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HomeMy WebLinkAboutManfred 88-09-12 ONTARIO PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION (hereinafter called the Union) - and - SHERIDAN COLLEGE (hereinafter called the Employer) - and - CLASSIFICATION GRIEVANCE OF MR. MANFRED PIESKE SOLE ARBITRATOR PROFESSOR IAN A. HUNTER APPEARANCES: FOR THE UNION: Mr. Russ Ellerton, Grievance Officer Mr. Manfred Pieske, Grievor Ms. Carol Eayrs, Chief Steward FOR THE COLLEGE: Mr. Paul Matthews, Director of Human Resources Mr. David MacDougall, Director, Audio-Visual, Television and Technical Services Ms. Marnie Parkin, Assistant Director of Human Resources A HEARING WAS HELD IN OAKVILLE, ONTARIO ON SEPTEMBER 7, 1988. AWARD (a) Introduction The Grievor, Manfred Pieske, was classified originally as a Technician C. Subsequently, following a review by the College Classification Committee, he was classified as a Technologist Atypical. His grievance (Exhibit 1) alleges improper classification. The Union and the College agree on all job factors except Job Difficulty. The Job Difficulty factor has two components: Complexity and Judgement. The parties are agreed'on Judgement (i.e., Level Four). Consequently, the single remaining issue in dispute relates to Complexity. The College has classified Complexity at D: "Work involves the performance of varied, non-routine complex tasks that normally require different and unrelated processes and methods." The Union submits that the proper classification should be E: "Work involves the performance of non-routine and relatively unusual tasks that may require the application of specialized processes or methods." (b) Overview of the Position The position falls within the Audio-Visual, Television and Technical Services Department. It is located at the Credit Valley School of Nursing, a smaller satellite campus (approximately twenty-five full-time faculty and three hundred and forty-five students) away from the larger Brampton and Oakville campuses. The position involves an 8:30 a.m.-4:30 a.m. work day. There is an audio-visual office in the basement of the nursing school (located at the junction of Highway 10 and ~he Q.E.W.) . The Grievor is the only audio-visual technician at the Credit Valley Nursing School. Audio-visual equipment such as 16mm projector, overhead projector, and slide projector are kept at the office. One function of the position is to assist nursing faculty to obtain the equipment they need and to ensure that the equipment is functioning propezly. A program of preventative maintenance is designed to keep equipment in repair. The incumbent makes minor equipment repairs while major repairs are sent to technical services. The incumbent receives telephone calls throughout the work day concerning equipment or film rentals. He orders supplies by requisition form approved by his supervisor, Mr. Boris Zawadski. He instructs nursing faculty on the correct use of equipment. And, on two occasions, he has made video tapes (one on bathing babies, the other on depression) as teaching aids. These video tapes were made by the same process as a home video: single camera, no editing beyond stopping and starting the film, etc. I summarized these job functions (comprising in total approximately thirty percent of the Grievor's work day) because nothing in the Grievor's evidence concerning these functions, whether considered individually or cumulatively, would persuade me that the current classification of Job Difficulty is in error. The crux of the Union's case turned on the other seventy percent of the Grievor's working-day, what might be called the Graphics function. The phrasing of the Position Description Form (P.D.F.) is, I consider, significant: "Conceptualizes and designs graphic materials requiring specialized technical and theoretical knowledge to develop audio-visual instruction learning resources with emphasis on medical charts, illustrations, technical drawings, posters, and three-dimensional technical artwork." The Grievor's office at Credit Valley is located directly across from the Learning Resources Centre. This Centre is set up as a ten bed hoSpital ward, with an adjacent classroom. The Grievor estimated that he performed seventy percent of his "Graphics" functions for Ms. Sue Ranchka, the nurse in charge of the Learning Resources Centre. For her he makes a variety of teaching aids. He also, on occasion, makes posters or displays for other departments at the College. Mr. MacDougall, the Director of Audio-Visual, Television and Technical Services, supported the Grievor's estimate that seventy percent of his working day is spent on "Graphics" and seventy'percent of the Graphics work is, in turn, done for the Learning Resources Centre. Mr. Pieske brought to the hearing three samples of his work: (1) A bristol board display on Inhalers, made up from an explanatory