[1986] OLRB Rep. January 82
2060-85-R United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Applicant, v. Dollo Bros. Food Market Limited, Respondent, v. Group of Employees, Objectors
BEFORE: R. A. Furness, Vice-Chairman, and Board Members P. J. 0 'Keeffe and J. Wilson.
APPEARANCES: Harold F. Caley and Bruce Zufelt for the applicant; Kinnear Carrick, David Dollo and Diane Dollo for the respondent; no one for the objectors.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; January 20, 1986
The Board finds that the applicant is a trade union within the meaning of section l(l)(p) of the Labour Relations Act.
The applicant is seeking certification with respect to a bargaining unit defined in terms of "all employees of the respondent in the Township of Anson, Hindon and Minden, save and except store manager, persons above the rank of store manager, produce manager, bookkeeper, persons regularly employed for not more than twenty-four hours per week and students employed during the school vacation period. The respondent, however, has adopted the position that due to a difference in community of interest the meat department employees ought to be a separate bargaining unit. In other words, with respect to the same number of employees, the applicant contends that one bargaining unit is appropriate for collective bargaining while the respondent maintains that two bargaining units are appropriate for collective bargaining.
The respondent operates a grocery store in the Town of Minden and employs about fourteen employees who would fall within the bargaining unit proposed by the applicant. In addition, David Dollo, the owner/store manager; Peter Dollo, the owner/produce manager; and Diane Dollo, the bookkeeper, work in the store. David Dollo is the son of Peter Dollo and the husband of Diane Dollo. The store extends on one level some 5,800 square feet and the normal complement of the meat department of the store is between two and three employees. From time to time other employees who do not regularly work in the meat department may work in the meat department.
Meat cutting requires certain skills in order to recognize the various parts of an animal and to be able to cut the meat for sale in a profitable manner. It takes up to a year to train a meat cutter. A meat cutter uses a variety of knives and a saw which are not used by other employees in the store and wears certain protective clothing such as an apron and meshed gloves which are not worn by other employees in the store. In addition, a meat cutter is required to be knowledgeable about governmental regulations respecting safety, meat, cleaning and health standards. By way of comparison, it takes up to three months to train a grocery clerk and up to one month to train a cashier. A meat cutter has to be familiar with the shelf life of meat and know the seasonal and other variations and fluctuations in the demand and marketing of meat. The meat storage and cutting area and the meat counter are located in one corner of the store. It takes up to a year to train a meat wrapper in order to learn the necessary skills. These skills include recognizing the cuts of meat, ability to correctly label the meat, placing on the counter, knowledge of price codes, placing prices on merchandise and awareness of expiry dates on products. The meat wrapper also adjusts the wrapping machine from time to time.
The persons who were employed in the meat department on November 14, 1985, the date of the filing of this application, were as follows:
Joe Dollo
Brian Hogg
Connie Sawyers.
On the Schedule "X' filed by the respondent Joe Dollo, a cousin of David Dollo, was described as a meat cutter, however, he is classified by the respondent as a meat wrapper. Connie Sawyers, who is described on Schedule "A" as a clerk is classified by the respondent as a meat wrapper. Brian Hogg is both described and classified as a meat manager. Other clerks place grocery and produce on shelves and counters in the same way that Ms. Sawyers places meat on shelves and counters. Grocery clerks rotate milk and dairy produce in the same way that Ms. Sawyers rotates the meat. Milk and dairy produce has to be placed in a cooler in the same way that meat has to be kept in a freezer. Joe Dollo has also worked in the produce area for ten months to a year. He worked in the meat department between six and eight months. The meat cutting is basically done by the meat manager. During the summer months Elaine Yeo, a cashier, moves to the meat department and works as a meat wrapper. While Ms. Yeo was initially trained as a meat wrapper, she has worked as a cashier in the front end section of the store. Occasionally the clerks will place chickens in bags. When the meat wrapper is away David Dollo or Brian Hogg would wrap the meat. When necessary David Dollo works in the meat department as a meat cutter. All of the respondent's employees, including department heads, are paid an hourly rate. These hourly rates were set by David and Peter Dollo and the clerks are paid according to their skills and seniority. David and Peter Dollo are in charge of the labour relations for the store. All of the employees have the same working conditions and the meat manager and the grocery manager report to David Dollo. The meat department does not have a separate budget.
Meat department employees may form an appropriate bargaining unit when the conditions set forth in section 6(3) of the Act are satisfied. From time to time a local trade union of a trade union which was a predecessor of the applicant has applied for and been granted appropriate bargaining units of meat department employees. On the other hand, another local trade union which was also a predecessor of the applicant has been granted appropriate units of all employees in a retail store or stores, including meat department employees. For a general discussion of this history see Ontario Food Division (Food City) of the Oshawa Group Limited, [1978] OLRB Rep. Sept. 826 and Huntsville IGA, [1982] OLRB Rep. Nov. 1637. The provisions of section 6(3) provide that under the conditions set forth therein craft bargaining units are deemed to be appropriate for collective bargaining. The provisions of section 6(3) cut across the boundaries of community of interest with other groups of employees where the conditions set forth in section 6(3) are shown to exist. However, the converse that craft units are always appropriate bargaining units for collective bargaining is not true. The applicant clearly has an option on how to frame its application. The applicant has chosen to seek certification in terms of one bargaining unit.
Are there two appropriate bargaining units based upon distinct and different communities of interest of the meat department employees and the other employees of the respondent? In the view of the Board, the meat department employees and the other employees of the respondent do not possess distinct and different communities of interest. On the evidence before the Board, the employees work under the same conditions of employment. While the meat department employees do exercise different skills, the degree of interchange, bearing in mind the small size of the meat department, and the degree of common supervision with other employees does not cause the Board to determine that there is a distinct and different community of interest. Accordingly, the bargaining unit proposed by the applicant is appropriate. The Board determines on the evidence before it that Brian Hogg, the meat manager, does not exercise managerial functions within the meaning of section 1 (3)(b) of the Act and is therefore included in the bargaining unit.
Having regard to the foregoing, the Board further finds that all employees of the respondent in the Township of Anson, Hindon and Minden, save and except store manager, persons above the rank of store manager, produce manager, bookkeeper, persons regularly employed for not more than twenty-four hours per week and students employed during the school vacation period, constitute a unit of employees of the respondent appropriate for collective bargaining.
The objectors did not attend at the hearing and the Board dismisses the statement of desire. 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 November 26, 1985, 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.
A certificate will issue to the applicant.