Union Employment Relationship

• Author: Paul Wearing
• Pages: 137-156

•137

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Union Employment Relationship

What You Should Know

If your business becomes unionized, you will face the following:

• loss of ability to manage the enterprise according to your values and

vision

• loss of ability to recognize and reward individual employees for their

contributions to the enterprise

• loss of ability to motivate and encourage excellence through prof‌it-

sharing or a bonus system (such initiatives are permitted only with

union approval)

• second-guessing by the union of employee-promotion decisions

• limitation of ability, almost to the point of impossibility, to terminate

employment for substandard performance or even to criticize per-

formance or conduct

• loss of ability to respond to economic pressures on or to preserve the

viability of your business without the approval of the union

• prohibition of individual employment contracts

A. THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING REGIME

In Ontario, the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (LRA)1sets rules for the fol-

lowing:

• unionization of employees (certif‌ication)

• negotiation and content of collective agreements

138 •EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR LAW TOOLBOX

• termination of union representation (decertif‌ication)

• def‌inition of unfair labour practices (e.g., coercion and intimidation)

• termination of employment arbitration

• determination of liability for the continuation of existing collective

bargaining relationships after the sale of a business

Rules relating to the unionization of employees in a federally regulated

business are set out in the Canada Labour Code.2

B. ONTARIO LABOUR RELATIONS BOARD

The Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) administers and interprets

the LRA.The Board’s adjudicative function is carried out through hear-

ings presided over by a one-person panel or a three-person panel con-

sisting of a neutral vice-chair, a union representative, and an employer

representative, but more often than not a hearing will be conducted by

a vice-chair sitting alone. The provincial government appoints all Board

members through orders in council. The Board is an administrative tri-

bunal, not a court of record, and this means that there is no transcript of

Board proceedings.

A f‌ield services department staed by labour relations ocers and

labour relations specialists assists the OLRB in its adjudicative function.

The primary functions of the f‌ield ser vices department are as follows:

• to attempt to assist parties to resolve the dispute that brought them

to the Board

• to arrange and preside over union certif‌ication and decertif‌ication

votes

• to provide conciliation services in appeals under the Employment

Standards Act, 2000

• to provide conciliation services in applications under the Occupational

Health and Safety Act that allege an employee has been subjected to

reprisals for exercising rights under that Act or its regulations

• to provide conciliation services in appeals by employers regarding

orders of health and safety inspectors

A party wishing to engage in proceedings under the LRA must prop-

erly select and prepare one or more forms, of over 177, specif‌ically drafted

by the OLRB for the subject of the party’s dispute or request. Proceedings

before the Board are governed by its Rules of Procedure,3 and Board de-