HomeMy WebLinkAboutUnion 90-02-20
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GRIEVANCE AWARD
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Headnote: 89A224 and 89B589
HEADNOTE
OPSEU FILE # 89A224 & g16(gi
OPSEU Local # 657
union Grievances & Canadaore College
Award Dat~ ~ebruary 20, 1.~90 (Brown)
WORKLOAD - College using full-time faculty members to teach in the
Continuing Education program which results in the faculty members
in question having workloads which exceed the maxima set out in the
collective agreement - Facul ty members undertaking such work
vOluntarily - No agreement between Local Union and College in this
regard - College negotiating arrangements directly with the faculty
members in question.
GRIEVANCE UPHELD - The college is in violation of the workload
provisions when it assigns work to fulltime faculty members which
exceed the maxima set out in the collective agreement even where
such work is outside the normal duties of a teaChing master (ie
Continuing Education) and even where the faculty member undertakes
such work voluntarily unless the College has an agreement with the
Local Union - There is still an assignment of work by the college
even though the faculty member undertakes the work vOluntarily.\
David Wright
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IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION
BETWEEN:
CAN ADORE COLLEGE
(The Emp19yer)
AND:
ONTARIO PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION
(The Union)
AND IN THE MATTER OF UNION GRIEVANCES RE ARTICLE 4 AND 7.02
85B589 AND 89A224
BOARD OF ARBITRATION:
HOWARD D. BROWN, CHAIRMAN
DAVID CAMELETTI, EMPLOYER NOMINEE
W. MAJESKY, UNION NOMINEE
APPEARANCES FOR THE
EMPLOYER:
ANN E. BURKE, COUNSEL
AND OTHERS
APPEARANCES FOR THE
UNION:
DAVID WRIGHT, COUNSEL
AND OTHERS
A HEARING IN THIS MATTER WAS HELD AT NORTH BAY ON SEPTEMBER
28TH, 1989.
AWARD
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A grievance was filed by the Union on November 21st,
1988, alleging a violation of Article 4 with regard to the
use of full-time faculty members in Continuing Education
courses in addition to the regular work load. The Union
filed a grievance on February 15th, 1989, claiming a
violation of Article 7.02 of the Collective Agreement with
regard to the hiring of Michael Lamb, Ron Davidson and
vickie Paine-Mandha. The grievances were processed through
the grievance procedure of the Collective Agreement and not
being resolved were referred to arbitration in accordance
with the terms of that agreement. There is no dispute as to
the composition of the Board of Arbitration nor as to its
jurisdiction in this matter.
The Agreed Statement of Facts filed by the parties
at the hearing are as follows:
1. There are no local agreements between
Canadore College (The "College") and
O.P.S.E.U., Local 657 (the "Union")
regarding the question of full-time
faculty members teaching courses offered
by Canadore's School of Continuing
Education, in addition to their regular
workload in the College's regular, full-time
day programs.
2. By memo dated November 7, 1988, to the
president of the Union, Dean Barner, from
Mr. Bill Garrett, Dean of Instruction, the
College informed the Union that full-time
faculty members could be hired to work in
Continuing Education (part-Time Studies),
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in addition to their regular workload,
provided the full-time faculty member
undertook such work voluntarily. At that
time, the College also took the position that
payment for such work wold be negotiated
directly with the faculty member involved.
3. On November 21, 1988, the Union filed a
grievance against this policy.
4. During the winter term of the 1988-89 academic
year, three full-time faculty members (Michael
Lamb, Ron Davidson and Vickie Paine-Mantha)
were employed by the College to work in
Continuing Eduction in addition to their
regular workload.
5. When the three full-time faculty members noted
in paragraph 4 above, taught in Continuing
Education during the winter term of 1988-89,
they were paid by the Continuing Education
Department as a separate entry on their regular
paycheques. The teaching involved was not
recorded on their Standard Workload Forms (SWF)
nor was there a reduction of any kind made to
their SWF1s to accommodate hours taught in
Continuing Education. The rates paid to these
three full-time faculty members for these hours
were negotiated directly between the
individuals involved and Continuing Education.
No formal written agreements were entered into
in respect of teaching in Continuing Education.
