ONTARIO LABOUR RELATIONS BOARD

Transcription

1 ONTARIO LABOUR RELATIONS BOARD OLRB Case No: R Northeastern Ontario Construction Association, Applicant v Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 493, Responding Party BEFORE: Yvon Seveny, Vice-Chair DECISION OF THE BOARD: December 7, This is an application for accreditation in which the applicant seeks to be accredited as the bargaining agent for certain employers who have a bargaining relationship with the responding party. 2. The applicant has filed a copy of the constitution and bylaws of the Sudbury Construction Association ( SCA ) and says that the SCA changed its name to that of the applicant, the Northeastern Ontario Construction Association ( NOCA ), in September of I take that to mean that the constitution and bylaws of the SCA are the constitution and bylaws of NOCA. The constitution at article 4 sets out the objects of NOCA, which include the negotiating and administering of collective agreements. The responding party has not challenged the applicant s status to bring this application. Having regard to the materials filed with this application, the Board finds the applicant to be an employers organization within the meaning of sections 1(1) and 126 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the Act ) and further, that this is a properlyconstituted organization for the purposes of section 134 of the Act. 3. The responding party is a trade union within the meaning of sections 1(1) and 126 of the Act. 4. The applicant states that it represents employers in the unit sought in this application in negotiations with the responding party in a collective agreement that covers the bargaining unit and geographic area listed at paragraph 9 below. Having regard to the material before

2 - 2 - it, the Board finds that it has jurisdiction, under section 134 of the Act, to entertain this application. 5. The applicant asserts that there are 13 employers in the unit in which it seeks to be accredited. It appears the applicant has filed authorizations on behalf of a majority of the employers in the unit in which it seeks to be accredited. This evidence is in the form of individual documents which are in a standard form, and each document authorizes the applicant to represent the employer signing it as its bargaining agent in regard to the employees for whom the responding party has bargaining rights in the geographic areas defined in paragraph 9 below. The document further states that each employer who signed this document vests all necessary authority in the applicant to enable it to discharge its responsibilities of an accredited bargaining agent as defined under the Act. 6. The applicant has also filed a duly completed Form A-95, Declaration Concerning Representation Documents Application for Accreditation Construction Industry, which attests to the regularity and sufficiency of its documentary evidence of representation. 7. The Board is satisfied that each of the individual employers on behalf of whom the applicant has submitted representation evidence has vested appropriate authority in the applicant to enable it to discharge the responsibilities of an accredited bargaining agent. 8. Sections 134 and 136 (1) (2) (3) of the Act provide as follows: 134. Where a trade union or council of trade unions has been certified or has been granted voluntary recognition under section 18 as the bargaining agent for a unit of employees of more than one employer in the construction industry or where a trade union or council of trade unions has entered into collective agreements with more than one employer covering a unit of employees in the construction industry, an employers organization may apply to the Board to be accredited as the bargaining agent for all employers in a particular sector of the industry and in the geographic area described in the said certificates, voluntary recognition documents or collective agreements, as the case may be (1) Upon an application for accreditation, the Board shall ascertain,

3 - 3 - (a) the number of employers in the unit of employers on the date of the making of the application who have within one year prior to such date had employees in their employ for whom the trade union or council of trade unions has bargaining rights in the geographic area and sector determined by the Board to be appropriate; (b) the number of employers in clause (a) represented by the employers organization on the date of the making of the application; and (c) the number of employees of employers in clause (a) on the payroll of each such employer for the weekly payroll period immediately preceding the date of the application or if, in the opinion of the Board, the payroll period is unsatisfactory for any one or more of the employers in clause (a), such other weekly payroll period for any one or more of the said employers as the Board considers advisable. (2) If the Board is satisfied, (a) that a majority of the employers in clause (1)(a) is represented by the employers organization; and (b) that such majority of employers employed a majority of the employees in clause (1)(c), the Board, subject to subsection (3), shall accredit the employers organization as the bargaining agent of the employers in the unit of employers and for the other employers for whose employees the trade union or council of trade unions may, after the date of the making of the application, obtain bargaining rights through certification or voluntary recognition in the appropriate geographic area and sector. (3)Before accrediting an employers organization under subsection (2), the Board shall satisfy itself that the employers organization is a properly constituted organization and that each of the employers whom it represents has vested appropriate authority in the organization to enable it to

