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Home My WebLink About1979-0106.Barter.81-07-07-a.” .__. .. .;::. : -:I . ...,. 4. - ONTARK) , ..:: CRMYN EUPLOYEES ‘, , 7 .__,‘. GRIEVANCE S&E”ENT ‘I -.;,_-~ -.;,_ m/79 . :’ IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION Under 'The Between: Before: ,. : CROWN-EMPLOYEES'COLLECTIVE BARGA~INING ACT- .i_ Before'. : THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD Mr. Lawrence J. Barter - Ana - The Crown i,n Right q3f Ontario '. [Ministry of C?krection$l Services) Prof. A. M. Kruger Vice Chairman Mr. A. M. McCuaig Member Mr. P. Warrian Member ;..._. : ,, For the.Grievor: . Mr. R. Nabi. Grievance Officer ~, Ontario Public Service Employees Union .. .;* -~: . .._- ..; ,, ';. 1.~ 1, I- I : i- '- .._ ., , ,’ i . ‘.. . . -2- . . i - - _... -.~- . . .._.I -.._ .-mc..^_ -...-. A_* ,-.. .__II,_ ..I _ 1_ .______,.__ In this case'the parties'agreed cm a statement of facts which is' reproduced below 3n full: ~'.. . . GSB No. 106/79 OPSEU and'Crown/&srio~ ' 'fz .~ ,1 : ', (Ministry of Correctional Services) Grievance of'hawrence J. Barter AGREEB SETTLEMENT OF FACT ,, ._. .' . .~I 1. The grievor is a Seniority rated, full-time employee classified as a Correctional Officer II. 2. The grievor works at the Burtch Correctional Centre. .- _.. ~-~~. 3. The grievor rotates through~three different hours of -. work assignments on 'a cyclical basis. 4. The griever was worbring on an hours of work assign- ment running from 8 a.m. .-1979 (in Slot No. 4) '- 4 p.m. on Friday, March 9, 5; The grievor was instructed by the employer onFriday, .) .- March 9, 1979 to commence the relief Slot,.8 hours of ."...:.'~. work assignmenton Sunday, March 11, 1979. . .' ; 6. Relief Slot 8, is a workassignment consisti& of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday'- 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.; " Wednesday and Thursday-off; Friday and Saturday - . . 12 - 8 a.m. 7. At all material times, the employer was enforcing a scheme of eight different 7 day.periods of hours of work assignments as per attached. : 8. The grievor did not receive 72 hours notice prior to .-. _~~ I '. ( -O?I behalf of the : Ministry of Correctional ': On behalf of OPS,F$I::: : ~2, .L'zLT .:i _ ~: ,. -. : :._. ~ . . . . . -..~~ Services: Deted,a?- Toronto.this 1?5!: da:: of !!sy, lo?l. __ c ' mere is also agreement that'the z$eva& article of the:&llekive . '. Agreemeqt is.b.1 although the Bnploykr also referred $0 Article 9. -Both : -~,:of-these qt.i~cles,~afs reproduced below: ._ .__. Article 9 - Scheduled Tour of Duty or Shift ' 9.1 A shift which does not commence and end ox'the same calendar day shall be considered asfalling wholly '1' within the calendar day on which the shift ccmmences. ,: Article 10 -, Shift Schedules ;~ -. ~'10.1 Shift schedules shall be posted not less thanfifteen . (15) days in advance and there shall be no change in the schedule after it has been posed unless notice is given to the'employee.seventy-two (72) hours in advance of the starting time of.the shift as originally scheduled. ; If the employee concerned is not notified seventy-two (72) . hours in advance he shall be.paid time and one-half (1 l/2) for.the fir&eight (8) hours worked on the chsnged~shift . provided that no premium shall.be paid wherethe change of schedule is caused by events beyond the Ministry's control. . '~Forcinployees working in Mr. Barter'scategory at the Burtch~Correctional. - _^ Centre,'shift work is~ a regular requirement of the job. ',The Employer has set " out eight different arrangements of the work week~(or eight slots)as~'follo,ws: Workers move from slot 1 to 2'to 3 to'&to 5 -to 6 to 7 to 8 to.1 and ..' . . c so on unless instructed otherwise by the Empioyer. was working on the day shift in slot 4 on Friday,‘March 9. -He was scheduled to report onthe day shift,inthe same slot the following day. After that he / expected to move to.slot 5 where he would work the day shift Sunday through _: Thursday inclus!ve $nd take viday,and Saturdayoff. Instead he was told on Friday, March 9 that afterhe compl.eted his assignment on slot 4,'he would, start work on-slot eight rather than slot five'beginni.& Sunday, ?&ah il. From the table above, it is clear that slot 8 like slot 5, involves . . work days on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday but provides for a different work ~arrsngement from slot 5 for the balance of the work week. ,~ - The parties are agreed that the kmployer met the first requirement of Article 1O.i in posting the shift schedu@.at'least fifteen days'in advance. The Union contends that the kmployer failed to give the required seventy-two '_ .,'... hours notice and that the griever is entit1dd.t.o premium pay for.work.on Sunday, March 11, his first day of work in slot 8. The E&icy& c&-&n&? that he met the notice requirement. The Employer doesnot rely on the final - portion of Article 10.1 which would exempt him from paying a premium rate if the change in schedule is'"caused by events beyond the Ministry's control". The Union's position is that the word. shift in Article 16.