[1986] OLRB Rep. December 1685
2362-86-R International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen, Local 7 Canada, Applicant, v. E/E Fradema Masonry, Respondent
BEFORE: Harry Freedman, Vice-Chairman, and Board Members D. A. MacDonald and J. Redshaw.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; December 23, 1986
In this application for certification the applicant filed two certificates of membership. The certificates are signed by the members and indicate that monthly dues of $22.00 have been paid for at least one month within the six-month period immediately preceding the terminal date of the application. The certificates are checked and certified correct by an officer of the applicant. The applicant also filed a duly completed Form 80, Declaration Concerning Membership Documents, Construction Industry.
The respondent failed to file a reply, a list of employees and specimen signatures within the time fixed in accordance with the Labour Relations Act and the Board's Rules of Procedure.
The Board finds that the applicant is a trade union within the meaning of section l(l)(p) of the Labour Relations Act and is an affiliated bargaining agent of a designated employee bargaining agency. Pursuant to the designation issued by the Minister under section 139(1) of the Act on April 12, 1978, the designated employee bargaining agency is the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen and The Ontario Provincial Conference of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen.
The Board further finds that this is an application for certification within the meaning of section 119 of the Labour Relations Act and is an application made pursuant to section 144(1) of the Act which provides that:
An application for certification as bargaining agent which relates to the industrial, commercial and institutional sector of the construction industry referred to in clause 117(e) shall be brought by either,
(a) an employee bargaining agency; or
(b) one or more affiliated bargaining agents of the employee bargaining agency,
on behalf of all affiliated bargaining agents of the employee bargaining agency and the unit of employees shall include all employees who would be bound by a provincial agreement together with all other employees in at least one appropriate geographic area unless bargaining rights for such geographic area have already been acquired under subsection 3 or by voluntary recognition.
The applicant seeks certification in respect of the industrial, commercial and institutional sector of the construction industry in the Province of Ontario and all other sectors of the construction industry, save and except the industrial commercial and institutional sector, in the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and the Counties of Prescott, Russell, Stormont, Glengarry and Dundas. That area is comprised of two Board geographic areas, Board Area 15 and 31, that have been developed by the Board since 1962 pursuant to section 119(1) of the Act. See Klimack Construction Limited, [1986] OLRB Rep. Sept. 1238 at 1239.
Paragraph 6 of the application states that the employees affected by the application were working at "various locations throughout the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton". Board Area 15 is defined as the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, and the Counties of Prescott and Russell. Board Area 31 is defined as the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. It is apparent from the application that there were no employees in Board Area 31 on the application date.
An application for certification under section 144(1) must be made in respect of employees in the industrial, commercial and institutional sector together with employees in at least one other geographic area. In our opinion, an "appropriate geographic area" must mean, at the very least, an area in which employees were employed on the application date. It seems to us that a geographic area in which no employees were employed as of the application date is not an appropriate geographic area. In this regard, see the Report to the Minister of Labour by G. W. Adams, Special Counsel, April 11, 1980 at pages 26-29. Therefore, in the circumstances of this case, the Board is satisfied that the appropriate geographic area within the meaning of section 144(1) is only Board Area 15, that is, the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, and the United Counties of Prescott and Russell.
Therefore, the Board finds, pursuant to section 144(1) of the Act, that all bricklayers and bricklayers' apprentices in the employ of the respondent in the industrial, commercial and institutional sector of the construction industry in the Province of Ontario and all bricklayers and bricklayers' apprentices in the employ of the respondent in all other sectors of the construction industry in the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, and the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, save and except non-working foremen and persons above the rank of non-working foreman, constitute a unit of employees of the respondent appropriate for collective bargaining.
The Board is satisfied on the basis of all the evidence before it that more than fifty-five 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 December 5, 1986, the terminal date fixed for this application and the date which the Board determines, under section 103(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.
Section 144(2) of the Act, which states in part as follows, provides for the issuance of more than one certificate if the applicant has the requisite membership support:
the Board shall certify the trade unions as the bargaining agent of the employees in the bargaining unit and in so doing shall issue a certificate confined to the industrial, commercial and institutional sector and issue another certificate in relation to all other sectors in the appropriate geographic area or areas.
[emphasis added]
Therefore, pursuant to section 144(2) of the Act, a certificate will issue to the applicant affiliated bargaining agent on its own behalf and on behalf of all other affiliated bargaining agents of the employee bargaining agency named in paragraph 3 above in respect of all bricklayers and bricklayers' apprentices in the employ of the respondent in the industrial, commercial and institutional sector of the construction industry in the Province of Ontario, save and except non-working foremen and persons above the rank of non-working foreman.
- Further, pursuant to section 144(2) of the Act, a certificate will issue to the applicant trade union in respect of all bricklayers and bricklayers' apprentices in the employ of the respondent in all sectors of the construction industry excluding the industrial, commercial and institutional sector in the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, and the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, save and except non-working foremen and persons above the rank of non-working foreman.