Joint committee playbook

• Is it already a formal grievance?. Stop if your collective agreement (CA) bars live grievances from the joint table. Committees like the Employee/Employer Relations Committee (EERC) in Ontario colleges often do; your agreement may use another name. Route a live grievance through your stewards and the grievance procedure, and see the duty of fair representation guide. Items for the joint health and safety committee (JHSC), and many items for a labour-management committee (LMC), can move alongside a grievance on the same systemic issue. Officer Learning module 10 covers parallel escalation.
• Has the local committee already tried?. A central joint committee expects a local labour-management committee to have met first. In Ontario colleges the central committee is provincial; your agreement may set a different structure. Before you refer an item up, you need the dates, who attended, and what the employer said.
• Is it system-wide?. Joint committees handle problems that cross workplaces or need a central recommendation to bargaining. They do not handle one manager’s scheduling habit on a single floor.
• Is this really health and safety?. The JHSC and a joint labour-management committee are different bodies. Hazards and work refusals go through the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and your JHSC. Policy and workload patterns may fit a joint committee after local attempts.

• Schedule the local meeting. Book the local labour-management committee. Bring the member’s facts in writing: dates, emails, CA articles, and the ask.
• Record what was said. Note who attended, what the employer answered, and whether they agreed to fix the problem, agreed to study it, or refused. Keep these notes neutral. Your strategy for the central committee does not belong in them.
• Set a follow-up date. If the employer asks for time, put a return date in writing. Silence is not a solution you can refer upward.
• Package the referral. If the local attempt fails or stalls, draft a one-page referral: the issue, the local dates, the employer’s response, and why it needs a central look. Your co-chair sends it through union channels.

• One-page fact summary. Say what happened, how many workplaces are affected, which CA articles apply, and what you want the committee to recommend.
• Local attempt log. List the dates of local meetings, who attended for the employer, and the responses. Attach redacted emails if you have them.
• Clear union ask. Do you want a recommendation to bargaining, a joint letter, or a study by the employer’s central body? Name the outcome. “Raise awareness” is not an outcome.
• Tell the other party. Many agreements require notice before you refer an item up. Check yours, and do not surprise management at the next table.

Caucus checklist

• Agree on the ask and red lines. Decide what you want, what you can trade, and what is non-negotiable. If you cannot state the ask in one sentence, postpone the joint meeting.
• Assign roles. Name a speaker, a note-taker, a timekeeper, and the person who follows up with locals afterward. One voice in the room is clearer than five partial stories.
• Draft the union brief. Use Document Generator letterhead for the union-side speaking notes. Do not paste caucus notes into the joint record.
• Keep caucus private. Use a Local Portal Circle or meet in person, and invite the union side only. Never invite the employer into caucus space.

• Refuse grievances. If a live grievance slipped onto the agenda, stop and send it to the grievance procedure. The table is not a grievance hearing.
• Stick to the agreed ask. The speaker delivers the union brief. Others add facts only when asked. Discuss management’s position in caucus, not across the table.
• Correct draft minutes. Management drafts the minutes. Send corrections through your co-chair in writing. Correct facts only, and leave the argument out.
• Consensus or separate briefs. If you agree, the recommendation goes to the body named in your CA. If not, each side may send its own brief through its co-chair.
• Do not bargain here. Workload caps, wages, and changes to CA language belong at bargaining unless the CA explicitly routes them through this committee.

• Link the official minutes. Use the union and employer links from the sources block. Do not republish the PDF on a local site as if UnionOps were the publisher.
• Write the member note. Write three parts: what was asked, what the committee decided, and what happens next. Give one contact for follow-up instead of opening a debate in the comments.
• Brief affected locals. Send a letter on letterhead to the presidents or stewards of the workplaces that raised the issue. Include the same link and the same ask.
• Comms only after approval. Make a flyer or board notice only after the minutes are signed, never from a draft. See the email outreach guide for sends you copy into your own email, with no marketing lists.

1. 1. Week 1: local committees

   Each local committee meets. Stewards bring redacted emails and the CA posting articles. The employer asks for two weeks to “review centrally.” The locals log dates and attendees.

2. 2. Week 3: the local attempt fails

   Two workplaces get no follow-up, and one gets a vague reply. The union co-chairs package a referral to the central committee: a fact summary, the local log, and a union ask for a joint recommendation to bargaining.

3. 3. Week 5: caucus and joint table

   The union caucus agrees on the ask: recommend standardized posting windows. The speaker uses a brief on letterhead. The joint table records a consensus to refer the item to the bargaining teams, and management drafts the minutes.

4. 4. Week 7: signed minutes and member note

   The co-chairs sign. The union and the employer post the PDFs. The union sends a three-sentence note with both links and a steward contact. The note has no draft language and no negotiation details.

• Part-time support staff. The part-time support staff agreement sets up the Employee/Employer Relations Committee (EERC) in its union and college relations article and an appendix. Local issues go there after the Union/College Committee (UCC). Management records the minutes, and both parties post signed copies. Look up the current article number in your agreement.
• Full-time support staff. The full-time support staff agreement sets up the same kind of committee in its own article and appendix. Meeting frequency and travel rules differ, so read the appendix in your current agreement.
• Other unions. Find your joint committee article and appendix the same way. The same path still applies: local committee, caucus, joint table, signed minutes.

• Not a grievance forum. Live grievances stay in the grievance procedure. Officer Hub grievance tools track those files. They do not track joint committee agendas.
• Not the JHSC. Workplace hazards and OHSA work refusals go through your health and safety representatives and the right-to-refuse guide.
• Not the local executive. The local executive runs the local: elections, finances, and steward coordination. Joint committees make recommendations at the central or divisional level.
• Not the bargaining table. Committees recommend to bargaining teams; they do not settle wage or language packages.

• Letterhead and briefs. Use Document Generator letterhead for union caucus briefs and local referral packages.
• Member explainer. Use Flyer Maker or Graphic Maker after the minutes are public. Keep it to one ask and one official link.
• Email to locals. The email outreach guide covers sends you copy into your own email, with no marketing lists.
• Multi-local caucus. Create a Local Portal Circle with members from more than one local, and invite the union side only.

• WordJoint committee meeting agendaAn agenda for labour-management meetings: carried-over commitments, union items and what is being asked for.See the template
• Excel + CSVJoint committee action logTracks every item raised at a labour-management table, who owns it and when it is due.See the template
• Excel + CSVJHSC roster templateA blank joint health and safety committee roster with sides, certification and term dates.See the template