Geoffrey Bourne

The applicant union sought certification for a bargaining unit of employees at General Signal Limited.

The parties agreed that the unit should include both full-time and part-time employees pursuant to section 6(2.1) of the Labour Relations Act, but disagreed on whether summer students should be included.

The employer argued that the omission of summer students from section 6(2.1) meant they should be excluded, while the union argued for their inclusion based on the Board's historical practice of treating part-time employees and summer students in tandem.

The Board found that the statutory amendments favoured broader-based bargaining structures and that a unit comprising full-time employees and summer students was appropriate and viable.

The Board granted the application and certified the union for the proposed unit.

The applicant trade union filed a second application for certification after withdrawing its first application to avoid a potential representation vote due to a dispute over the inclusion of three employees.

The responding employer argued this was a manipulation of the Board's processes and requested the Board impose a bar on the application or order a representation vote.

The Board declined to impose a bar, finding no special or extreme circumstances, and refused to order a vote, noting that the union's actions were not improper and any limitation on objecting employees resulted from the operation of the Labour Relations Act, not the union's conduct.

An interim certificate was issued.