brochure given to him by MS. Ranchka. This instructional aid.is designed to teach nursing students the correct use of inhalers. It was made up using a Leroy Lettering process. All decisions (i.e. organization, use of colour, use of pictures - which were hand-drawn from pictures in the pamphlet - highlighting, etc.) were made by the Grievor. Ms. Ranchka gave him the pamphlet and simply said: "I'd like you to display this somehow". (2) The second display was also done for Ms. Ranchka and was on Injection Sites. Again the Grievor received minimal instruction from Ms. Ranchka but devised the method of presentation (using an acetate overlay) entirely on his own. (3) The third, and most impressive, display was on Contraception. This was done at the request of staff nurses at the Brampton campus. Working from two pages of text, the Grievor devised a display which stands on a wooden platform, has a wooden fixed pillar displaying the various methods of contraception, and an octagonal mobile drum which rotates allowing a striking visual presentation of all the relevant information. The rotating display drum was the Griever's idea. The design and execution of it (from Foamcare board) was his idea. The construction of the rotating drum was his. The wooden base was actually cut to his specifications by a maintenance handyman. The Griever conceded that this was the "most complex" and "most unusual" project he had undertaken. He estimated that, with interruptions, it probably took him a week to complete. Mr. MacDougall testified that the three teaching aids exhibited at the hearing were "a fair representation" of the kind of projects required from the Griever's position. (c) Decision The issue in this case is a. narrow, focused one~ Only one- half (i.e. Complexity) of one factor (i.e. Job Difficulty) is in dispute. When I examine the difference between the College's rating (D) and the Union's rating (E), two questions which should govern this decision emerge: (1) Are the tasks which the Griever's function requires him to perform "relatively unusual"a · 6 (2) Do these tasks require the application of "specialized" processes and methods? On the evidence, I have concluded that the answer to both questions must be "yes" (1) The Grievor's tasks are unusual. They are unusual in that he is the only technician at Sheridan College doing Graphics for the Learning Resources Centre. They are unusual in that the project requirements are different every time. They are unusual in that (judging from the three teaching exhibits referred to at the hearing) the projects differ among themselves and call for a different method of execution each time. There is no routine method of making a project. There is not even a non-routine method. The Grievor must, on each occasion, create an effective method of presentation ex nihilo. "Unusual" means "different from what is usual, out of the ordinary". From the evidence before me, the Grievor's tasks are out of the ordinary even for a trained audio-visual technician. (2) The Grievor's tasks require "specialized processes or methods". I include here not only the technical methods to execute the project (i.e. Leroy Lettering, Letraset, photographic processes, etc. , but the creation of a suitable medium for the project. The decision about using a rotating drum, for example, in the Contraception project is itself, in my opinion, a "specialized" method. In other words, the Grievor's job functions require specialization of both conception and execution. Indeed the P.D.F. itself, jointly agreed to by the College, recognizes this: "...requiring specialized technical and theoretical knowledge to develop audio-visual instructional learning resources" At the hearing three different dictionary definitions of "specialized" were referred to. I shall mention only one definition, that in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1970: "To render special or specific; to invest with a special character or function." This seems to me to exactly capture what is required of the Grievor on each new project. But I also agree with Mr. Matthews' submission that arbitrators must not be mesmerized by dictionary definitions, nor can job classification turn upon which dictionary is consulted. Rather, the amount of specialization in the task must depend upon the arbitrator's assessment of the viva vote evidence. Here the evidence satisfied me that the Grievor's "relatively unusual" tasks cannot be executed except by the application of "specialized" processes and methods. From the evidence presented, and from the P.D.F. itself, E is the "best fit" description of Complexity. AccOrdingly, the grievance of Manfred Pieske is allowed. The position is to be re-classified as E4 on Job Difficulty for 8 a total of 634 points, payband 10. DATED at the City of London this [~.day of ~~ , 1988. Pr/- essor I'an A. Hunter S~e Arbitrator