10 – 14

• Team begins to formulate bargaining proposals

• Notice to bargain – October 1

• November 5 – bargaining begins!

• While this is happening , OPSEU begins the process of

assembling Essential/Emergency Services (EES)

agreements from previous round of bargaining for follow

up by locals

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OPS Bargaining – Timelines (cont’d)

• If required, teams may present Essential/Emergency

Services (EES) agreements to employer beginning

December 14

• December 31 – Collective Agreement expires

• If no deal by December 31, the Team will review and

present EES proposals to the employer in January 2013

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OPS Bargaining – Suggested Demands for Bargaining

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What changes to the collective agreement will protect

public services for Ontarians? Our contract should be a

barrier to dismantling public services.

• What are the greatest threats to my job?

• What can we take to the table that will prevent the

employer from dividing and conquering us?

• What action am I willing to take?

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• This will be a tough round of bargaining

• Every round of bargaining is challenging

• We need to position ourselves so our collective

agreement protects public services

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People rely on public services. And public services

rely on the people delivering them getting a fair

contract. These are demanding jobs, and …the

people doing them should be treated fairly –

nothing more.”

Toronto Star, February 2, 2012

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Job Security

• Based on our experience working with Article 20 and its

attendant appendices, it has become apparent that the

OPS job security language is not working for our

members.

• As of February 2012, 24.7% of surplussed members have

found permanent assignments. This is an increase from

the 18% placement rate in November 2011, but there is

still plenty of room for improvement.

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Job Security (cont’d)

• In addition, unlike previous rounds of layoffs where

the majority of surplussed employees elected to take

their severance packages and leave the OPS, now the

majority of surplussed employees are electing to stay

with the OPS, putting additional pressure on an

already flawed system.

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•Improve language regarding contracting out, and the

use of contractors and agency staff

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•Revert back to Ministry-driven process, rather than

HROntario

•Experience has shown us that that in the past when

the Ministries were responsible for the redeployment

and displacement of their own employees, we had a

much higher placement rate for surplussed employees

than we do now with the HROntario OPS-wide process.

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•Reduce the ability of front-line managers to veto an

employee who is redeploying or displacing into their

work unit

•The employer needs to regain control of the process

•Barring that, the ministries should be held accountable

for the authority which MGS has abdicated

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•Replace “qualified” with such wording as “minimally qualified”

or “entry level requirements”

•Article 20.3.1 (c) has the term “qualified” as the requirement for

placement into a regular vacancy and it is the same requirement

for displacement and for the temporary assignments of Article

20.8 and Appendix 40.

•The OPS and GSB have interpreted it to mean “fully”, e.g. no

training, only orientation, required which further restricts our

ability to place surplussed employees.

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•Before any pre-notices are issued, solicit early

retirements and voluntary exits from more senior

employees.

•Voluntary layoffs can reduce displacement and

redeployment, which in turn reduces the number of

actual layoffs

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•The current VEO language (Article 20.7) does not

work, largely because Article 20.7.6 disallows anyone

who can qualify for an actuarially unreduced pension to

take a VEO

•Early retirements and VEOs have been used

successfully in other public sector collective

agreements, such as the Central Hospital agreements

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•Allow job trades (Article 10.3.2) for Article 20

•Similar to Article 20.7, job trades would allow those

employees who wish to leave the OPS an opportunity

to do so, while reducing the number of redeployments

and displacements

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•Surplus Factor 80

•If we are unable to renew Surplus Factor 80, allow

those employees who received their surplus notices

after June 30, 2012 to access Surplus Factor 80 if they

achieve SF80 during their 6 month notice period, even

if their notice period ends after December 31, 2012

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•Surplus Factor 80 (cont’d)

•At present, anyone surplussed after June 30th won't be

"laid off" by December 31st

•For example, if you are surplused on October 1, 2012

and reach your SF80 on October 15 or even have

already passed your SF80, you won't be "laid off" by

December 31 and therefore have no access to SF80.