4 - 4 - discharge the responsibilities of an accredited bargaining agent. 9. The parties have discussed the application with a Labour Relations Officer and have reached an agreement on the description of the unit of employers that is appropriate for accreditation. They propose the following bargaining unit: 1. All employers of construction labourers engaged on all construction projects within the District of Sudbury, Manitoulin Island, Nipissing, Algonquin Provincial Park, Temiskaming, Parry Sound and part of the District of Cochrane lying south of the 49th Parallel, including an eighty (80) kilometer radius of the Timmins Federal Building including the portion lying north of Highway 101 West to the border of the District of Algoma, including the town of Chapleau, Cockburn; and all other islands situated in Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. 2. For the purpose of clarity, construction labourers, referred to in paragraph 1 above, includes those employed in Classification Groups one (1) through nine (9), as described in Schedule C of the Collective Agreement referred to at paragraph 6 of this Application. 3. Also, for the purpose of clarity, construction projects within the following Sectors of the construction industry are included in the bargaining unit: Sewer and Watermain, Road Building, Bridge, Dams, Civil Construction, Paving, Parking Lot Construction and Site Preparation and Servicing work. 10. The Board directs the applicant to forward a copy of the following documents to the employers listed on the responding party s Schedule B : A copy of this decision Form B-97, Notice to Employers of Application For Accreditation, and of Hearing, Construction Industry Form A-94, Employer Filing, Application for Accreditation, Construction Industry, along with Schedule H 11. The applicant is further directed to provide the Board and the responding party with a confirmation of delivery to the employers listed on the responding party s Schedule B and a list indicating the names

5 - 5 - of those contractors. The response date for employers listed on the responding party s Schedule B is January 19, The parties have met with a Labour Relations Officer to finalize arrangements to provide notice of this application to those contractors who may be affected by this application. The parties are in agreement that the notice set out at the attached Schedule A would be used. 13. As mentioned in the notice, the parties further agreed that this notice (along with a copy of the application, response and all Board decisions) would be made accessible on the Board s website. The parties further agreed that a copy of the notice shall be included as an advertisement in a trade publication utilized by contractors engaged in the heavy construction sector of the construction industry, as well as placed in at least one area newspaper in a major centre where notice of this application would most likely come to the attention of contractors who may be affected and for whom the union is claiming bargaining rights. The notice should be placed as an advertisement in the media referenced in this paragraph by no later than the end of the week ending on January 5, The Registrar is hereby directed to post a copy of the application, the response, the notice attached as Schedule A to this decision and this decision on the Board s website. 15. The terminal date in this matter has been set by the Board for January 26, A hearing in this matter will take place on March 2, 2018 commencing at 9:30 a.m. in the Board Room, 2nd Floor, 505 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario. 17. The Board has not yet made any determination on this application under section 134 of the Act. That determination, along with any other necessary determination, will be made after the hearing is complete. 18. I am seized. Yvon Seveny for the Board

6 - 6 - SCHEDULE A NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS EMPLOYING CONSTRUCTION LABOURERS IN THE HEAVY CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY The Northeastern Ontario Construction Association has applied for accreditation of an Employer Association pursuant to section 134 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 covering: All employers engaged on all construction projects within the District of Sudbury, Manitoulin Island, Nipissing, Algonquin Provincial Park, Temiskaming, Parry Sound and part of the District of Cochrane lying south of the 49th Parallel, including an eighty (80) kilometre radius of the Timmins Federal Building including the portion lying north of Highway 101 West to the border of the District of Algoma, including the town of Chapleau, Cockburn; and all other islands situated in Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. For the purpose of clarity, construction projects within the following Sectors of the construction industry are included in the bargaining unit: Sewer and Watermain, Road Building, Bridges, Dams, Civil Construction, Paving, Parking Lot Construction and Site Preparation and Servicing work. Responding Party: The Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 493 is the Responding Party to the Accreditation Application. This Application affects all employers for whom the Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 493 holds bargaining rights and operates and/or may operate in the above-noted sectors of the construction industry. A hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m. on March 2, 2018 at the Ontario Labour Relations Board, 2nd Floor, 505 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario. You can determine whether your company is affected by inspecting the proposed list of unionized employers active within one year of the date of application at the following locations:

7 - 7 - a) The Ontario Labour Relations Board University Avenue Toronto, ON M5G 2P1 Telephone: b) The offices of the Association 257 Beatty Street Sudbury, ON P3C 4G1 Telephone: c) The offices of the Union Labourers' International Union of North America, Local Clinton Avenue Sudbury, ON P3B 2T2 Telephone: These locations will also have a complete copy of the pleadings in this matter, copies of response forms and details of the bargaining unit (including its geographic scope and work encompassed by the application). You may also access a copy of the Application and the Response filed by the Union and any O.L.R.B. decision related to this application at the O.L.R.B. website: Questions may be directed to France Poirier, Client Services Co-Ordinator, O.L.R.B. (416) All employers are urged to confirm whether they are affected by the Application, as no further notice of this matter will be given unless employers notify the Board, by filing Form A-94, on or before January 19, 2018, that they are affected by the Application and wish to participate in this proceeding.