[1985] OLRB Rep. September 1420
2342-84-U The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) and its Local 27, Complainant, v. Sparton of Canada Limited, Respondent
BEFORE: M. G. Mitchnick, Vice-Chairman, and Board Members W H. Wightman and K. Rogers.
APPEARANCES: L. A. MacLean Q. C., Al Seymour and J. Flynn for the complainant; J. C. Murray, W McNaughton and Phillip Day for the respondent.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; September 17, 1985
- This is a complaint under section 89 of the Labour Relations Act, alleging that the respondent employer has failed to bargain in good faith in contravention of section 15 of the Act. Section 15 provides:
'The parties shall meet within fifteen days from the giving of the notice or within such further period as the parties agree upon and they shall bargain in good faith and make every reasonable effort to make a collective agreement."
The respondent has been involved in a collective bargaining relationship for close to 40 years, first with the National Council of Canadian Labour, and then, since 1979, with the United Automobile Workers and its Local 27, the "complainant" in these proceedings. The issue which ultimately separated the parties in the negotiation of their 1984 - 1985 collective agreement and which continues to separate them in these proceedings, is the length of the "Christmas shutdown".
By way of background, the three collective agreements prior to the one under negotiation were filed with the Board in evidence. The earliest one, the 1977 - 1979 collective agreement with the National Council of Canadian Labour, provides an Article dealing with the Christmas shutdown as follows:
Christmas Shutdown
The Company will have a paid Christmas shutdown as follows:
16-I In 1977, the Company will shut down from 4:00 p.m. on December 23, 1977 and re-open at 7:30 a.m. on January 2, 1978.
16-2 In 1978, the Company will shut down from 4:00 p.m. on December 22, 1978 and re-open at 7:30 am. on January 2, 1979.
The plant is normally shut down on weekends in any event, so that the number of "paid holidays" in a Christmas shut down refers to the number of additional week-days that the plant remains closed. The above contract language produced an uninterrupted shutdown of five such paid days in 1977, and six in 1978. The Christmas shutdown language in the complainant UAW's first collective agreement following that read as follows:
"Article 17
CHRISTMAS SHUTDOWN
17.01 The Company will have a paid Christmas shutdown as follows:
(1) In 1982-1983, the Company will shutdown after the last shift on December 21st. 1982. and will reopen for the first shift on January 3rd, 1983.
(2) In 1982-1984, the Company will shutdown after the last shift on December 20th, 1983, and will reopen for the first shift on January 2nd, 1984.''
That produced paid shutdown periods in the two years of the contract of seven and eight days respectively. Both of those shutdowns began with "Christmas Eve" day and provided an uninterrupted break until either New Year's Day or the day after.
- The succeeding collective agreement was negotiated only after a lengthy strike, and one of the items resolving the strike was an agreement that the Christmas shutdown be fixed at eight paid days, irrespective of the number of days required to bridge the gap from Christmas Eve to New Year's. When the strike was over, the union negotiator, Al Seymour, and the company negotiator, Ken Holland, sat down and worked out the actual schedule for the shutdown, which found its way into the following collective agreement language:
Article 17
CHRISTMAS SHUTDOWN
17.01 The Company will have a paid Christmas shutdown as follows:
(1) In 1979-1980, the Company will shut down after the last shift on December 21st. 1979, and will reopen for the first shift on January 2nd, 1980.
(2) In the 1980-1981, the Company will shut down after the last shift on December 23rd, 1980, and will reopen for the first shift on January 5th, 1981.
Once again the break was continuous.
- In the current set of negotiations, the Union in its written contract demands simply provided on this issue:
"Article 17
CHRISTMAS SHUTDOWN
Work out schedule with the continuation of Christmas shutdown."
At the opening meeting between the parties in January of 1984 the Union explained this to be a requirement of eight days, as had been agreed in the previous contract. Mr