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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1977-0070.Bethune.78-01-05.70/ 77 CROWN EMPLOYEES GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENTS '416 9!4-6426 Suite 405 .’ 77 Bloor Street We: .EOARO TORONTO, CMax'io ~M5S lM.2 'Between: Before: IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION Under The CROWN EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT Before THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD Mrs. S. Bethune , And The Workmen's Compensation Board G. W. Adams -: Chairman J. W. Henley - Member I. K. Levack '. - 'Member For the Grievor: '~ Mr.~Grenville Jones: National Representative (W.C.B.) Canadian Union of Public Employees For the Employer: Mr. M. Shields, Director, Staff Relations (W.C.B.) Hearing: December 14th, 1977 Suite 405, 77 Bloor St. W. Toronto, Ontario. -2- This is a grievance of Mrs. Sandra Bethune claiming that she has been improperly classified., .She was hired by the Workmen's Compensation Board on March 23, 1962 as a Typist, Salary Grade 23 and was promoted to a Teletype Operator, Salary Grade 21 on July 13, 1967. On December 29, 1967 the position was reclassified to Salary Grade 9 and on September 6, 1968 was once again reclassified to Salary Grade 8 and calTed Telex-Teletype Operator. This is the position in which she is currently employed. A job description for the position prepared in December 1975 reads: DIV?xIOff: Administrative Re.%wrCe~ POSITION: IMMEDIATE SUPERVISOR: Telex-Teletype Operator Supervisor, Mail and Telex Section SALARY GRADE/IJWEL APPROVED DATE CORE FUNCTION Receive and transmit all teletype, telex and telegrams to appropriate destinations. Check and sort all messages (incoming and outgoing) tb their appropriate sections and Branches. ACCOUNTABILITY Report orally to Supervisor when required, for relief girl if she is needed for extra time on the teletype and telex machines. LATERAL RE‘LATIONSHIPS 1. Develop and maintain communication relationships with Board Staff regarding the activities of the Telex and Teletype Operator. 2. Develop and maintain communication relationships within the Organization with those services and kections with which the Telex-Teletype Operator has commn information needs and operating procedures. ,- . ‘I. I. MAJOR ACTIVITIES OUTGOING MESSAGES 1. Check, date stamp and sort all messages to appropriate destinations. 2. Transmit messages during time periods alloted. 3. After messages transmitted, tear messages from machines, write teletype numbers on all messages. 4. Sort messages by departments for delivery by messenger. INCOMING MESSAGES 5. Tear, sort and check all incoming messages. 6. Paperclip piece of paper on each department's me&ages for delivery by messenger. OTHER DUTIES 7.. Train girls for relief on teletype and telex. 8. Change ribbons, rolls of telex machine and tape on tichines. 9. Keep records of all incoming and outgoing messages for all Area Offices. 10. Make up slips of paper for departments messages for delivery. 11. Call repairman for servicing of machines when necessary. 12. Perform other duties as assigned. REQUIREMENTS 1. Grade 11 education or equivalent. 2. Must be fast and accurate typist (typing a must) 3. Good knowledge of Board's operations. 4. Must be able to work with veqlittle supervision. 5. Must be ableto make decisions in case of problem at Head Office or Area Offices regarding machines. December 15, 1975 -4- In'1968 the job description appeared in the following form (Exhibit 10). OR The Workmen's Compensation Board Position Title POSITION DESCRIPTION Form 136 5.63 Department Telex-Teletype Operator Claims Salary Grade Date 8 (Point Value 213) November 8, 1966 ACCOUNTABLE TO: Service Supervisor-Communications BASIC FUNCTION: Send and receive teletype and telex messages to and from District Offices and other organizations. RAIN DUTIES: 1. Pick up from and deliver to various locations on the second floor, and notify other floors by phone of messages received or sent. 2. 3. Sort outgoing and incoming messages according to destination. Type outgoing messages onto telex and teletype keyboard using the required abbreviated word forms, after ."calling, in" the receiving station. 4. Adhere to pre-determined time schedule for sending messages to~various destinations, so as to leave machines free for incoming messages. 5. Separate typed messages,~ both received and sent, by tearing from strip, and in the case of outgoing messages, staple the copy to the original. 6. Receive telephoned messages to send from H. & R. C. and send copy' to H. 6 R. C..after transm.iSSion. 7. Watch machines for breakdown and if indicated, phone for serviceman. 8. Change paper rolls in machines as required, and,re-order as indicated. 9. Perform other related duties as assigned, or if required. BASIC REQUIREMENTS: 1. Grade X conznercial education, or equivalent. .,. 2. Three to twelve months' related experience. RWC/cW November,B, 1968. Reviewed Feb. 26/70/RWC' ._ 5- And the most recent job description for the position dated November 30, 1977 reads: Division: Administrative Resources Branch: Office Services Job Title: Telex OperatOr Job Number: Number Supervised: NIL, Reports to: Supervisor, Mail and Telex Section Salary Grade: 08 CORE FUNCTION: To receive and transmit all telex and telegram messages. TYPICAL DUTIES: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Processes outgoing messages by: - checking, date stamping and ,sorting all messages) then- transmitting them to their proper destinations - after transmitting, tearing me&ages from machines and numbering each message - sorting messages by departments and identifying them for-delivery by messenger Processes incoming messages by: i - tearing all incoming messages from machines, sorting and checking them and identifying them by department for delivery'by messenger - maintaining r&cords of all incoming messages. Maintains telex machines by: - changing ribbons, paper rolls and perforator tape - calling repair mn for servicing when necessary - calling Board area offices if machines are malfunctioning. Trains other section members for relief telex operation. Performs other duties as assigned or required. -6- Administrative Resources Office Services - Tel,+x perator Page 2. ACCOUNTABILITY: Reports orally to Supervisor when required. LATERU REUTIONSHIPS: Communicates with Head Office and Area Offices staff regarding telex services and with sales and servicing personnel of telex machines. BASIC REQUIREMENTS: 1. Grade 11 or equivalent. 