[1983] OLRB Rep. December 2147
1835-83-U The Windsor Newspaper Guild Local 239, The Newspaper Guild (CLC-AFL-CIO) Complainant, v. The Windsor Star, Respondent
BEFORE: Kevin M. Burkett, Alternate Chairman and Board Members I. M. Stamp and B. L. Armstrong.
APPEARANCES: Naomi Duguid, Frederica Wilson and Bill Schiller for the complainant; M. Patrick Moran, Art Kainz and James Bruce for the respondent.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; December 20, 1983
This is a complaint under section 89 of the Labour Relations Act alleging a violation of sections 15, 64, 65, 66 and 67 of the Act. More specifically, it is alleged that the respondent employer is refusing to provide the complainant union with the wage data which it requires to bargain on behalf of the employees in the bargaining unit.
It is not disputed that the employer, while supplying the union with the minimum average and maximum salaries within each classification and offering to supply the union with a list of each of the salaries paid within each classification is not prepared to advise the union of the salaries paid to each named individual within the bargaining unit prior to the commencement of bargaining. The employer maintains that individual employees may not want the union to know what they are being paid and in these circumstances it is not at liberty to breach the confidence of these employees vis-a-vis their individual wage rates.
Having regard to the requirement upon the complainant trade union to represent all of the employees in the bargaining unit and to the nature of the bargaining duty as it pertains to the requirement upon the employer to provide the union with the wage and salary information which it requires to negotiate on behalf of all of the employees in the bargaining unit (see De Vilbiss (Canada) Limited, (1976) OLRB Rep. March 49, Consolidated Bathurst Packaging Limited [1983] OLRB Rep. Sept. 1411, we hereby confirm our oral decision given verbally at the hearing as follows:
Having considered the submissions of the parties our ruling is that the refusal of the respondent employer to provide the union with the salary currently paid to each individual in the bargaining unit constitutes a breach of the duty to make every reasonable effort to conclude a collective agreement under section 15 of the Act. The union, as the certified collective bargaining representative of all employees in the bargaining unit, requires the information for the purpose of formulating its wage and classification proposals and responding to the proposals put forward by the representative of the respondent. Furthermore, this information will be required by the union in order to administer a collective agreement which will provide that employees currently earning above the minimum will maintain this differential over the minimum. The respondent has breached section 15 of the Act by refusing to provide this information and, in the exercise of our discretion under section 89 of the Act, we hereby direct the respondent to provide the complainant union with a list of the salaries paid to each named individual in the bargaining unit. We also confirm the undertaking of the respondent to supply lists showing experience rating for those who have an experience rating and starting date in the classification for those who do not have an experience rating.