6. Continuing Education courses are usually
scheduled between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
in the evening, one night per week for three
hours as "one semester" courses. They are
directed to an adult 'clientele between the
ages of 25 and 50.
7. The subject areas taught are Business,
Technical Studies, Health Services, courses
leading to certification by outside agencies
such as real estate licensing and, General
Interest courses such as dancing, painting,
guitar. These courses do not necessarily
require approval from the Ministry of Colleges
and Universities (the "Ministry") before they
may be offered.
3. "Approved" or "Credit" courses are funded by
the Ministry, when taught under the auspices of
Continuing Education, on the basis of 1080
hours as one (1) funding unit. Full-time day
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courses are funded by the Ministry at the rate
of 759 hours as one (1) funding unit. The
resulting difference in funding is $2;675.11,
as between full-time day courses ($6,866.92)
and continuing education courses which have
been "approved" or are "credit" courses
($4,191.81). In addition, continuing education
courses (which are not "approved" or "credit"
courses) are sometimes funded by such outside
agencies as the purchasing Management
Association of Canada, the Ontario Real Estate
Association or by other fees charged directly
to businesses. Other continuing education
courses such as general interest courses are
unfunded.
9. Full-time day courses are taught as part of
various programs by full-time faculty members
and lead to a certificate or diploma. They are
aimed at recent secondary school graduates and
are generally scheduled to begin between the
hours of 8:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. These courses
are fully funded by the Ministry and require
that Ministry's approval before they can be
offered. These courses are offered as part of
one to three year programs in which the student
is enrolled as a regular, full-time student.
10. Students enrolled in Continuing Education
courses (who are not full-time post secondary
students) do not receive credit toward any of
the full-time, day programs offered by the
College.
11. On February 15, 1989, the Union filed a
grievance against the hiring of Michael Lamb,
Ron Davidson and Vickie Paine-Mandha.
Those parts of Article 4 referred to in this dispute
are as follows:
4.01 (1) Each teacher shall have a workload that
adheres to the provisions of this Article.
4.01 (2)(a) Total workload assigned and attributed
by the College to a teacher shall not exceed
forty-four (44) hours in any week for up to thirty-
six (36) weeks in which there are teaching contact
hours for teachers in post-secondary programs
including nursing and for up to thirty-eight (38)
weeks in which there are teaching contact hours in
the case of teachers not in post-secondary programs.
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The balance of the academic year shall be reserved
for complementary functions and professional
development.
Workload
( i )
( i i )
( iii)
factors to be considered are:
teaching contact hours
attributed hours for preparation
attributed hours for evaluation and
feedback
attributed hours for complementary
functions.
(iv)
4.01 (2) (b) A "teaching contact hours" is a College
scheduled teaching hour asigned to the teacher. by the
College.
4.01 (3) Each teaching contact hour shall be
assigned as a fifty (50) minute block plus a break
of up to ten (10) minutes.
The voluntary extension of the teaching contact
hour beyond fifty (50) minutes by the teacher and
any student(s) by not taking breaks or by re-
arranging breaks or by the teacher staying after the
period to consult with any student(s) shall not
constitute an additional teaching contact hour..
4.01 (4) (b) No more than four (4) different course
preparations or six (6) different sections shall be
assigned to a teacher in a given week except by
voluntary agreement which shall not be unreasonably
withheld.
4.01 (8) (a) the College shall allow each teacher at
least ten (10) working days of professional
development in each academic year.
(b) Unless otherwise agreed between the teacher
and the supervisor, the allowance of ten (10) days
shall include one period of at least five (5)
consecutive working days for professional
development.
(c) The arrangements for such professional
development shall be made following discussion
between the supervisor and the teacher subject to
agreement between the supervisor and the teacher,
and such agreement shall not be unreasonably
withheld.
4.01 (12) (a) The contact day shall not exceed
eight (8) hours from the beginning of the first
assigned hour to the end of the last assigned hour.
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(d) A teacher may agree in writing to waive
the premium credits provided for in Article'
4.01(12)(c) above for a specified period of time.
4.02 (l)(b) The SWF shall include all details of the
total workload including teaching contact hours,
accumulated contact days, accumulated teaching
contact hours, number of sections, type and number
of preparations, type of evaluation/feedback
required by the curriculum, class size, attributed
hours, contact days, language of instruction and
complementary functions.
