[1980]OLRB Rep. April 484
2220-79-R United Steelworkers of America, Applicant, v. Midnorthern Appliance Industries Corp., Respondent.
BEFORE: Ian C.A. Springate, Vice-Chairman and Board Members H.J.F. Ade and C.A. Ballentine.
APPEARANCES: Gerry Reeds and John Fitzpatrick for the applicant; Roy C. Filion and W. Gnat for the respondent.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; April 23, 1980
This is an application for certification.
The Board finds that the applicant is a trade union within the meaning of section 1(1) (n) of The Labour Relations Act.
The parties are in agreement that the employees to be included in the bargaining unit all work at or out of the respondent's production and service facilities located at 255 Steeprock Avenue, in Metropolitan Toronto. The respondent also operates a number of retail outlets iii Metropolitan Toronto where it employs both office and sales staff. Both parties are in agreement that office and sales staff should be excluded from the bargaining unit under consideration. On the basis of these facts the applicant submits that the bargaining unit should geographically be described in terms of Metropolitan Toronto. For its part, however, the respondent contends that the bargaining unit should be restricted to 255 Steeprock Avenue. In support of this contention the respondent relies upon what it claims to be the Board's general practice of certifying for specific locations where an employer has employees at more than one location within a municipality.
The Board's general practice is to describe bargaining units on a municipality-wide basis. As an exception to this practice, the Board will usually certify for specific locations within a municipality if an employer has employees at more than one location within the municipality. This exception, however, relates only to those situations where employees who would otherwise be included in the same bargaining unit are employed at different locations in the same municipality. Where all of the employees who come within the classifications included in the bargaining unit are employed at one location, even though employees in other classifications are employed at other locations, the Board's practice is to describe the bargaining unit on a municipality-wide basis. (See: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Limited, [1969] OLRB Rep. Jan. 1017; and F. Lepper and Son Ltd., File No. 0335-78-R,unreported decision dated June 14, 1978.) The Board is not satisfied that the facts of this case warrant a departure from this practice, and accordingly the bargaining unit will be described in terms of Metropolitan Toronto.
The respondent submits that the Board should exclude from the bargaining unit both persons regularly employed for not more than twenty-four hours per week and students employed during the school vacation period. The respondent has a history of employing students during the school vacation period but not part-time employees. In line with the policy enunciated in the Inter-City Bandag (Ontario) Limited case, File No. 2178‑79-R, decision dated March 21, 1980, as yet unreported, the Board is prepared to exclude from the bargaining unit students employed during the school vacation period, but not part-time employees.
The parties are in disagreement as to whether or not dispatchers and call takers should be excluded from the bargaining unit. In these circumstances, the Board appoints Mr. C. Robicheau, Labour Relations Officer, to inquire into and report back to the Board on the duties and responsibilities of persons coming within these two classifications.
No matter what the Board's final determination might be concerning the possible exclusion of dispatchers and call takers from the bargaining unit, the Board is satisfied that more than 55 per cent of the employees of the respondent in the bargaining unit, at the time the application was made, were members of the applicant on March 12, 1980, the terminal date fixed for this application and the date which the Board determines, under section 92(2)(j) of The Labour Relations Act, to be the time for the purpose of ascertaining membership under section 7(1) of the said Act.
Having regard to the provisions of section 6(la) of the Act, the Board hereby certifies the applicant on an interim basis for all employees of the respondent working at or out of Metropolitan Toronto, save and except supervisors, persons above the rank of supervisor, dispatchers, call takers, office and sales staff and students employed during the school vacation period.
For the purposes of clarity, the Board declares that employees of the respondent working at its retail stores are not included in the bargaining unit.
A formal certificate must await a final resolution of the composition of the bargaining unit.