Certification application dismissed due to union coercing employees with internal charges; employer breached statutory freeze.
The applicant trade union applied for certification of the responding employer in the construction industry.
The employer alleged that the union intimidated and coerced three employees into signing membership cards and voting for the union by threatening them with internal union charges and fines for working non-union.
The Board found that the union breached section 76 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995, by using its internal disciplinary processes to coerce the employees.
Concluding that the representation vote did not reflect the true wishes of the employees and that no other remedy was sufficient, the Board dismissed the certification application under section 11(2).
In a related unfair labour practice complaint, the Board found the employer breached the statutory freeze period under section 86(2) by paying two new employees less than their agreed starting wage, and ordered damages.
The Ontario Pipe Trades Council of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, and The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, and its Local 221 v. Centro Mechanical Inc., 1996 CanLII 11202