FAQs on the Feb. 6 and 7 ratification vote

After three years of hard work, the Ontario Coroners Association and OPSEU/SEFPO have reached a Framework Agreement with the Government.

If ratified by the majority of Coroners who vote, this agreement will allow Coroners the legal right to bargain the terms and conditions of their work directly with the Government.

The ratification vote will take place electronically on Thursday, Feb. 6 and Friday, Feb. 7.

In anticipation of this vote, OPSEU/SEFPO staff and lawyers, along with your OCA Board members, held four information sessions in January to review and discuss the tentative Framework Agreement.

Based on these discussions, we have gathered and answered some of the most frequently asked questions below. These questions reflect important issues and topics shared by Coroners from across the province, and we hope they can provide further clarity for anyone who was unable to attend the information sessions.

Question: What Happens After Ratification?

Answer: Once both the Coroners and the OCC/Crown have ratified the Framework Agreement, the Coroners will officially be members of OPSEU/SEFPO and become a provincial wide bargaining unit.

A general membership meeting will be held where, with assistance from your OPSEU/SEFPO Staff Representative, Coroners will participate in nominating and electing your Local Executive Committee: Local President, Vice-President, Lead Steward, Treasurer, and Secretary. Regional Stewards will also be elected, along with your Negotiations Committee.

Question: What are OPSEU/SEFPO Union Dues?

Answer: OPSEU/SEFPO membership comes with union dues that are among the lowest in the country. Dues are 1.375% of your gross compensation for Coroner services paid by the Crown (fees paid directly by members of the public are not compensation).

There are no initiation fees, dues are tax deductible, and you do not pay any union dues until you have bargained your first collective agreement.

Question: What are the steps to negotiating a Coroner Services Agreement?

Answer: OPSEU/SEFPO is a democratic organization committed to advancing and advocating the bargaining objectives of its members. Following ratification the union will serve the employer with a “notice to bargain” which is a legal notice that signals its intent to negotiate a first Coroner Services Agreement (CSA) under the Framework Agreement.

At a general membership meeting of the Coroners you will elect a negotiating committee, which will be responsible for negotiating the CSA with support from OPSEU/SEFPO staff.

In conjunction with OPSEU/SEFPO staff, the negotiating committee will develop a bargaining survey which will be sent to all Coroners. This will collect critical information on the bargaining objectives of the membership.

Following the survey, a general membership meeting will be held in which the Coroners in attendance will discuss, vote on and rank their bargaining objectives. This will provide your elected negotiating committee with its mandate for bargaining with the employer. Once the bargaining mandate is established, the negotiating committee will set bargaining dates with the employer and prepare proposals for bargaining.

The Framework Agreement prescribes that first CSA must be in place no later than October 1, 2026. Negotiating first agreements typically takes considerable time. It is expected it will take a least one year from the commencement of negotiations to effect an agreement.

Question: What if the parties cannot reach agreement on all of the terms to be included in a Coroner Services Agreement?

Answer: If the parties have engaged in collective bargaining but still cannot reach agreement, there are several different stages of conflict resolution they can employ to reach agreement.

The first stage would be appointing a neutral third-party Facilitator to make recommendations to assist the parties in resolving their bargaining disputes.

If the parties still cannot reach agreement, the second stage would be the appointment of a three-person Facilitation Board. The Facilitation Board would be comprised of a nominee chosen by the Union and another nominee chosen by the Crown. Those two nominees would choose and appoint a neutral third-party to chair the Facilitation Board.

The Facilitation Board would hear submissions from the Union and the Crown regarding the remaining areas of dispute and then make recommendations to the parties.

If the parties still cannot reach agreement after receiving the Facilitation Board’s recommendations, then the Coroners would have the right to engage in a collective withdrawal of services, or a job action.

A job action would only occur after the parties have gone through the stages outlined above – collective bargaining, engaging a Facilitator, and then engaging a Facilitation Board.

The decision to initiate any job action(s), including a collective withdrawal of services, would be made by the Coroners through a majority vote. Per OPSEU/SEFPO policy, a meeting (or meetings) would be held during which all Coroners would have the opportunity to hear details about the outstanding bargaining issues, the proposed job action(s), and to cast a secret ballot to determine whether or not to move forward with any proposed job action(s).

Question: Can Coroners, as physicians, engage in a job action? What about the CPSO?

Answer: The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized a constitutional right to engage in job actions. The CPSO has expressly stated that its policies do not prohibit job actions. The CPSO has never disciplined or sanctioned a physician for engaging in any form of job action.

The CPSO’s Policy, “Providing Physician Services During Job Actions”, and the CPSO’s Advice to the Profession regarding that Policy expressly state that the job actions are not prohibited and set out factors and considerations that physicians must turn their minds to before engaging in any form of job action.

These CPSO policy statements would be taken into account and carefully considered when determining the specific nature, scope and parameters of any job actions.

Thank you for taking the time to read through the Q&A. We value your engagement and appreciate the thoughtful questions and feedback shared during the Information sessions.

If you have any further questions or require clarification on any of the points above, please reach out to Amanda Enright at [email protected].

In Solidarity,

The OCA Board

Jeannie Walton
Steve Bodley
Geoffrey Bond
Nick Cuberovic
Richard Tang
Piotr Koziarz
Roman Jovey