3 total
Board determines appropriate bargaining units following hospital restructuring under the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act.
The applicant union applied under the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act, 1997 to determine the appropriate number and description of bargaining units following a hospital restructuring.
The Board denied an adjournment request by the SEIU and denied standing to OPSEU.
The Board determined that there should be one service unit, inclusive of registered practical nurses and stationary engineers, extending to all three of the employer's sites.
The Board also determined that the technical unit should extend to all three sites rather than being limited to one.
Jurisdictional dispute resolved in favour of nurses' union based on collective agreement protection and past practice.
The applicant union (AAHP:O) sought a declaration that the employer properly assigned the work of a newly hired Genetic Counsellor to its bargaining unit.
The responding union (ONA) argued the work belonged exclusively to its nurses' bargaining unit, as nurses had historically performed the work.
The employer and AAHP:O advocated for a composite crew approach, allowing both nurses and non-nurses to perform the role depending on their qualifications.
The Board held that ONA's collective agreement language protecting work normally performed by nurses, combined with the employer's past practice of exclusively using nurses for the role since 1976, outweighed the employer's preference for a multi-disciplinary approach.
The Board ordered the employer to restore the assignment of the work to the ONA bargaining unit.
Motion alleging reasonable apprehension of bias due to another tribunal member's resignation dismissed.
The applicant employer brought a preliminary motion alleging a reasonable apprehension of bias, arguing that the unexplained resignation of an employer representative in another case suggested a lack of adjudicative independence at the Tribunal.
The majority of the Tribunal dismissed the motion, finding that the circumstances were too attenuated and remote to raise a reasonable apprehension of bias, and that the Tribunal's history demonstrated independent decision-making.
The dissenting member would have found a reasonable apprehension of bias based on the institutional setting and the lack of explanation for the member's resignation.
