Dear Colleagues:
A comprehensive summary and analysis of the Ontario government’s draft labour legislation, Protecting Public Services Act 2012 has been prepared for OCUFA by the legal team at Sack, Goldblatt, Mitchell. It focusses in particular on Schedule 2, titled Respecting Collective Bargaining Act (Public Sector), 2012.
The summary and analysis can be accessed by following this link on the OCUFA website. For those who have trouble accessing the link, please paste the following address into your browser:
http://ocufa.on.ca/members-area/conference-call-recording-legislation-55/
The passcode to access this section of the website is: ocufalegi55
Additional material in this section of the OCUFA website includes the September 28, 2012 OCUFA conference call briefing on the draft legislation with Steven Barrett from Sack, Goldblatt, Mitchell, as well as a Question and Answer section which allows you to ask further questions to which we will respond and add to the website. Please feel free to share this information with your members.
As noted by the legal team at Sack, Goldblatt, Mitchell in its summary and analysis, the legislation as currently drafted “goes far beyond simply implementing a wage freeze for workers in the broader public sector; rather it would give the Government unprecedented control over collective bargaining, the right to strike, interest arbitration (in the case of essential services), and the content of every term and condition of every collective agreement.” Not to put too fine a point on it, if passed, this legislation will profoundly affect every university faculty association in the province, certified or not. As the legal analysis concludes, “while purporting to respect collective bargaining (to quote the Orwellian pretense of its title), the Respecting Collective Bargaining Act (Public Sector), 2012 would actually eviscerate it.”
Over the next few weeks you will hear more about the various communication, education and mobilization initiatives OCUFA plans to undertake in response to this unprecedented attack on collective bargaining in the broader public sector. There will also be a special session of the October 27-28 OCUFA Board meeting to discuss a plan going forward.
If you have any questions about any of the above, please let me know.
Best regards,
Mark
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Mark Rosenfeld, Ph.D
Executive Director
Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations
83 Yonge Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 1S8
Tel: 416-979-2117 x229
Fax: 416-593-5607
E-mail: [email protected]