Elizabeth Campin

The applicant employer brought an application under section 100 of the Labour Relations Act seeking a declaration of an unlawful strike and a cease and desist order.

The employer asserted that a serious work stoppage had caused significant disruption at its Oshawa facilities.

Following an expedited hearing and based on the agreement of the institutional parties, the Board declared that the respondent employees had engaged in an unlawful strike in violation of section 79 of the Act.

The Board directed the employees to immediately cease and desist from engaging in the unlawful strike and from prompting others to do so.

The applicants, former employees of General Motors who retired under a 1992 retirement incentive plan, alleged that their union breached its duty of fair representation.

They claimed the union misrepresented their eligibility for a more lucrative $35,000 retirement allowance negotiated in 1993 and treated them differently from other employees who were permitted to return to active duty to qualify.

The Board dismissed the application, finding no evidence that the union acted arbitrarily, discriminatorily, or in bad faith, noting that the union could not have known about the future incentive when the applicants enrolled in the earlier plan.