2. Must be fast and accurate typist. 3. Should have good knowledge of Board's operations. ~4. Ability to work independently. 5. Three to twelve months' experience. Prepared by: Doris M. ward Date: dpproved by: Date: 30 Nov 1977 Supervisor, Mail and Telex Section Director, Office Services Branch Date: 30 Nov. 77 Date of Evaluation: New Revised The relevant provisions of The Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act s.0. 1972 c. 67 as amended by 1974, C. 135 can usefully be reproduced - at,the dutset of this opinion as might the relevant provisions of the collective agreement between the parties. The provisions of the statute are: 6. Upon being granted representation rights, the employee organization is authorized to bargain with the employer on terms and conditions of employment, except as to matters ~.that are exclusively the function of the .&mployer under subsection 1 of section 17, and, without limiting the general- ity of the foregoing, including rates 02 remuneration, hours of work, overtime and other premium allowance for work per- formed, the mileage rate payable to an employee for miles travelled when he is required to use his own automebiZe on the employer's business, benefits pertaining to time not worked by employees including paid holidays, paid vacations, group life insurance, health insurance and long-term income protec- tion insurance, promotions, demotions, transfers, lay-offs or reappointments of~employees, the procedures applicable to the.prticessing of grievances,~ the classification and job evaluation system, and the conditions applicable to leaves of absence for other than any elective public office or political activities or training and~development. 17.-(11 Every collective agreement shall be deemed to provide that it is the, exclusive function of the employer to manage, which function, without limiting the generality of the fore- going, includes the right to determine, (a) employment, appointment, complement, organization, assignment, discipline, dismissal, suspension, work methods and procedures, kinds and locations of equipment and classification of positions; and (b) merit system, training and development, appraisal and superannuation, the governing principles of which are subject to review by the employer with the bargaining agent, and such matters will.not be the subject of collective bargain- ing nor come,within the jurisdiction of a beard. (2) In addition to any other rights of grievance under a collective agreement, an employee claiming, (a) that his position has been improperly classified; (b) that he has been appraised contrary to the govern- ing principles and standards; or (c) that he has been disciplined or dismissed or sus- pended from his employme& without just cause, may process such matter in accordance with the grievance procedure provided in the collective agreement, and failing final deter- mination under such procedure, the matter may be processed in accordance with the procedure for final .determination applicable under section 18. -a- Article 18 of the collective agreement appears as follows: PAYHENT OF WAGES AND ALLGWANCES 1. 2. The Employer .&all pay salaries weekly in accordance with Schedule A attached hereto and forming part of this Agreement. Each pay day each employee shall be provided with an itemized statement of his salary, overtime and other supplementary pay and deductions to be included with his salary cheque in a sealed envelope. Classification and Job EvaluationSystem i la) (bl Cc) ii Classification Classification of Employees Every employee covered by this Agreement shall be classified under a salary grade or level, job title and/or job description appropriate to the occupation in which he is regularly employed, and in accordance with Schedule "A" of this Agreement. Employees shall remain so cla.%sified for the duration 0f.thi.s Agreement, unless transferred to another job, or unless the work changes significantly, in which case the employee and the Union will be advised. Elimination of Present Classification Ekting classifications shall not be eliminated or substantially changed without notice to the Union. The Employer will endeavour to provide this notice in advance. Reclassification of Employees When a classification is eliminated or substantially changed, any employee who believes he is incorrectly classified may discuss the.matter with his supervisor and, failing satisfactory settlement, may ~fnstitute'a grievance in accordance with Article 2 of this Agree- ment. Job Evaluation System The parties have established a committee to examine the current Job Evaluation System for the Clerical and Administrative positions. This examination shall also include the question of whether all jobs shall be evaluated and, if so, whether one job evaluation system shalllbe usdd.for all jobs.. , The committee will report during the term of this Agreement to the parties. -9- Mrs. Bethune told the Board that she,is empl'oyed as a Telex Operator in'the.Workmen's Compensation Board's head office and ,that she is now responsible for four machines. Three machines, used to transmit messages throughout