AMAPCEO is very pleased to announce that the employees of the Ontario Racing Commission have voted overwhelmingly to choose AMAPCEO as their bargaining agent. The ORC becomes our fifth bargaining unit and is the first workplace we have organized outside the Ontario Public Service that was not a successor rights divestment.
“I want to congratulate the Ontario Racing Commission members for their success,” said AMAPCEO President Gary Gannage, after receiving the formal decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board certifying the new unit. “The employees stood together to withstand a long and difficult challenge by the ORC employer, and it has ended in victory. We are proud of our members’ efforts to seek fair working conditions. We are honoured to represent them and we look forward to establishing a professional and productive relationship with the management of the ORC to strengthen the important work of the commission and its staff”.
The new unit comprises racing judges and stewards, veterinarians and veterinarian clerks, licensing agents and administrative employees working across the province of Ontario. The Ontario Racing Commission is a crown agency that governs, directs and regulates the horse racing industry in Ontario to ensure public confidence in the honesty and integrity of racing. The commission was divested from the Ontario Public Service ten years ago and the employees have been unrepresented since that time.
After AMAPCEO was approached by a number of employees at the commission seeking representation, an organizing committee was established and the signing of membership cards began in earnest last Summer. A vote was conducted under the supervision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) last Fall at polls located at the ORC head office and at race tracks across the province. It has taken a number of months to deal with exclusion challenges filed by the employer, but the final hurdle was cleared when the board ruled against the employer in March and the remaining ballots were finally counted, leading to certification.
As Spring approaches, there is plenty of work to be done as we prepare to negotiate a first collective agreement. In the meantime, employees’ current terms and conditions of employment continue to remain frozen until a new agreement is negotiated and ratified.
Members of the ORC AMAPCEO Organizing Committee, left to right:
Mike Brown, Paul Harrison, Jim Thatcher, and Gunnar Lindberg.
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