National Waste Services Inc. v. National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers' Union of Canada et al., (2009) 258 O.A.C. 45 (DC)

• Judge: Jennings, J.
• Court: Superior Court of Justice of Ontario (Canada)
• Case Date: October 14, 2009
• Jurisdiction: Ontario
• Citations: (2009), 258 O.A.C. 45 (DC)

Nat. Waste v. NAATGWU (2009), 258 O.A.C. 45 (DC)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2009] O.A.C. TBEd. NO.016

National Waste Services Inc. (applicant/moving party) v. National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers' Union of Canada (CAW-Canada) and Ontario Labour Relations Board (respondents)

(338/09)

Indexed As: National Waste Services Inc. v. National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers' Union of Canada et al.

Court of Ontario

Superior Court of Justice

Divisional Court

Jennings, J.

October 20, 2009.

Summary:

The Ontario Labour Relations Board certified the respondent union as the bargaining agent for certain employees of National Waste Services Inc. (National Waste). The Board found that National Waste was the employees' true employer. National Waste applied for judicial review and for a stay of the Board's decision pending the judicial review.

The Ontario Divisional Court, per Jennings, J., dismissed the application for a stay.

Labour Law - Topic 4606

Unions - Certification or decertification - Judicial review - Stay of certification pending review - The Ontario Labour Relations Board certified the respondent union as the bargaining agent for certain employees of National Waste Services Inc. (National Waste) - The Board found that National Waste was the employees' true employer - National Waste applied for judicial review and for a stay of the Board's decision pending the judicial review - The Ontario Divisional Court, per Jennings, J., applied the standard of a strong prima facie case and dismissed the application for a stay where National Waste had not met the standard - The case did not raise constitutional issues - The issue was simple and clear cut - The facts were not substantially in dispute though their interpretation was - "Extremely strong" privative clauses protected the Board's decisions - The Board's decision here was to be reviewed on the standard of reasonableness - See paragraphs 1 to 24.

Cases Noticed:

Ellis-Don Ltd. v. Labour Relations Board (Ont.) (1993), 10 O.R.(3d) 729 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 5].

Knobb Hill Farms v. Labour Relations Board (Ont.), [1991] O.L.R.B. Rep. April 521, refd to. [para. 5].

RJR-MacDonald Inc. et Imperial Tobacco Ltd. v. Canada (Procureur général), [1994] S.C.R. 311; 164 N.R. 1; 60 Q.A.C. 241, refd to. [para. 6].

Sobeys Inc. v. United Food and Commercial Workers' International Union, Local 1000A (1993), 62 O.A.C. 78; 12 O.R.(3d) 157 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 9].

American Cyanamid Co. v. Ethicon Ltd., [1975] A.C. 396 (H.L.), consd. [para. 10].

Dialadex Communications Inc. v. Crammond (1987), 34 D.L.R.(4th) 392 (Ont. H.C.), refd to. [para. 11].

Edgewater Gardens v. Labour Relations Board (Ont.), [2008] O.J. No. 4489 (Sup. Ct.), consd. [para. 14].

Caterair Chateau Canada Ltd. v. Ontario (Minister of Labour), [1995] O.J. No. 1674 (Gen. Div.), refd to. [para. 16].

Great Blue Heron v. National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers' Union of Canada (CAW-Canada), [2004] O.L.R.B. Rep. Jan.-Feb. 176, refd to. [para. 16].

Elementary Teachers' Federation (Ont.) v. Ontario (Minister of Labour) et al. (2007), 229 O.A.C. 54; 2007 CanLII 35151 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 16].

Xanthoudakis et al. v. Ontario Securities Commission (2009), 252 O.A.C. 180; 2009 CanLII 30146 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 16].

Schuit Plastering & Stucco Inc. et al. v. Labour Relations Board (Ont.) et al. (2009), 251 O.A.C. 11; 2009 CanLII 30145 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 20].

Wells Fargo Armcar Inc. v. Labour Relations Board (Ont.) et al. (1981), 34 O.R.(2d) 99 (H.C.), refd to. [para. 25].

Counsel:

Paul Wearing, for the applicant;

Lisa Kelly, for the respondents, National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers' Union of Canada (CAW-Canada);

Voy Stelmaszynski, for the respondent, Ontario Labour Relations Board.

This application was heard on October 14, 2009, by Jennings, J., of the Ontario Divisional Court, who delivered the following endorsement on October 20, 2009.