Monday, December 29, 2008

Negotiations Update

Woodbine and the Union have exchanged opening positions and have meetings scheduled for January.
The parties will be in a legal strike/lock-out position as of 12:01 am Wednesday, January 28.
The parties have indicated a willingness not to initiate a labour dispute as long as the bargaining is progressing toward an agreement.
We anticipate calling a membership meeting when we have a sense of how the talks are going.


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Elimination of “Elect To Work” Exemptions

The Ontario Government has introduced Bill 139, the Employment Standards Amendment Act (Temporary Help Agencies), 2008, and also announced related changes to the ESA regulations. These changes will affect any employer or organization that:
(1) employs “elect to work” or casual employees;
(2) is a temporary help agency; or
(3) uses the services of a temporary help agency.

While the focus of Bill 139 is on temporary help agencies, the government announced related changes that affect all “elect to work” employees. Elect to work employees are those who are employed on a casual basis, and have the ability to refuse work assignments offered by their employers, without suffering negative consequences. Currently, elect to work employees are exempt from the public holidays provisions of the ESA, and are exempt from the requirement to provide notice of termination (or termination pay in lieu of notice) and severance pay.

The government announced that it has already passed a regulation that will eliminate the elect to work exemption that relates to public holiday pay, as of January 2, 2009. This means that, beginning with Family Day next year, elect to work employees will be entitled to public holiday pay under the ESA, just like any other employee.

The government also announced its intention to pass a regulation that will eliminate the elect to work exemptions related to notice of termination and severance pay. When this regulation is passed, it will mean that elect to work employees will be entitled to notice of termination (or termination pay in lieu of notice) and severance pay under the ESA. At this time, it appears that the Government will wait until Bill 139 is passed (and possibly until it comes into force) before it eliminates these exemptions.

Click the link below for more details.

http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=2132