Dana Ivanochko

The SEIU filed an unfair labour practice complaint and sought new representation votes under the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act, alleging irregularities by the Hospital and CUPE prior to the votes.

The Hospital and CUPE brought a motion to dismiss the complaint under s. 23(19) of the Act.

The Board granted the motion, finding that despite any alleged irregularities, the results of the representation votes reflected the true wishes of the majority of the employees in the bargaining units.

The Board appointed CUPE as the bargaining agent for both the Service Full-Time and Service Part-Time units.

The Northwest GTA Hospital Corporation applied under the Public Sector Labour Transition Act to resolve outstanding issues prior to ordering representation votes following a hospital amalgamation.

The Board determined the composition of office and clerical units, and declined to maintain separate bargaining units for stationary engineers and Etobicoke paraprofessionals, opting instead for broader service and paramedical/technical units to avoid undue fragmentation.

The Board also ordered the employer to provide the unions with employee names and addresses to facilitate access prior to the representation votes.

During a representation vote between OSSTF and CUPE, 13 segregated ballots remained uncounted.

OSSTF alleged that the parties had agreed not to count these ballots and that CUPE committed an unfair labour practice by contacting the segregated voters after the vote to ask how they voted, thereby breaching the secrecy of the ballot.

OSSTF sought a new vote or an order that the ballots not be counted.

The Board found no agreement existed to discount the ballots.

The Board also held that CUPE's post-vote inquiries, while perhaps unwise, did not violate the Labour Relations Act or compromise the integrity of the balloting process such that the voters should be disenfranchised.

The Board directed that the segregated ballots be counted.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Ontario Nurses Association applied for certification and a related employer declaration under section 1(4) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995, concerning a retirement home, Livingston Lodge.

The unions argued that the various Meadowcroft entities and Nutra 2000, which was sub-contracted to manage the staff, were under common control and direction.

The Board found that the core activities of the retirement home were contracted out to Nutra 2000, but Meadowcroft retained strict control over the budget, staffing complement, and operations.

The Board concluded that the entities were engaged in related activities under common control and direction, and exercised its discretion to issue a related employer declaration to ensure a stable foundation for collective bargaining.

The applicant union filed an application for certification during the open period of the intervenor's expired collective agreement with the responding party employer.

The intervenor subsequently gave notice under the Social Contract Act to revive and extend the expired collective agreement, and argued this retroactively closed the open period and rendered the certification application untimely.

The Board dismissed the intervenor's objection, holding that the Social Contract Act does not manifest a clear legislative intent to operate retroactively to interfere with vested representation rights or invalidate an application that was timely when filed.

The Board directed that the ballots cast in the pre-hearing representation vote be counted.