Article 7 deals with the exclusive functions of
Management specified in that Article and the reference in the
grievance to Article 7.02 is as follows:
The College has agreed that these functions will
be exercised in a manner consistent with the
provisions of this Agreement.
The Union alleges that the Employer has violated the
work load provisions of the Collective Agreement through
the policy of hiring regular faculty to work in the
Continuing Education or part-time studies over and above
their regular work load. The services of the Faculty are
arranged through direct negotiations between the College
and the individual as there is no local agreement to permit
this form of work. It is the Union's position that there
has been a violation of Article 4.01 as to the work load
provisions for these Teaching Masters. The Union requests
the Board to declare that there has been a violation of the
agreement and order that the practice cease and desist
immediately.
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The Employer's position is that the work was not
assigned to the Teaching Masters in the program by it and
therefore the intention to limit the Management's right to
assign work through the provisions of Article 4 is not
relevant. Reference in its submissions is made to Article
8.09 which is as follows:
Extension and Continuing Education programs
and courses which are not included in the
regular assignment of full-time employees are
excluded from the application of this 'Article
for all purposes.
Article 8 of the Agreement is headed "seniority." It is
the College's position that Article 4 does not apply in
the circumstances where the individual teaching in the
Continuing Education program is in addition to and not
included in the teacher's regular work load assignments
for the College.
Barbara Sauro is the program consultant in the
School of Continuing Education, a position in the support
staff bargaining unit and is responsible to set up the
Continuing Education courses and to recruit faculty members
to teach in the courses of Business Accounting, Health
S~ience, Micro Computer, Social Sciences and Secretarial
courses. She said she used a variety of methods to find
faculty to teach the courses, some volunteered their
services by telephone or by submitting a resume to the
Personnel Office who include College faculty, support staff
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and persons outside of the College. When the courses are
set for the semester, she would approach the person who
taught the course previously and as well would approach
full-time faculty who have taught in Continuing Education
courses before to ascertain their interest in teaching at
night. If so,_she would discuss the curriculum, salary
and the time for the courses. Sometimes advertisements for
instructors are placed in the local newspaper.. She uses many
contacts within the College and the community to find
instructors with expertise in the courses and who would be
appropriate to teach them. She would then approach these
persons for the purpose to obtain their services.
Mr. Davidson is a co-ordinator of the Business Accounting
courses at the College with whom she has contact as to
the accounting courses in the winter term. He told
her that if she was stuck to call him as he would teach at
night. If a faculty member refused her offer to teach one
of these night courses, she would not inquire as to his
reasons and would continue her search for someone else. She
was not aware of any full-time faculty member who was
disciplined for refusing to teach evening courses in
Continuing Education. She said that less than 10% of the
Continuing Education courses were taught by full-time
faculty.
It is the submission for the Union that there are
two limits on the workload of the faculty set out in
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Article 4 which deals with the total hours per week and
the total teaching hours per week. The teaching contact
hours are not to exceed 18 in any week under Article 4.01(9).
The contact day does not exceed 8 hours. The key document
in this calculation is the Standard Work Load Form set out
in Appendix (viii) of the Agreement and referred to
in Article 4.02 (l)(b). That provides the Union's
opportunity to monitor. the application by the College of
the workload provisions of the Agreement as all teaching
activities are to be included in the SWF's. On the facts of
this case the hours of teaching of the faculty members in
the Continuing Education were not contained in their SWS's
and was work over and above their regular work load as
:alculated under Article 4 and set out in their SWF's.
These individuals were involved in three teaching contact
hours in addition to their regular work load.
