OPSEU heads back to court.
from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union
The Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, ignoring a court order issued in March this year, has announced it intends to contract out the transcription work of about 650 court reporters, says OPSEU.
"Where is this all going to end?" asked Jim Jurens, court reporters' spokesperson. "Will these jobs one day end up in India or the southern US?"
“The Ministry has been trying to eliminate the transcription work of court reports from its payroll for almost 15 years, despite rulings by the GSB that the highly-sensitive work of court reporters in the province’s criminal justice system rightfully and legally belongs to those in the OPSEU bargaining unit.”
In 2006, the GSB ruled that transcript productioon is the bargaining unit work of court reporters and is protected by the collective agreement, according to OPSEU. In March this year, the GSB issued an order to the Ministry directing it to stop violating the collective agreement by treating court reporters as independent contractors.
When the Ministry continued to defy the ruling, the issue was taken to the Superior Court of Justice for an enforcement order.
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas said the Ministry's action is "another example of the arrogance displayed by the current government. Ethically, morally and legally it is a disgrace that the Ministry chooses to walk away from these GSB decisions with impunity. We shouldn't be surprised, though. This sort of behaviour is typical of a government whose overriding aim is to gut public services."
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