Item - 2019.GL5.19

The General Government and Licensing Committee received the report (May 6, 2019) from the Executive Director, People, Equity and Human Rights, for information.

This report provides a summary and analysis of grievance and arbitration activity for the twelve-month period of January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018.

The number of open grievances at the City of Toronto has been steadily declining since 2009 and continues to trend downward over the past five years. At the end of 2018, the number of open grievances was 1,494, a decrease of 6 percent compared to 1,583 in 2017. When compared to the 2009 peak of 3,405 (following the six-week labour disruption), the open grievances in 2018 were 56 percent lower.

The number of grievances being resolved or withdrawn continues to exceed the number of new grievances being filed and this has resulted in the reduction in open grievances. In fact, the grievance ratio of resolved grievances to new grievances has shown a positive trend above 1.0 (i.e., more than one grievance resolved for every new grievance received) over the past five years. However, it is worth noting that the gap between new cases and resolved cases has been narrowing in the last couple of years.

Overall, the City's grievances have been managed effectively as indicated by the lower number of open grievances and the improvement in various performance ratios (including the grievance per employee ratio and the resolved to new grievance ratio).