The Continuing Education courses are not par.t of
t~e seniority-lay-off provisions in Article 8 and there
:s no ~ention of such exceptions in Article 4 indicated
in Article 8.09. The Continuing Education cour.ses are
not included in the regular assignment to the full-time
faculty. A full-time faculty member would not have a right
on a lay-off to bump into Continuing Education to displace
someone not in the bargaining unit who was teaching a
course. Nothing in the agreement provides the right of
the College to schedule teaching hours outside of Article
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4. The faculty member who teaches in Continuing Education
is not covered by Article 8 which deals with seniority.
provision has been made in Article 4.01 (13) for a Union
Local and a College to agree in writing on terms governing
work load assignments but no local agreement exists at this
College. By Article 4.02 (7) it is recognized that the
College and the Union Local have the authority to agree to
a local application of Article 4. Therefore in its
submission if the Employer decides to assign full-time
faculty to work in Continuing Education, it can be done only
by a local agreement with the Union and it cannot by-pass the
Union and negotiate directly with individuals. That
cuts across the principle of collective bargaining.
Reference was made to re Mohawk College and OPSEU
(unreported - Kates, September 1988) in which award a
local agreement was upheld by the Board~ re Seneca college
and OPSEU (unreported - P.C. Picher, February 1988)~
re Fanshawe College and OPSEU (unreported - Burkett,
March 1989).
It was submitted by the Union that provisions in
Article 4 allows for the agreement of the individual in
certain cir.cumstances such as in Article 4.01 (3) in the
voluntary extension of teaching contact hours and in course
preparations in 4.01 (4)(b), 4.01 (8)(b), 4.01 (12)(d)
where a teacher can agree to waive premium credits. Those
are the provisions where the voluntary wishes of the
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faculty member can be taken into account but that cannot
be read into Article 4.01 (1). In its submission if the
work is not assigned by the College, it is attributed to
the teacher as being work for the College the hiring of
full-time faculty members to teach courses in Continuing
Education in addition to their regular teaching work load
is contrary to Article 4 in its submission and those
provisions cannot be by-passed by the College without the
consent of the Union. The assignment of courses for the
purpose of Article 4 is not just upon the College's
insistence that a faculty member teaches a certain course.
It was argued that there is a difference between the
College's right to direct employees as indicated in
Article 7 and to assign work which it wants done which is
a separate matter from either voluntary or compulsion
performance of teaching duties.
It is Employer's position that Article 4 is not
applicable in the circumstances of this case as the work was
not assigned by the College to the Teaching Masters. The
College could assign its Teaching Masters to whatever
teaching it required and in whatever amount under its right
set out in Article 7 to direct its employees. Any
restriction of that broad scope must be found in Article 4
which provides that it must direct its employees in a
number of ways and to determine what a faculty member
can be required to do by the College as a proper work
[2
assignment. The reference in Article 4.01 (2)(v) is to
assignment of contact hours which are contained in
the SWF. Those hours are determined by reference
to the fact of assignment by the College to the Teaching
Masters. Even if such hours are not assigned, they are
attributed by the Employer. The weekly hours attributed
to a teacher are set out in Article 4.01 (4}(a) which
is related to assigned teaching hours. Where the teacher
has a right to do something on his own such as in Article
4.01 (3), (4)(d), (6) and (10), the provision requires that
the employee perform the task required by the Employer.
It is the Employer's position that it does not require
faculty members to teach courses in Continuing Education
whereby the total teaching hours would exceed the limits
set out in Article 4. Where a Teaching Master has
voluntarily chosen to accept the work outside of his
regular teaching a~signment, those hours are not required
to be included in the assigned work load under Article 4.
Further, such hours cannot be considered work. In its
submission, Article 4.01 should be applied on the basis
that it requires an assignment by the College to employees
to do a particular piece of work. By Article 8.09
part-time employees are protected from bumps. Any
faculty member can refuse to teach in Continuing Education
for whatever reason and to perform that work is completely
voluntary unlike overtime which may require a valid
reason to r.efuse it.
/2
The College relies on the award of Mr. T.J. .Bastedo
in re Fanshawe College and OPSEU (unreported - February
1982). In that case a full-time Teaching Master taught 19
hours each week as part of his regular assignment and in
addition taught several hours per week in Continuing
Education, the total of which exceeded the maximum in
Article 4. The Collective Agreement at that time provided
that the College could not assign overtime without
individual agreements and no agreement had been entered
into for their compensation. The Board found that
Article 4 did not apply to those additional teaching hours
as there was a requirement to have an agreement by the
employee and the Board rejected the argument that when
an employee had agreed to teach, the College had made an
assignment to him. The Board ruled that the separate
agreement did not detract from the terms of the collective
agreement or was a matter covered by the collective
agreement.
