Michael Zangari

The union applied for the settlement of a first collective agreement by arbitration.

The parties agreed on some provisions of the union's proposed standard form collective agreement, but disputed several articles including geographic scope, payment of wages, sub-contracting, and an industrial fund.

The Board held that the geographic scope could not be expanded beyond the Board's geographic area #17 without the employer's consent, as economic sanctions cannot be used to expand bargaining rights.

However, the Board ordered the inclusion of the union's standard form provisions for the remaining disputed articles, finding no reason to grant the employer special treatment or a competitive advantage over other contractors bound by the standard agreement.

The applicant union sought relief under sections 1(4), 63, and 124 of the Labour Relations Act.

Local 800 sought status to intervene based on a maintenance agreement with the respondent employer.

The Board found that the maintenance agreement was signed when there were no employees at work and Local 800 did not subsequently supply members of its own union for all covered trades, constituting employer support under section 48(a) of the Act.

Consequently, the agreement was not a valid collective agreement, and Local 800 was denied status to intervene.

Local 800 and the respondents requested an adjournment to challenge the ruling in court.

The Board denied the adjournment, finding that the balance of convenience favoured continuing the proceedings to avoid prejudice to the applicant.