Lawyers at Legal Aid Ontario who have been fighting for the right to negotiate a collective agreement got one step closer to their goal Wednesday, after their employer agreed to sit down with their choice of union, the Society of Energy Professionals.

Up next will be to get Legal Aid Ontario to recognize the SEP as the official bargaining agent, and then reach a collective agreement, notes a news release from Legal Aid Ontario lawyers. The lawyers have been picketing Ontario Liberal Party fundraisers and cabinet ministers' constituency offices in recent weeks. Because two-thirds of Legal Aid lawyers are women, and because many belong to diverse populations, they said they were being subjected to discrimination.

"Thirty-nine months of showing our employer and the provincial government how committed we are to forming a union is finally paying off. We always knew that getting our employer to the bargaining table would be a significant challenge — and now we have overcome that hurdle," said spokesperson and Legal Aid staff lawyer Dana Fisher in a release.

Under Ontario's Labour Relations Act, Legal Aid lawyers do not have the right to unionize, but other Crown attorneys have had their own professional associations recognized by their provincial employers for years.

The lawyers said they will continue to fight until their job conditions are enshrined in a collective agreement. They intend to picket an Ontario Liberal Women's Caucus golf tournament in Milton on Thursday.

Seen: Legal Aid Ontario lawyers inch closer to collective bargaining

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