MECP OPSEU/SEFPO MERC - EO4 job description
Quote from opseuadmin on October 26, 2023, 3:34 pmHello Everyone - I trust you are all doing well.
Today, approximately 370 members were informed that their job description was being harmonized to “modernize”, “align”, “enhance” and “improve” the functions of the senior environmental officer, the drinking water inspector, the SCB inspector and the agricultural environmental officers.
Many of you are asking whether the Union was informed. Yes, the Union was provided a disclosure in August 2023 about these changes, and questions were immediately forwarded back to the Employer (email attached). As you can see the Union was also provided with a response that contained very little information and was limited in its details around the Union's questions & concerns (email attached). Unfortunately this is no different from what many of you experienced today.
I have been asked a 100 times today if the Union is concerned about these pending changes…..the answer is YES!
The Union is concerned about the lack of clarity concerning which pieces of environmental legislation we will be enforcing; especially in light of the Circular Economy Waste Reduction Act, the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority, HWIN, etc. I am not aware of other inspectors in other ministries having no description concerning what pieces of legislation they are responsible for. Just look at the Employer’s response in A7. How will this impact our program delivery or will this work be farmed out to other non-governmental organizations?
The Union is concerned that this exercise “dumbs down” the role of the inspector within the MECP. Just look at A9 in the Q&A’s. We are moving towards a “check the box” type of inspector. No knowledge of environmental systems, pollution controls, agriculture, etc. required. How does this help protect the environment or human health? Is that what Ontarians expect from us…I don't think so. This could have detrimental effects on your classification and rate of compensation in the future.
The Union is concerned about the ERP program and what this really means for our members. The Employer claims that these changes are being made to allow staff to conduct work outside of business hours or expand the eligibility to participate in ERP……but we already know that these things already exist. None of their answers makes sense. Unfortunately I cannot tell a Drinking Water inspector whether they will be on ERP or not cause the Employer is not being clear with the Union. I have already heard from numerous DW inspectors who have concerns about being added to this “voluntary” program. I put “voluntary” in parentheses to highlight the fact that the Employer treats this program as if it's mandatory even though it's a voluntary program. It's like the Eagles song Hotel California…once you enter you can never leave. Again review Policy B2 and read A22 in the Q&A’s. If you do not wish to volunteer for the ERP program make your management aware of this - this goes for all inspectors. If they force you to participate or tell you that it's mandatory because of business needs and you still don't want to participate, then your only option is to file a grievance. Force the Employer to demonstrate how they are following policy B2 and the Collective Agreement in determining your "voluntary" participation in this program. As the MERC Union representative I trust you understand that I can't tell you to grieve, but I can tell you there is Union assistance should you wish to grieve. Reach out and help can be provided.
The Union is concerned that our senior leadership did not directly communicate this change to our members. Why was the amended job description not provided ahead of the meeting; giving you time to review and ask informed questions. I can tell you that this was most likely part of their communication strategy because by the time you got to reading the documents you'd already have moved onto other issues. I implore you to make this an issue. Further, where was our senior leadership and why did they not deliver the presentation collectively to our impacted members? This change is impacting approximately 370 members, which is no small number in DWECD. Again, they left the communication to the District Managers, many of whom did not have the answers to your questions, many who miscommunicated the information, or only read from the script (i.e. Q&As attached).
The Union is concerned about your autonomy as a Provincial Officer and what appears to be an attempt by the Employer to allow more political interference in your decision making process around compliance. How has that worked out for this government so far - just look at the Greenbelt and Municipal boundary decisions. It's clear that special interests at first prevailed over the interests of Ontarians. But, Ontarians stood up and the government changed its course.
If permitted I could go on and on around the Union's concerns and stay on this soap box but I can't. It's time for you as the members to show your solidarity, knowledge around what you do, and concerns around this pending change to your job description. Compare your current job description with the proposed job description. I recognize that the Union’s comments are not exhaustive so if you are not happy with what is going on, or not content with the messages management provided you during today's meeting, then raise your concerns with both your management and Union in writing. When you send management an email, please include my personal email on that message (shawn.burr@gmail.com). Your OPSEU/SEFPO MERC team wants to hear from you and will continue to push the Employer on addressing your concerns.
Further, if you are concerned with what you are seeing in the job description then you should also consider reaching out to the Union and having a conversation about signing a grievance. This could be an individual grievance or group grievance if this makes members more comfortable. I’m fairly positive if you reach out to me I can find someone to help you with grievance language. But you will need to coordinate the grievance amongst yourselves and other members as this has a much greater impact with the Employer.
Remember, we are a member driven organization and the power comes from you! Never feel worried about exerting your collective agreement rights!
Please feel free to reach out to me or the other members of your MERC team.
Please feel free to share in your offices with other inspectors.
Should anyone wish to be added to my distribution list please reach out to me as I have been having some issues with google and it appears a few contacts may have been lost.