Reference was made to re Fanshawe College and
OPSEU (Shima - April 1987) in which the Board dealt with
the claim that an employee's workload was inequitable.
The College submitted that counselling duties were not
assigned to the grievor and that volunteer services
performed by the grievor did not impose any obligation
for payment. The Board found,
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"the scheme of Section 4 is to provide
a procedure to relieve teachers from
improper work assignments by the College.
Since the right ,to assign rests with the
College the procedure is designed to allow
a decision by the College to be scrutinized
by an independent third party. The procedure
thus is intended to curb any abuse of the
assignment right vested in the College but
the scheme presumes that the College will
assign the work. In this case the College
has not assigned the counselling work to
the grievor. She cannot unilaterally assign
the work to herself and then seek compensation
for it . .. The counselling service that
she provided was completely gratuitous, she
was on a frolic."
That Board found that there was not a violation of Section
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4 of the Collective Agreement. See also re Lambton College
and OPSEU (unreported - Brown, October 1984); re Algonquin
College and OPSEU (unreported - Weatherill, February 1981);
re Sheridan College and OPSEU (unreported - Brown, May 1983).
The issue in this dispute is whether the Employer
has violated the collective agreement when full-time faculty
members voluntarily teach Continuing Education courses by
which the hours of teaching of that teaching master exceeds
the total work load provided under Article 4.01 of the
collective agreement. This issue is not the same as that
which was dealt with in the Bastedo award where the issue
was defined as to whether the College was required
by the agreement to provide the Union with written
agreements between the College and an individual teacher
when that teacher volunteered to teach Continuing
Education courses. That decision was based on contract
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language in existence between the parties in 1981-1982
the terms of which are substantially different than
contained in the collective agreement applicable to the
present dispute. There is no question that the parties
could enter into a local agreement concerning the voluntary
use of full time faculty members to teach in Continuing
Education course but the evidence is that such agreement
does not apply to these parties. In that case teaching
in the Continuing Educational course was recogniied as
here as being totally voluntary by the teacher. In that
case as here the Union claimed that once the teacher's
request was granted, the Continuing Education course was
assigned by the College which brought it under the
provisions of Article 4.01 at that time which included
the following:
"It is understood that no teacher shall be
assigned teaching hours in excess of the
maximum teaching hours provided for herein
except by voluntary agreement between a
teacher and a College providing fair
compensation . . . "
This provision can be distinguished from the terms of
Article 4.01 (1) and (2) set out above in the current
collective agreement which includes a prohibition for
a teacher to be assigned or attributed a work load by
the College in excess of the hours set out.
In our view, having determined that Continuing
Education courses shall be taught, regardless of the meth~d
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of obtaining the services of an individual teacher to teach
such courses, when an arrangement has been entered into by
the College and an individual teacher, the course has been
assigned by the college to the teacher who then becomes
responsible for the course instruction. The College has
determined that there is work to be done in Continuing
Education and has made arrangements to have that work
carried out by instructional assignment to individual
teachers in the programme. The assignment of work is
not necessarily the same or limited to the compulsion of
an individual by his Employer to teach a course. Whatever
the initial arrangement with the individual may be, the
Employer requires the work to be done and assigns that
teacher to teach a particular course in the programme.
Article 8.09 of the agreement does not relate to the
total work load requirements set out in Article 4.
The fact that the full-time faculty member has
volunteered to teach these courses in addition
to his regular work load for daytime teaching at the
College does not change the nature of the College
requirement to provide that course to the students in
Continuing Education.
The Bastedo award recognizes the principle
that an Employer bound by a collective agreement
cannot enter into separate contracts of employment with
individual employees. That Board went on to find that:
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"the voluntary arrangements entered
into by the individual teacher and
requested by the teacher when informed
of what classes in the Continuing
Education are available cannot be said
either to detract from the terms of the
Collective Agreement or to be matters
covered by the Collective Agreement."
We find that statement is not correct in the context of the
facts pertaining to the dispute in the present matter and
is not binding or persuasive on this Board to follow the
same conclusion.
