The Employee and Labour Relations Committee recommends to the Executive Committee that:

1.         Family Day be designated as a holiday for all non-union employees of the Toronto Public Service commencing 2010.

2.         City staff amend the Designated Holidays and Float Holidays Policy to add Family Day to the list of designated holidays for non-union employees.

In 2007, the Ontario provincial government designated the third Monday of February as Family Day as a holiday pursuant to the Employment Standards Act.  It was recently negotiated as a holiday for the members of TCEU Local 416 and CUPE Local 79.  Except for essential City services and various key 24-hour city operations (e.g., Police, Fire, EMS, Toronto Water), all unionized staff will not be working on Family Day and the City's main service operations to the public will be closed.  The issue of providing Family Day as a designated Holiday for non-union employees should be addressed in light of the recent collective agreement changes for City unionized employees.  In addition, the closure of non-essential services on Family Day is consistent with other single tier and regional municipalities in the Province of Ontario.  As well, five of the largest special purpose bodies (e.g., Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Toronto Libraries) in the City and most other large public and private sector employers observe Family Day. City staff believe that it makes operational sense to provide Family Day as a designated holiday to all non-union employees effective commencing February 2010.

The Employee and Labour Relations Committee recommends to the Executive Committee that:

1.         City Council adopt the Diversity and Positive Workplace Strategy outlined in the attachment of the report (November 17, 200) from the City Manager.

2.         City Council authorize the City Manager to undertake the following specific actions:

(i)         develop and implement a new three-year corporate Employment Equity Action Plan 2010 – 2012;

(ii)        require that a direct linkage be established between each manager's individual accountabilities for the corporate Employment Equity Action Plan through their annual performance planner;

(iii)       incorporate the targets set out in the Employment Equity Action Plan in the strategies of the Toronto Public Service People Plan;

(iv)       develop and implement a Diversity Education campaign for the Toronto Public Service;

(v)        develop and implement training programs designed for supervisors and managers on "Inclusion in the Workplace: Race" and "Duty to Accommodate";

(vi)       develop a corporate Conflict Resolution and Positive Workplace Policy and related training initiatives on respectful and positive workplaces;

(vii)      create a mandatory five year corporate leadership curriculum that incorporates the issues of employment equity, diversity, inclusion and conflict resolution/positive workplace culture;

(viii)     expand the scope of the current "Access, Equity and Human Rights Awards" to also include the recognition of contributions by employees of the Toronto Public Service; and

(ix)       include a Diversity and Positive Workplace Strategy progress report with the annual reporting of the Toronto Public Service People Plan.

The Employee and Labour Relations Committee requested the City Manager to report back to the Committee on implementation timelines for the actions set out in Recommendation 2 of the report (November 17, 2009) from the City Manager.

The City Manager, Executive Director, Human Resources and Joanne Todesco, Special Advisor, Human Resources Division, made a presentation to the Committee.

The Employee and Labour Relations Committee recommends to the Executive Committee that Council receive for information the Workforce Survey among Non-Union Staff: Response Rate and Representation Rate set out in the report (September 30, 2009) from the Executive Director of Human Resources.

On December 1, 2 and 3, 2008, City Council adopted a motion in response to the Audit Committee’s November 4, 2008 Decision to request the following:

15.       The Executive Director of the Human Resources Division provide a detailed report to Council by March 2009 on results of the 2007 workforce survey for non-union employees, including information on representation of designated groups and comparative results with census data.

This report is provided for information purposes regarding the results of the 2007 Workforce Survey among non-union staff working within the Toronto Public Service. It includes information on the representation of the four designated groups (women, visible minorities, People with Disabilities and Aboriginal Peoples) within non-union staff compared to census labour pool availability estimates, and outlines how the data presented is being used to help the Toronto Public Service (TPS) meet employment equity objectives. The 2007 workforce survey for the non-union workforce had a response rate of 75.4%.

Although the representation of non-union Aboriginal Peoples compares favourably to the 2006 Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) labour pool availability estimates, Aboriginal community advises that the representation of Aboriginal Peoples is higher than the Census arising from undercounting.  The other three designated groups within the non-union workforce fall below the 2006 census labour pool availability for the Toronto CMA. 

The Employee and Labour Relations Committee recommends to the Executive Committee that City Council receive for information the Occupational Health and Safety Report, Third Quarter 2009 dated November 9, 2009 from the City Manager and the Executive Director, Human Resources.  

This report provides information on the status of the City’s health and safety system, specifically on activities, priorities and performance during the first three quarters of 2009. There was a decrease in the number of lost time injuries (7.8%) and a decrease in the number of recurrence injuries (10.5%) relative to the first three quarters of 2008. The number of injuries where health care only was sought decreased significantly by 16.6%. WSIB invoiced costs were $2.9 million lower than for the same time period in 2008, due to a reduction in costs associated with firefighter cancer claims.

Information is provided where there have been significant changes in accident experience and costs within divisions, as well as actions being taken to improve health and safety performance.

Bill 168, the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Act (Violence and Harassment in the Workplace) received second reading in the provincial legislature on October 5^th. On October 20^th, it was further debated, carried and referred to the Standing Committee on Social Policy.

The purpose of this report is to provide the quarterly grievance and arbitration activity from July 1 to September 30, 2009.

The purpose of this annual report is to provide information on the progress made in 2008 in implementing the Toronto Public Service (TPS) People Plan 2008 – 2011.  The Employee and Relations Committee adopted the People Plan in July 2008 and City Council received the People Plan for information in September 2008.  

Overall, in 2008 there was significant progress in implementing the People Plan by the divisions and corporately, most notably perhaps in the goals related to health and safety, learning and in leadership. The Annual Report includes several examples of concrete and practical actions undertaken corporately and by Divisions. Divisions have implemented different actions under the People Plan that reflect the various businesses, working environments and operational issues requiring attention. 

While there continues to be much work needed to implement fully the Toronto Public Service People Plan during its first cycle, particularly in assisting divisions to develop their own people plans, the expectation is that implementation issues will be addressed over the Plan’s three-year cycle and beyond.

The Employee and Labour Relations Committee referred the communication (November 2, 2009) from Mr. Mark Ferguson, President, Toronto Civic Employees' Union, CUPE Local 416, to the City Manager for consideration and report back to the Committee.