Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 527 v. Ottawa Structural Concrete Services Ltd.
[1987] OLRB Rep. December 1599
0666-87-R Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 527, Applicant v. Ottawa Structural Concrete Services Ltd., Respondent
BEFORE: G. T. Surdykowski, Vice-Chair, and Board Members D. A. MacDonald and J. Redshaw.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; December 1, 1987
1By letter from counsel dated November 17, 1987, the Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons International Association, Local 598 ("Local 598") requests that the Board reconsider its decision dated October 15, 1987 in this matter by revoking the certificates granted to the applicant. Local 598 alleges that it was by operation of sections 1(4) and 63 of the Labour Relations Act, the bargaining agent for the employees affected by the application, and should therefor been given notice of and an opportunity to participate in, the proceedings, and further that there were no employees in the bargaining unit applied for on the date of application.
2The Registrar is directed to schedule this matter for hearing for the purpose of hearing the evidence and representations of Local 598 and the parties to the application with respect to the issues raised by Local 598 in letters, from counsel, dated October 26 and November 17, 1987.
3The November 17, 1987 letter concludes with the applicant requesting "that the Board treat this letter as an application for a declaration that there has been a sale of a business from Toronto Structural [Concrete Services] to Ottawa Structural [Services Ltd.] under section 63 of the Act and/or that they are related employers under section 1(4) of the Act" [sic]. Section 23 of the Board's Rules of Procedure directs that applications under section 63 of the Act be made in quadruplicate in Form 26. Section 27 of the Board's requires that an application under section 1(4) of the Act be made in quadruplicate in Form 31. While section 31 of the Board's Rules stipulates that nothing in sections 27 to 30 of the Rules presents an applicant from claiming relief under section 1(4) of the Act in any other proceeding under the Act, the requisite notice and particulars must still be provided. The Board's Rules are there to be followed. The provisions of sections 1(5) and 63(13) of the Act are such that it should not be especially difficult for an applicant seeking section 1(4) or section 63 relief (respectively) to provide sufficient particulars. We are not satisfied that the applicant has either provided sufficient information or provided it in a form which permits the Board to accept its letter of November 17, 1987 as an application under either section 1(4) or section 63. The Board does not have unlimited resources and cannot be expected to use the resources it does have to try to extract the relevant particulars from, in this case, 2 letters in order to give the requisite notice to the employers and employees involved. If Local 598 does file applications under sections 1(4) or 63 of the Act, the Registrar is directed to schedule them to be heard together with Local 598's request for reconsideration at which time the Board will entertain the evidence and representations of the parties with respect to all matters arising out of and incidental to the application(s).