S. Morrison

In an application for related employer and sale of business declarations, the responding parties raised a preliminary issue regarding the burden of proof to establish the existence of a collective agreement.

The applicants argued that the responding parties bore the burden under sections 1(5) and 69(13) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995.

The Board held that the applicants bear the initial burden of proving the existence of the voluntary recognition agreement that created the bargaining rights upon which they rely.

The Board also made procedural directions regarding document production and scheduled further hearing dates.

The applicants, two construction trade unions, applied for certification to represent their respective trades in the industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) sector and all other sectors of the construction industry in Board Area 3.

The parties disagreed on the appropriate bargaining unit descriptions, particularly regarding the exclusion of pre-existing bargaining rights held by the Power Workers' Union (PWU) and the applicants' own rights in the electrical power systems sector.

The Board determined that the electrical power systems sector bargaining rights should be excluded by reference to the specific collective agreements rather than the sector itself.

The Board found the Labourers' proposed bargaining unit appropriate with slight amendments, but rejected the U.A.'s proposed unit because it inappropriately sought to incorporate a jurisdictional accord that the employer had not agreed to.