Union certified without a vote; isolated threats did not warrant representation vote despite immigrant workforce.
The applicant trade union applied for certification, demonstrating membership support of approximately 72 per cent of the bargaining unit.
The respondent employer and a group of objecting employees requested that the Board order a representation vote, alleging that the organizing campaign was characterized by a climate of intimidation, particularly affecting the large number of Vietnamese refugees in the workforce.
The Board heard evidence of isolated threats but found no pattern of intimidation related to the collection of membership evidence.
Declining to order a vote based on generalized cultural characteristics or surmise, the Board exercised its discretion to certify the union based on the unequivocal membership evidence.
United Steelworkers of America v. Walbar of Canada Inc., 1982 CanLII 1010