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•Strengthen Paragraph 2 of Appendix 40 (which is tied

to Article 19)

•Paragraph 2, which deals with Temporary Vacancies, is

much weaker than Article 20.8

•Ministries “shall” consider, rather than “encouraged”

to consider employees for temporary assignments

•Lower the threshold of 50 layoffs in a program or

service

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•Enhance technological change language (Article

20.14.1)

•With any introduction of technological change, the

employer will pay for the training

•The employer to give advance notice of technological

change to allow the parties time to plan training and

up-skilling of employees

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•Conditional Assignments

•The Conditional Assignments language in Appendix 40,

Paragraph 7, allows for conditional assignments for 5

months, while Article 20.12 only allows for conditional

assignments in the last month of the notice period

•The Article 20.12 language has resulted in no

placements

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•Conditional Assignments (cont’d)

•When the displacement occurred at the end of the 4th

month, immediately followed by the conditional

assignment period it was more meaningful. The

commencement of the conditional assignment period

need not wait until after displacement if we moved

displacement back to the second last week of the

notice period, as it was in the early 1990s.

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Other provisions of the Collective Agreement

• Strengthen Training & Development language

(Appendix UN3, Appendix COR6)

• If there are no dollars attached to training &

development, the language is not helpful to our

members

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Other provisions of the Collective Agreement (cont’d)

•Work Arrangements

•Workload

– Strengthen Appendix 30 language

•Flexible Hours of Work

– Enhance and strengthen Appendix 42

– Put template in agreement

– Remove employer’s ability to unilaterally cancel such

agreements

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Other provisions of the Collective Agreement

•Work Arrangements (cont’d)

•Tele-work

– MGS is telling the ministries that Telework

agreements require the agreement of the union

(like CWWs). However, there is no CA language.

– Incorporate language in agreement that tele-work

agreements expire with “No Board” report

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•Students

•The government has always exempted itself from providing

certain provisions of the Employment Standards Act to direct

government employees, including percent in lieu of vacation and

holidays.

•For most employees, this does not matter as the collective

agreement is superior to the ESA, but in the 2008 round of

bargaining, the employer informed OPSEU that it was ending its

long-standing practice of paying percent in lieu of holiday and

vacation pay to students.

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•Students (cont’d)

•It is shameful that an employer that prides itself on being an

“employer of choice” should treat its student employees in such

a shabby fashion.

•Therefore, we are proposing the following amendments:

– % in lieu of vacation and holidays

– Supply uniforms on same basis as permanent staff

– Students to be paid at same rate of pay as regular staff

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•Union Time

•Add leave for miscellaneous reasons

•Allow MERC chairs to use Article 23.9 paid time off for

MERC business

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•Mass Centralized Recruitment (Appendix 39)

•Define the 12 month period in paragraph (a) as

beginning the closing date of the job posting

•The employer’s position is that the 12 month period

starts at the assignment date of the last successful

applicant in the first round – this is too confusing!

•The closing date of the job posting is more easily

defined

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Health & Safety

Precautionary Principle

• A commitment that the employer not wait for

scientific certainty before taking preventative action

to address issues that cause psychological or physical

harm to workers

• Or even more simply, to err on the side of caution

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Health & Safety (cont’d)

Musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) prevention

> Employer in consultation with the joint health and

safety committee and/or health and safety

representative to develop a program and measures

and procedures to prevent musculoskeletal injuries

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Bullying and Harassment

> That the employer prevent bullying and harassment in

the workplace

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•Recognition and Prevention of Psychosocial Hazards

•Employer to work with Joint H & S Committees and

H & S Representatives to prevent mental distress from

work factors

•A commitment to recognize and prevent aspects of

work that cause physical or mental harm to workers

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•Scent Awareness Policies

•The employer, in consultation with Joint H & S

Committees or H & S representatives, shall develop

awareness policies regarding fragrances and other

scented products in the workplace

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• Technical Advice to Joint Health and Safety Committees

and health and safety representatives

• Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers

(OHCOW) is a recognized and competent source for

expert advice on technical issues such as ergonomics or

occupational hygiene and is useful to employers,

workers, JHSCs and health and safety representatives

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Workers Health and Safety Training

• To be provide by the Worker Health & Safety Centre

(WHSC)

• WHSC is the agreed upon provider of health and

safety training for the OPS

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2012 Budget and OPS collective bargaining

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Transcript of 2012 Budget and OPS collective bargaining