The full-time faculty member in the bargaining unit
is covered under the terms of the Collective Agreement
in effect between the Union and the College and does not
lose that protection, benefit or obligation at the end
of his regularly assigned teaching hours during the day.
Article 4.01 does not differentiate between day and night
classes for the purposes of assessment of a teacher's
t~tal work load. By Article 4.01 (2)(b) an hour of
teaching in Continuing Education falls within the
definition of a teaching contact hour because after the
arrangement has been made for the services of the teacher
for. that course, the teaching hour is assigned by the
College to that teacher in Continuing Education. Those
hours of teaching are not excluded in that definition
as has been done in Article 8 which deals with seniority
and more particularly in Article 8.09 referred to above. ..
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That form of exception has not been placed by the parties
in Article 4 which therefore does not expressly exclude
Continuing Education teaching hours from its application
As Continuing Education course teaching hours are not
excluded, there is no reason in our view, to conclude
that the maximum work load provided by the parties can
be ignored by a voluntary arrangement to teach with
individual members of the bargaining unit who voluntarily
enter into an individual contract of employment with the
College.
The Board finds differently than in the Bastedo
award, that such contractual arrangement to provide
teaching hours does detract from the terms of the
Collective Agreement. Therefore, when the College
enters into a separate agreement although voluntarily
obtained, with a full-time faculty member in the bargaining
unit to teach courses in the Continuing Education program
in the evening the arrangement must be tested under the terms
of Article 4.01 in the context of determination of the work
load to which the College has agreed under the terms of
Article 4.
Article 7.02 of the agreement provides that
management functions shall be applied in a consistent manner
with the provisions of the collective agreement. We find
that the circumstances of this case brings the individual
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arrangement between the College and faculty members to
teach in Continuing Education within the terms of the
Collective Agreement and therefore the Employer must apply
the terms of Article 4.01 in that regard. This finding
is consistent with the Sheridan College and the Seneca
College awards (supra). In the latter award the Board dealt
with a claim of the Union that the College had breached
Article 4 of the Collective Agreement in the manner of
the assignment of work in the Faculty of Health Sciences
and it was stated at page 17:
"the fact that the College knew that the
large majority of the Faculty supported
the applIcation of rolling averages
instead of fixed maximums does not justify
an adoption of rolling averages against
the will of the Union in breach of the
agreement. We endorse fully the Union's
submissions regarding the College's
obligation to negotiate with the Union
not individual faculty members . "
The Board declined to issue a declaration of breach of
agreement for the reasons set out in that award, however,
it clearly found that the College had set up teaching
schedules and weekly work load hours on the basis. of
rolling averages rather than the fixed weekly maximum
as required by the Collective Agreement without having
in place a signed local agreement between the parties
but having regard to the express preference of the
faculty members on that issue and the previous practice
of the Colleg~. The SWFS were prepared in that semester
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on the basis of rolling aver~ges. It was decided however,
that the college could not justify on that basis the
breach of Article 4 in the manner in which it assigned
the work load to the faculty in that department.
We find on the facts relating to the issue in
this matter that Article 4.01 applies to the faculty
members covered by the collective agreement who teach
courses in the Continuing Education program in the
evenings. Therefore, where those hours exceed the work
load maxima set out in that article the College has
violated the terms of the Collective Agreement. In so
conCluding we find that College has in fact assigned and
attributed such teaching contact hours defined in
Article 4.01 (2) in that program. The College and the
individual faculty member cannot ignore the requirements
of the Collective Agreement for the purposes of a
voluntary arrangement to teach in excess of the regular
assignments incorporating the total work load as set out
in the SWF's provided by Article 4.02 (l)(b). The work
load provisions have been continuously changed in the
contractual relationship between the parties the results
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of which in this Collective Agreement indicates the
intent of strict application of the parameters of the
teaching activities for members of the bargaining unit in
the context of the maintenance of the integrity of that unit
by the Union. By not including the teaching hours in the
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SWF's of the faculty members who perform such work in
the Continuing Education program and by exceeding the
workload limitations in Article 4, we find that there
has been a violation of the collective agreement by the
Employer. These contractual terms apply to all of the
faculty members covered by the agreement and theiefore
by increasing the work load of such teachers we conclude
there has been a breach of Article 4.01 (2)(a) in the
absence of a local agreement entered into by the College
with the Union to deal with the specicif matter in
dispute in this case.