In Solidarity
Shawn
--
Shawn Burr
Co-Chair MECP OPSEU MERC
807.323.3388
Hello Everyone - I trust you are all doing well.
Today, approximately 370 members were informed that their job description was being harmonized to “modernize”, “align”, “enhance” and “improve” the functions of the senior environmental officer, the drinking water inspector, the SCB inspector and the agricultural environmental officers.
Many of you are asking whether the Union was informed. Yes, the Union was provided a disclosure in August 2023 about these changes, and questions were immediately forwarded back to the Employer (email attached). As you can see the Union was also provided with a response that contained very little information and was limited in its details around the Union's questions & concerns (email attached). Unfortunately this is no different from what many of you experienced today.
I have been asked a 100 times today if the Union is concerned about these pending changes…..the answer is YES!
The Union is concerned about the lack of clarity concerning which pieces of environmental legislation we will be enforcing; especially in light of the Circular Economy Waste Reduction Act, the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority, HWIN, etc. I am not aware of other inspectors in other ministries having no description concerning what pieces of legislation they are responsible for. Just look at the Employer’s response in A7. How will this impact our program delivery or will this work be farmed out to other non-governmental organizations?
The Union is concerned that this exercise “dumbs down” the role of the inspector within the MECP. Just look at A9 in the Q&A’s. We are moving towards a “check the box” type of inspector. No knowledge of environmental systems, pollution controls, agriculture, etc. required. How does this help protect the environment or human health? Is that what Ontarians expect from us…I don't think so. This could have detrimental effects on your classification and rate of compensation in the future.
The Union is concerned about the ERP program and what this really means for our members. The Employer claims that these changes are being made to allow staff to conduct work outside of business hours or expand the eligibility to participate in ERP……but we already know that these things already exist. None of their answers makes sense. Unfortunately I cannot tell a Drinking Water inspector whether they will be on ERP or not cause the Employer is not being clear with the Union. I have already heard from numerous DW inspectors who have concerns about being added to this “voluntary” program. I put “voluntary” in parentheses to highlight the fact that the Employer treats this program as if it's mandatory even though it's a voluntary program. It's like the Eagles song Hotel California…once you enter you can never leave. Again review Policy B2 and read A22 in the Q&A’s. If you do not wish to volunteer for the ERP program make your management aware of this - this goes for all inspectors. If they force you to participate or tell you that it's mandatory because of business needs and you still don't want to participate, then your only option is to file a grievance. Force the Employer to demonstrate how they are following policy B2 and the Collective Agreement in determining your "voluntary" participation in this program. As the MERC Union representative I trust you understand that I can't tell you to grieve, but I can tell you there is Union assistance should you wish to grieve. Reach out and help can be provided.
The Union is concerned that our senior leadership did not directly communicate this change to our members. Why was the amended job description not provided ahead of the meeting; giving you time to review and ask informed questions. I can tell you that this was most likely part of their communication strategy because by the time you got to reading the documents you'd already have moved onto other issues. I implore you to make this an issue. Further, where was our senior leadership and why did they not deliver the presentation collectively to our impacted members? This change is impacting approximately 370 members, which is no small number in DWECD. Again, they left the communication to the District Managers, many of whom did not have the answers to your questions, many who miscommunicated the information, or only read from the script (i.e. Q&As attached).
The Union is concerned about your autonomy as a Provincial Officer and what appears to be an attempt by the Employer to allow more political interference in your decision making process around compliance. How has that worked out for this government so far - just look at the Greenbelt and Municipal boundary decisions. It's clear that special interests at first prevailed over the interests of Ontarians. But, Ontarians stood up and the government changed its course.
If permitted I could go on and on around the Union's concerns and stay on this soap box but I can't. It's time for you as the members to show your solidarity, knowledge around what you do, and concerns around this pending change to your job description. Compare your current job description with the proposed job description. I recognize that the Union’s comments are not exhaustive so if you are not happy with what is going on, or not content with the messages management provided you during today's meeting, then raise your concerns with both your management and Union in writing. When you send management an email, please include my personal email on that message (shawn.burr@gmail.com). Your OPSEU/SEFPO MERC team wants to hear from you and will continue to push the Employer on addressing your concerns.
Further, if you are concerned with what you are seeing in the job description then you should also consider reaching out to the Union and having a conversation about signing a grievance. This could be an individual grievance or group grievance if this makes members more comfortable. I’m fairly positive if you reach out to me I can find someone to help you with grievance language. But you will need to coordinate the grievance amongst yourselves and other members as this has a much greater impact with the Employer.
Remember, we are a member driven organization and the power comes from you! Never feel worried about exerting your collective agreement rights!
Please feel free to reach out to me or the other members of your MERC team.
Please feel free to share in your offices with other inspectors.
Should anyone wish to be added to my distribution list please reach out to me as I have been having some issues with google and it appears a few contacts may have been lost.
In Solidarity
Shawn
--
Shawn Burr
Co-Chair MECP OPSEU MERC
807.323.3388
