The Labour Relations Act stipulates that employers may not retaliate against or otherwise interfere with employees who are exercising their right to:

• join a union;
• speak to a union or coworkers about unionizing your workplace; and
• exercise any other rights under the Labour Relations Act.

If you feel that your employer is trying to interfere with your rights, the union will immediately file charges against your employer for any threats, coercion, intimidation, or retaliation related to this union drive. Check out what the Ontario Labour Relations Act has to say on this matter.

Terms and conditions are frozen. The minute a union submits the application for certification, a provision of the Ontario Labour Relations Act is triggered, which prevents the employer from changing any of the terms and conditions of employment that exist currently. That means that the employer is prohibited from changing your wages, rolling back benefits, or any other monetary provision or protection you enjoyed prior to the application.

Now that this process has begun, the only way your terms and conditions can legally be changed is through bargaining and the approval of both the union and employer. Check out what the Ontario Labour Relations Act has to say on this matter.

Proposal Meetings — After OPAA has representation rights for the PAs at your workplace, one of the first things that would happen is a membership meeting to determine your bargaining priorities. We want to hear what is important to you so that we can craft bargaining proposals that meet your needs.

Bargaining Committee Elections — At the same time, OPAA will conduct an election for a bargaining committee member to join OPAA’s central bargaining committee and bargain your collective agreement.

Notice to Bargain — One of the first things that will happen after a successful certification vote is that OPAA will place the employer on notice of our intent to bargain a collective agreement. This is a legal process that is covered by the Ontario Labour Relations Act, which means that your employer must meet with the union to bargain in good faith to reach an agreement.

Research — OPAA has partnered with CLAC to achieve the best possible bargaining outcomes. CLAC has a team of research specialists who will conduct industry-specific research on the wages and monetary provisions paid by your employer and other hospitals across the province and the country. They will produce a report of the bargaining outcomes that have occurred across the hospital sector so that our bargaining team will have up-to-date information on collective bargaining trends and industry standards. This information will be used by the bargaining committee to finalize our bargaining strategy.

Union dues — The amount you pay in union dues is tax deductible. The dues standard for OPAA members is 1% of gross wages each pay, to a maximum of $500/year.