Having regard to the evidence and the submissions
of the parties, the Board finds that the Union has
established that the College was in violation of Article
4 of the collective agreement as alleged in the grievance,
dated November 21, 1988. The Board further finds that
the arrangement with the three named faculty members in
the grievance, dated February 15th, 1989, to teach in the
Continuing Education program in addition to their regular
work load was contrary to the provisions of Article 4 and
Article 7.02 of the Collective Agreement. These findings
substantiate the issuance by this Board as a remedy in
this matter. of a declaration that the College has violated
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the terms of the Collective Agreement in the manner
set forth herein and we so award.
DATED AT OAKVILLE, THIS 20th DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1990.
\f'v^'-^-u--.;-
HOWARD D. BROWN, CHAIRMAN
DAVID CAMELETTI, EMPLOYER NOMINEE
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V",} , ~lS~
W. MAJESKY, UNION'NOMnNEE
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In the Matter of An Arbitration
BET WEE N:
CANADORE COLLEGE
AND
ONTARIO PUBLIC SERVICE
EMPLOYEES UNION
AND
AND IN THE MATTER OF UNION
GRIEVANCES 858589 AND 89A224
D I SSE N T
I have read the award of the Chairman and with respect
must dissent.
My disagreement with the Chairman stems from the
interpretation given to the word "assignment."
On pages 14 and 15 of the Award, the Chairman writes:
In our view, being determined that Continuing
Education courses shall be taught, regardless of the
method of obtaining the services of an individual
teacher to teach such courses, when an arrangement has
been entered into by the College and an individual
teacher, the course has been assigned by the College to
the teacher who then becomes responsible for course
instruction... The assignment of work is not
necessarily the same or limited to the compulsion of an
individual by the Employer to teach a course.
My interpretation of the term "assigned" as it appears
in Article 4.01(2)(a) (and elsewhere) in the collective
agreement refers to a much more limited range of actions by
an Employer in relation to the distribution of work.
2...ff
f'
-2-
My view is that the term embraces those circumstances
in which management directs or requires the employee to
engage in specific work responsibilities, and not where the
employee volunteers.
This interpretation is supported in authority referred
to by the Chairman specifically the award involving,
Fanshawe Col1e~e and O.P.S.E.U. The Chairman minimizes the
importance of the,decision by outlining that different
factual circumstances and contractual language were involved
there.
With respect, much of the majority award by the
Arbitrator Bastedo deals with the proper legal
interpretation to be given to the word "assign," which is
the major issue before this Board of Arbitration.
On page 5, Mr. Bastedo writes as follows:
The verb 'assign' is of course transitive and
requires a direct object to complete its sense. Plain
meanings of the word 'assign' are:
(a) to appoint or consign (one) to a post or duty,
also, to prescribe, as a course of action or task,
Webster's New International Dictionary
(2nd Edition).
(b) to appoint, designate, depute (a person) for an
office, duty, or fate. Oxford English Dictionary.
)
The wording in question contemplates some person
(the employer) deputing or designating some thing
(teaching hours) to some person (the teacher). By
Article 7.01, the Union acknowledges that it is the
exclusive function of the employer to
". .assign. .employees subject to the right to lodge a
grievance...Assignments are made on the direction of
the employment."
2-C;
-3-
It is interesting to note that the language referred to
by Mr. Bastedo with respect to Article 7.01 and the
Colleges' right to assign work is preserved in the present
collective agreement.
This view of the term "assignment" is persuasive and is
the correct one that should be adopted by this Board of
Arbitration.
On this basis, I conclude that the Continuing Education
courses voluntarily taught by the full time instructors
during the 1988-1989 academic year at Canadore College
cannot be found to be part of the total workload "assigned
and attributed" by the COllege to them within the meaning of
Article 4.01(2)(a) of the collective agreement, and
accordingly deny the grievance.
DATED AT SAULT STE. MARIE, ONTARIO
THIS 20TH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1990.
j)~,;/ c.,~(?Ji
DAVID CAMELETTI, COLLEGE NOMINEE
2(;.