the Board's, offices, operate at 100 words per minute and the fourth machine operates at 66 words a minute.. She told the Board that the four machines make a great deal of noise and she was concerned that no mention in the job description was made of this fact. However she admitted that the machines now had acoustic covers which reduced the noise somewhat although the covers could not, for all practical purposes, be closed completely. Her second complaint is that she has assumed more responsibility'since 1975. Prior to December 22, 7975 she operated one teletype:machine and two telex machines but since that date she has operated four telex,machines. However it was established that the actual volume of work has remained quite constant and indeed may even have been reduced somewhat. In 1968 the volume,of messages sent per month from the head Office was in the ratio of 3800 to 4300 and an audit of messages during the months of January to March in 7977 revealed an outgoing volume that ranged between 2936 and 3654 messages. Mrs. Bethune also singled out six jobs classified under salary. grade 7 and advised the Board that at least an aspect of her works is '.similar to one or more of the functions performed within'these other jobs. The six jobsselected were: Telephone Enquiry Clerk 2; Manual Cheque Controller; Expense Account Analyst; Postal Clerk; Pension Assistant 2, Payment Checker. As the title of these jobs convey, theirwork content involves a dramatically different job function than the duties performed by the grievor although each contained one or two job duties of a somewhat similar nature to aspects of the grievor's work in the sense that, for example, checking the accuracy of messages sent by telex can be analogized to checking the accuracy of expense accounts submitted for .> ~, . . .payment; 'However when the entire content of each job is compared with thatof the grievor's job it cannot be said that she performs " "work of a substantially similar.nature. Indeed the work is so dis- similar ~that the only way the jobs can be compared would be by a job \ evaluation system and this the employer has done. The Board was given a copy of the employer's job evaluation system, contained in a document entitled JOB EVALUATION MANUAL, CLERI- CAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS. The table of contents to this manual appears in the following form: CONTENTS Factor s Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .~. 1 I Education. . . . . . .,'., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 II Experience..................;... 3 III : Judgment, Initiative, Complexity. . . . . . . . . . . 4 IV Mental - Visual Demand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 V Physical Demand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ? VjT la) Responsibility for Error. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 VI (bbl Responsibility for Equipment or Machinery. . . . ~. . . 10 VII Responsibility for Contacts. . . . . . ; . . . . . . . 12 VIII Re.spon+ibility for Supervision. . . . . ;~ . . .~. . . 13 . IX Number Supervised. . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15. x Working Conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . 16 XI Unavoidable Hazards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . t 17 XII Responsibility for Safety of Others, . . . . . . . . . 18 The Board was advised that.a job is evaluated by a committee in the light of these twelve factors and appropriate point values 'are assigned to the job for each factor. The point values of all the . . -II- factors are then totalled and the total values for the job of all committee members are then .averaged and it,is this average value which is assigned to the job. The pay grades contained in the collective agreement are related to selected ranges of these points and therefore by this method the~jobs are classified for.the purposes of payment. The point values .and the respective pay grades appear as follows (Exhibit 17): Grade 10 Points Range 151-175 9 176-210 8 211-240 .7 241-270 6 5 271-305 306-335 4. 3 JOB EVALUATION MANUAL CLERICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS Point Value.5 336-350 351-365 Retyped withou't change December 13, 1977 As can be seen from Exhibit lo/in 1968 the sum total of the point values for all factors pertaining to the grievor's job amounted I to 213 points placing it, according to Exhibit.17, in Grade 8. The. Board was advised that the job has been recently reevaluated and that it recejved 214 points, leaving it within Grade 8. Tliis result, in light of the evidence placed before .the Board, cannot be challenged. 1 :- - 12 - On' cross examination the grievoradmitted that the new'machines, with "tape drive" , allow. her to choose the specific time to send messages ~instead of having to work to a deadline as with the older machines. The,, machines adjust to the typing,speed of the operator and by her own. admi‘s- sion 95% of the messages are routine messages within the Board's organi- zational structure. The grievor no longer has to walk about the second floor of the head office and ,deliver messages. And as a general matter the new machines do not appear to be any more complicated to operate. The general principles pertaining to job classification grievances were. outlined in Re VukojP 13175; Re Rounding 18/75; Re Schmidt 5/76; and Re z%ompson~7/76 and need not be reviewed in this particular case.. It can simply be said~that in the light of the evidence and argument placed before this Board we are not satisfied that the grfevor's job has undergone such a substantial change as to make its classification improper. Therefore this grievance is dismissed. Dated at Toronto this 5th day of January 1978. +‘Lh,& G. W. Adams, Chairman (I concur) J. W. Henley, Member (I concur) I. K.,Levack, Member