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Special thanks to our articling student Viesakan Sivaraj for contributing to this update.

1. Negotiating a First Collective Agreement in Ontario

Once a union is certified, the employer must immediately turn their attention to negotiating a first collective agreement. The Ontario Labour Relations Act, 1995, (the “Act”) prescribes the timelines and rules for negotiating a collective agreement. Understanding these rules can assist employers with navigating negotiations and ensuring compliance with the Act during bargaining.

General Guidelines

Once a union is certified or voluntarily recognized, it must give written notice to the employer to begin bargaining for a collective agreement (Section 16). The employer and union must meet within 15 days of receiving notice, unless they agree otherwise, and bargain in good faith, making every reasonable effort to reach an agreement (Section 17). Either party may request that the Minister of Labour appoint a conciliation officer to help resolve differences and assist both sides in reaching an agreement (Section 18). Any agreement reached must be ratified by a vote of the bargaining unit employees, with limited exceptions, such as in the construction industry.

The agreement must be filed with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development and all collective agreements that are filed with the Ministry are published on the Ontario government’s Collective Agreements e-Library Portal website. If the union fails to give notice to bargain within 60 days of certification or fails to start bargaining, the Ontario Labour Relations Board (the “Board”) may terminate its bargaining rights (Section 65), though this is extremely rare. Generally, once a union is certified, they are here to stay.

Key Timelines

There is no fixed deadline for finalizing the first agreement, but the Act provides mechanisms to address delays, impasse, or bad faith bargaining. Under section 43(1) of the Act, where the parties are unable to reach a first collective agreement and either a conciliation board will not be appointed or the conciliation board report has been released, either party may apply to the Board to direct the settlement of a first collective agreement by arbitration.

The Board must issue a decision on whether to arbitrate within 30 days of receiving the application. Where the parties give notice to the Board of their agreement that the Board arbitrate the settlement of the first collective agreement, the Board must appoint a date for and commence a hearing within 21 days of receiving notice and must determine all matters in dispute and release a decision within 45 days of the commencement of the hearing.

A first collective agreement settled under Section 43 of the Act is effective for 2 years from the date of settlement. If no agreement is reached within one year of certification, employees may apply to decertify the union (Section 63), though again, this is rare.Continue Reading From Bargaining Table to Arbitration: Navigating First Agreements, Renewals, and Back-to-Work Orders

We are pleased to share a recent Benefits Canada article, “Newfoundland and Labrador arbitrator rules pension grievance can proceed despite late filing, citing ‘culture of acquiescence’,” with quotes from Ajanthana Anandarajah.

In this case, an arbitrator ruled that a pension grievance filed seven years beyond a collective agreement’s time limit could proceed because of the…

Does the workplace extend into cyberspace?  In a precedent setting decision with potentially far-reaching implications, a labour arbitrator has found an employer liable for failing to protect its workers from harassment and discrimination in customer posts on the employer’s Twitter account (Toronto Transit Commission and ATU, Local 113, 2016 CarswellOnt 10550).  Employers using social media to communicate with clients, customers or the general public may need to rethink how to they respond to uncivil, abusive or threatening online posts targeting their workers.
Continue Reading Are Employers Responsible for Protecting Their Employees on Social Media? “Yes” According to a Recent Decision