Ontario Labour Relations Board
[1985] OLRB Rep. August 1243
0190-84-R Christian Labour Association of Canada, Applicant, v. Jen-Ry Utility Contracting Company Limited, Pemrow Pipelines Construction Company Limited and R. F. Wilson Limited, Respondents, v. International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 793, Intervener #1, v. Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 183, Intervener #2
BEFORE: M. G. Mitchnick, Vice-Chairman, and Board Members J. A. Ronson and B. L. Armstrong.
APPEARANCES: Elizabeth Forster, Ed Vanderkloet and Ron Rupke for the applicant; C. E. Humphrey and R. Whittington for the respondents; A. M. Minsky, Q. C., and 7'. Dionisio for the interveners.
DECISION OF M. G. MITCHNICK, VICE-CHAIRMAN AND BOARD MEMBER J. A. RONSON; August 9, 1985
[1]. This is the continuation of an application for certification in which the Board, in a decision dated November 5, 1984, dismissed the interveners' applications under section 1(4) and 63, and found that those trade unions did not hold bargaining rights for the employees of the respondent Jen-ry. Subsequent to that decision the applicant and respondent waived their objection to the interveners' making argument with respect to the application of section 13 of the Act, and the Board re-convened to hear those submissions.
[2]. Section 13 of the Labour Relations Act provides:
"The Board shall not certify a trade union if any employer or any employers' organization has participated in its formation or administration or has contributed financial or other support to it or if it discriminates against any person because of his race, creed, colour, nationality, ancestry, age, sex or place of origin."
Similarly, section 48(a) of the Act provides:
"An agreement between an employer or an employers' organization and a trade union shall be deemed not to be a collective agreement for the purposes of this Act,
(a) if an employer or an employers' organization participated in the formation or administration of the trade union or if an employer or an employers' organization contributed financial or other support to the trade union."
It is the submission of the interveners that section 13 bars certification of the applicant in this case on the basis that the employer:
(a) selected the applicant Christian Labour Association of Canada as the bargaining agent for its employees, and
(b) some time thereafter, with neither certification or a collective agreement to support it, deducted and remitted union dues to the applicant.
[3]. The facts upon which those submissions are made are not in dispute. Robert Whittington, the respondent's principal, had been employed by Pemrow Pipelines, with whom the interveners had bargaining rights. As Pemrow entered into a process of winding down, Mr. Whittington, who had been doing a small amount of work outside Pemrow, began to prepare for the day when he would be in business totally on his own. Mr. Whittington was familiar with the interveners through his work at Pemrow, but wanted to see what other trade unions were available to supply him with men. He telephoned the I.B.E.