More Evidence Needed on Whether Workers Were Improperly Denied Safety Training

At a nuclear generating station, workers need so-called ‘orange badge’ safety training to access certain areas. Clerical workers in the security office didn’t need such training for their usual jobs but did need it to do overtime work during outages. But the employer refused to provide orange badge training for them, citing financial reasons for only providing training required for their basic jobs. The workers filed a grievance. The arbitrator agreed that the employer had the right to determine who got trained and for what work. But refusing orange badge training for these workers may have denied them a ‘development opportunity’ under the collective agreement. And other clerical workers had gotten such training. So the arbitrator ruled that additional evidence was required as to the circumstances under which those clerical workers got orange badge training [Power Workers’ Union v. Ontario Power Generation, [2014] CanLII 48553 (ON LA), Aug. 22, 2014].