[1987] OLRB Rep. July 1030
0853-87-R Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, Applicant v. The Peel Board of Education, Respondent
BEFORE: Owen V. Gray, Vice-Chair, and Board Members J. A. Rundle and H. Peacock.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; July 22, 1987
1By decision dated July 15, 1987, we directed "that this matter be listed for hearing on Monday, July 27, 1987, to afford the applicant the opportunity to show cause why its request that a pre-hearing vote be conducted should not be denied and to entertain the parties' submissions with respect to the means by which notice should be given to affected employees if the application proceeds otherwise than an contemplated by the language of section 9 of the Act." The reason for this direction was that the applicant had requested that the appropriate bargaining unit be determined before any vote is conducted. A vote conducted after a hearing with respect to one of the matters referred to in subsection 9(4) of the Labour Relations Act ("the Act") would not be a pre-hearing representation vote within the meaning of section 9 of the Act. While it might be useful if the Board could conduct mid-hearing representation votes (that is, votes taken after some but not all of the substantive issues in the application had been heard and determined) and be able to act on their results after the hearings are complete, the Act does not appear to give the Board that jurisdiction.
2By letter dated July 20, 1987, the applicant has abandoned its request for a pre-vote hearing and determination of the parties' substantive dispute over the configuration of the appropriate bargaining unit.
3In our decision of July 15, 1987, we made it clear that we would have directed a pre-hearing representation vote as requested by the applicant if it had not made an inconsistent request for a pre-vote hearing. As the applicant is no longer making that inconsistent request, we revoke our direction that this matter be listed for hearing and, for reasons given in our earlier decision, we direct that a pre-hearing representation vote be conducted in the following voting constituency:
all occasional teachers of the respondent in its secondary panel in the Regional Municipality of Peel.
The phrase "occasional teacher" has the meaning assigned to it by clause 1(1) ¶31 of the Education Act, R.S.O. 1980, c.129, as amended. All employees of the respondent in the voting constituency on July 8, 1987, who are employees in the voting constituency on the date of the vote will be eligible to vote. (With respect to the question of who may be an "employee in the voting constituency" in the context of an application involving occasional teachers, see Board of Education for the City of York, [1985] OLRB Rep. May 767; The Board of Education for the City of Scarborough [1987] OLRB Rep. Jan. 119; and The Board of Education for the City of Hamilton, [1987] OLRB Rep. June 847.) Voters will be asked whether they wish to be represented by the applicant in their employment relations with the respondent.
4In accordance with the Board's current practice, the vote will be conducted by poll, but notice to employees of the taking of the vote will be given both by postings in the respondent's schools and by mail to the persons named on the voters' lists prepared by the parties. The respondent shall provide the Board with two sets of mailing labels (one for the notice of taking of vote and one for the subsequent notice of Returning Officer's report) containing the names and last addresses known to the respondent of all of the persons on the voters' lists. The applicant may also (but is not required to) supply two sets of mailing labels with respect to any or all of the persons on the voters' list. If the addresses on the applicant's and respondent's labels for any person differ, notices will be sent to both addresses. The parties have agreed to a vote date in late September or early October 1987. Mailing labels for the purpose of notice to employees are to be supplied by August 14, 1987. Notices are to be mailed, to employees no earlier than the first week of September 1987.
5The ballot box will be sealed and the ballots not counted pending determination of the parties' dispute over the composition of the appropriate bargaining unit.
6The matter is referred to the Registrar.