ILO condemns Ontario over denial of rights to college workers

Colleges Collective Bargaining Act violates 'basic rights of association and collective bargaining.'

Ottawa (16 Nov. 2006) – The International Labour Organization (ILO), an agency of the United Nations, has condemned the Liberal government of Ontario Dalton McGuinty for denying 16,000 part-time community college workers the basic right to form a union and participate in collective bargaining.

The ILO's highly critical report is in response to a formal complaint lodged by the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) in June 2005. It involves the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA), which denies most part-time employees employed by any of the 24 public colleges in Ontario the right to join a union and engage in collective bargaining.

The NUPGE complaint was filed on behalf of its Ontario component, the Ontario Public Services Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE), which represents more than 15,000 full-time employees of the province’s Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology, including both faculty and support staff.

Through CCBA, the 16,000 part-time support and academic staff of Ontario’s community colleges are barred from joining a union and from exercising the right to collective bargaining. Ontario is the only province in Canada where it is against the law for college part-time workers to join a union.

Rapid remedial action requested

The ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association stated in its ruling:

“While the particular circumstances of the part-time employees concerned here may call for differentiated treatment and adjustments as regards the definition of bargaining units, the rules for certification, etc., as well as specific negotiations taking their status and work requirements into account, the Committee fails to see any reason why the principles on the basic rights of association and collective bargaining afforded to all workers should not also apply to part-time employees.”

“The Committee further recalls that all workers, without distinction whatsoever, whether they are employed in a permanent basis, for a fixed-term or as contract employees, should have the right to establish and join organizations of their own choosing.

“The Committee requests the Government rapidly to take legislative measures, in consultation with the social partners, to ensure that academic and part-time support staff in applied arts and technology fully enjoy the rights to organize and bargain collectively, as any other workers.”

The Committee’s ruling was adopted Nov. 15 at the 297th Session of the ILO Governing Body in Geneva, Switzerland.

NUPGE National President James Clancy said that he is not surprised by the ILO decision.

“The right to join a union and bargain collectively is one of the most fundamental and well recognized international human rights. This right is enshrined in a variety of international documents including the UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It has been endorsed enthusiastically by all governments in Canada, but yet in the province of Ontario it is denied to 16,000 workers. This decision is a disgrace to Canada’s international reputation,” Clancy said.

“The federal government should be very troubled by this and should pressure the Ontario government to amend the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act so that all employees of the public college system are able to exercise their right to freedom of association in a meaningful way,” he added.

“The government of Ontario needs to recognize that labour rights are human rights. All human rights are integrated and must be enforced. There can be no vibrant democracy if governments pick and choose which human rights they obey and defend.”

Leah Casselman

OPSEU President Leah Casselman welcomed the ILO decision.

“Our members employed as CAAT academic and support staff have campaigned for years against the denial of human rights and legalized exploitation of their part-time colleagues. The ILO decision certainly reinforces OPSEU’s long standing position that college part-timers have the same democratic rights as everyone else,” Casselman said.

Casselman noted that the government’s reply to the ILO regarding NUPGE’s complaint could not provide a single rational reason for denying college part-timers the right to join a union. “The Ontario government’s position is indefensible, they know it and it’s time for the government to finally do the right thing.”

“I will be contacting Premier Dalton McGuinty to strongly urge him and his government to heed the advice of such a well respected UN body, like the ILO, and ‘rapidly’ introduce in the legislature, amendments to the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA) to ensure that part-time college employees enjoy the basic human right to join a union like all other workers.”

”This unfair denial of fundamental rights is an embarrassment to both Ontario and Canada.
The province should immediately seize upon the ILOs recommendation to correct a long-standing injustice. The exploitation of part-time workers at the college system is having an impact on the quality of education students receive. If Ontario is to be a leader in learning, then it must show leadership and respect for basic human rights,” she says. NUPGE

More information:
NUPGE's labour rights page