Legal aid lawyers in the Canadian province of Ontario are seeking recognition for their right to collectively bargain with their employer, Legal Aid Ontario (LAO)
Photo Credit: Legal Aid Ontario Lawyers' Organizing Campaign

Legal aid lawyers want right to bargain collectively with their employer

Legal Aid lawyers in Canada’s most populous province of Ontario are frustrated that their employer, Legal Aid Ontario (LAO), is refusing to bargain with them and recognize their right to do so.

“More than two-thirds of Legal Aid lawyers are women,” said Jillian Rogin, a Legal Aid Lawyer, “and we are the most racially diverse group of public sector lawyers in the province. All other provincial government lawyers, such as those working for the Ministry of the Attorney General and those employed as crown attorneys, enjoy the right to collective bargaining. They are primarily male.”

The Law Times newspaper reports that Legal Aid Ontario’s CEO Bob Ward has rejected the lawyers bid to secure collective-bargaining rights.

According to the Legal Aid Ontario Lawyers’ Organizing Campaign Ward made the decision because the legal aid lawyers opted to join a union, rather than have an association like the crown attorneys.

More information:
Law Times – LAO staff lawyers’ union bid rejected – here
LAO lawyers’ campaign press release- Lawyers Hold Rally as Frustration with Legal Aid Ontario Grows – here
LAO lawyers’ campaign – Letter to LAO Lawyers from the Campaign Committee – here

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