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Canadian Law of Work Forum (CLWF)
Law of Work Archive

City of Guelph Locks Out Its' Bus Drivers

by David Doorey July 21, 2014
written by David Doorey July 21, 2014

People in Guelph are walking, biking, scootering, or driving to work this morning.  There’s no buses on the road thanks to a decision of the City to lock out its transit workers.
The lockout follows a second rejected proposed settlement by the employees.  That tells us that the

Guelph Transit Workers Locked Out

Guelph Transit Workers Locked Out


workers are really pissed, and also that the union bargaining team misread the membership’s attitude.  The union’s executive had recommended the proposed deal that was ‘overwhelmingly rejected’ by the workers.  No collective agreement can come into force in Ontario unless it is approved in a ‘ratification vote’ (section 44).  This law allows workers to veto a deal that both the employer and the union’s bargaining team had approved.  It was introduced by the Mike Harris Conservative government in 1995.
In this case, the City of Guelph responded to the failed ratification vote by locking out its workers.  It could have simply imposed its final offer instead, which included small wage increases and some other changes, and told the workers to keep driving their buses.  Presumably, the City felt that strategy would not be prudent in the circumstances.  Can you suggest why that might be?
The Ontario government has decided that public transit is an essential service in one city only–Toronto.  In 2011, it enacted the Toronto Transit Commission Labour Disputes Resolution Act, which prohibits all strikes and lockouts and refers any bargaining dispute to interest arbitration.  A lockout of transit workers could not occur in Toronto.  In May of this year, the unions representing TTC workers and the TTC reached a bargained collective agreement without having to use that arbitration process.
Issues for Discussion
In recent years, there have been transit work stoppages in Ottawa and York Region that the government allowed to drag on for extended periods of time.   Presumably, the Liberals similarly will not intervene in the Guelph lockout.  
Do you think it makes sense that public transit is only treated as ‘essential’ in Toronto and not elsewhere in Ontario?  Should Toronto have its own special system of transit labour relations?
In international labour law, developed by the International Labour Organization, transit is not an ‘essential service’ and Ontario is in violation of its legal ILO obligations by forcing all bargaining disputes at the TTC to go to arbitration.  Do you think that elected governments should comply with their international law obligations, even if doing so is politically unpopular?
 

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David Doorey

Professor Doorey is an Associate Professor of Work Law and Industrial Relations at York University. He is the Director of the School of HRM at York and Director of Osgoode Hall Law School’s executive LLM Program in Labour and Employment Law and on the Advisory Board of the Osgoode Certificate program in Labour Law. He is a Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program and a member of the International Advisory Committee on Harvard University’s Clean Slate Project, which is re-imaging labor law for the 21st century

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RSandillRicha Sandill@RSandill·
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@SCLSclinic and I were so fortunate to represent this client last year. I am thrilled that this decision brings more clarity for family status accommodations rights amidst a pandemic that has tested parents, caregivers, and families like never before. https://twitter.com/CanLawWorkForum/status/1364605259071561730

CLWF@CanLawWorkForum

New from @RSandill (counsel for applicant), discussing important new "family status" discrimination decision from OHRT:

"Kovintharajah v. Paragon Linen & Laundry: When Failure to Accommodate Child Care Needs is “Family Status” Discrimination"

https://lawofwork.ca/13360-2/

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TheLawofWorkDavid J. Doorey@TheLawofWork·
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Here's my latest in @jacobinmag.

If Ontario's labor laws applied in Alabama, the Amazon vote would have been held months ago so workers could get back to their jobs. Instead, the NLRA permits Amazon to conduct a months' long onslaught of anti-union propaganda. https://twitter.com/jacobinmag/status/1364613560425275392

Jacobin@jacobinmag

Amazon workers in Alabama are voting on whether to unionize, but the company is bombarding them with anti-union propaganda. In Canada, by contrast, votes are held quickly, making it harder for companies to stack the deck — a model that can work in the US. http://jacobinmag.com/2021/02/amazon-alabama-canada-labor-law-union-vote

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CanLawWorkForumCLWF@CanLawWorkForum·
16h

New from @RSandill (counsel for applicant), discussing important new "family status" discrimination decision from OHRT:

"Kovintharajah v. Paragon Linen & Laundry: When Failure to Accommodate Child Care Needs is “Family Status” Discrimination"

https://lawofwork.ca/13360-2/

Reply on Twitter 1364605259071561730Retweet on Twitter 13646052590715617304Like on Twitter 13646052590715617304Twitter 1364605259071561730
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