-l is used in' " a way that is synonymous with slot or shift schedule. Workers and supervisors :~_ .. -,. I 1 : : . . , The Employer changed Mr. Barter's wor&,schedule frc.m:sIotG5~t,o ~sIot.8 '.'I' uith less than seventy-t%0 hours notice. 'It is the Union;s &sition.that a, ,. :. ‘c change of this kind was envisaged by Article~lO.1 in.stating that at least ,, seventy-two hours notice was required or else premium rates would be paid. .The,.Wloyer~%ties tW._shift~i~:not synowmpus wit% slot or &ft ', schedule. The shift schedule refers to the arrangement of working'hours for< a period of time covering several days or' weeks. Within a shift schedule, a : ., workercan identify various~shifts 'or houraassigned to him on each given day< :' I~. in the schedule. A shift then refers to the period of work on a,given day or within a'given twenty-four hour period. 'In support of this position, the~'lQeployer referred the Board to Article .. '~ 9, where a shift is used synonymously with a tour of duty and is assumed to be the work period on a given day. The.I+nployer's position is'that both slots 5 and 8 involved day work on the shifts on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Not until Wednesday do the work arrangements in slots 5 and 8 diverge. By informing the grievor of .- .- his assignment to slot '8 effective Sunday March 11; the Fmployer had given him more than seventy-two hours advance notice ,of the change inishiftthat : ,_: would occur on Wednesday through Saturday of the following week;',.Accordingly, . . . . ..~ there is, in the opinion of the aplpyer, no violation of Article 10.1. The Board has considered the positions of the parties. We accept the conclusion of the Board in Re: k'r 'E.E. Charlebois and Ministry of Correctional Services, 168/77,. that:. "The purpose of a clause like,Article 10.1 is to strike a reasonable balance .between:the .interests.of the employer and thoa.e:,bf the employee;sl-i'Berk ~t&&nplo$erJ s -interest is pr&.&ted.‘by ~e‘unl~$.mit,ed right to $&&$e and alter’ shifts;; ‘1 ..?‘-” .i?. ’ .’ . The-employees' interests are prdtected'by a requirement for Bdvsnce scheduling and provision-for notice of alteration of shifts once scheduled, with a penalty:,in premium pay exacted wken the notice is.nbt timely.? ' The question here is, was the griever's i&rest met by the notice provided by the employer. In order to answer this question, it is necessary t . . * ,. I : ,’ 2.. ,,~i. :: ,. ._ ;, . .6 _ :.. , _ :“{ j : ‘X :, - ‘. ,,..:’ :- ;y. .,. ..’ :- *,.. .’ :.-_ ,. ‘. "shift" inArticle 10.1. ,The Union iscorrect ‘ii (. . c in pdinting out that in common usage on the job, a shift'& mean either the I! period w&keh on a given day or'the schedule of work'over'a period oG time I --. . ~. .~ .' .a~ ,~.., .I covering several days or weeks. The Employer correc.tiy points out that the precise meaning of shift is different from that of a-shift schedule or shift slot. If one is careful in the use of.terms, then 8 shift refers to work on a given day (or within a given twenty-four hour period) and a shift schedule refers to the work pattern over. a.longer.period of time. This Board prefers the interpretation of the F@oyer;. In general the precise meaning of terms such as shift and shift,sehedule are to beg preferred ..I' '. over their more colloquial meaning. Furthermore, this ruling is consistent &th the finding of the Board in Re: _. ti. T. Morin and Ministryof the Environment. Finally, Article 9, in the heading uses shift aeequivalent to a tour of duty snd goes on to state that these terms relate to the timing of : 'work within a given t&ty-four hour period. ti. Barter'sshift did not change until %'ednesday,'Marcb 14. He received .- .., : % more tban the required seventyitwo hours of notice',of'this:change.and is not I entitled to premium pay. Accordingly, the grievance is dismissed. Dated atToronto this 7th day of July 1981. .- I ,.. .’ ..,:: ._ i.. ‘. , :’ _ .., :.. , <’ :, DISSENT - 'L.. I I ', .'.., ,-I: ,, .Re: OGSB -'File 106/79- L.J. Barter Grievance .: / . I have reviewed the majority award in the above matter and I find that I must dissent. While it is reasonable to take the position that the parties use a precise over a colloquial definition of the word "shift" i it was clear, onthe evidence, that both parties use "slots" as.a standard reference for scheduling. On this basis, I believe the'grievance should have been upheld. I : Dated at Toronto this 22nd ,day of July,'1981 r z . .