Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 397, March 2022

Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body

1. 17. The Committee last examined this case in which the complainants alleged that the Government of Ontario infringed the freedom of association rights of teachers and supporting personnel in the public education sector; in particular their right to choose representatives, to engage in free and meaningful collective bargaining and to engage in lawful strikes at its March 2017 meeting [see 381st Report, paras 140–172]. On that occasion, the Committee made the following recommendations [see para. 172]:
   • Encouraged by the developments in this case, the Committee asks the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that the Government of Ontario:
   • – engages in dialogue with the complainants with a view to finding an appropriate remedy for the violation of the complainants’ and their affiliates’ freedom of association rights. It requests the Government to keep it informed of any progress made in this respect; and
   • – in the future, will engage, at an early stage of the process, in full and frank consultations with the relevant workers’ and employers’ organizations on any questions or proposed legislation affecting trade union rights.
2. 18. In its communication dated 27 November 2021, the Government transmits the following reply from the Government of Ontario. The Government of Ontario reiterates that on 20 April 2016, the Superior Court found in applications brought by five education sector unions (Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF), Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and Unifor) that the 2012 Provincial Discussion Table (PDT) process and the Putting Students First Act, which followed the 2012 PDT process, unjustifiably violated section 2(d) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Putting Students First Act had delayed salary grid movement for 2012–14, required at least an unpaid day for teachers, and eliminated sick leave credit and retirement gratuity banking (replacing it with a short-term sick leave and disability plan). By agreement between the parties, the Court did not address the question of remedy in that decision. The Court encouraged the parties to engage in discussions on next steps prior to any further hearing on the question of remedy. The Government of Ontario indicates that all unions except the ETFO settled the question of remedy with the province in 2016 and 2017. The ETFO and Government of Ontario subsequently agreed to engage in mediation–arbitration before Justice Lederer. That mediation–arbitration was held on 16 and 17 June 2021. The parties are waiting for an arbitration decision from Justice Lederer.
3. 19. The Committee takes due note of the information provided by the Government. The Committee notes, in particular, that while several unions settled the question of remedies with the Government of Ontario in 2016 and 2017, the ETFO, one of the complainants in this case, opted for a mediation–arbitration procedure, which took place in June 2021. The Committee observes from the publicly available information that the arbitration award, issued on 2 February 2022, ordered the Government of Ontario to pay over US$103 million in damages for interference in public elementary educators’ bargaining rights and that this decision is final and fully binding on both parties. In these circumstances, the Committee considers that this case does not call for further examination and is closed.