Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 183 v. Greenleaf Designs Ltd., 1988 CanLII 3622

Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 183 v. Greenleaf Designs Ltd.

[1988] OLRB Rep. February 150

2796-87-G Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 183, Applicant v. Greenleaf Designs Ltd., Respondent

BEFORE: G. T. Surdykowski, Vice-Chair, and Board Members H. Kobryn and W. A. Correll.

DECISION OF THE BOARD; February 10, 1988

1This is a referral to the Board of a grievance pursuant to section 124 of the Labour Relations Act. The parties have executed Minutes of Settlement, filed, as follows:

File #2796-87-G

BETWEEN:

Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 183,

Applicant,

• and -

Greenleaf Designs Ltd.,

Respondent.

WHEREAS the parties have met and agreed to resolve this matter in the following Minutes of Settlement.

1. The Respondent acknowledges it is bound to the collective agreement between Greenleaf Designs Ltd. and L.I.U.N.A. Local 183 effective September 15th, 1987 until September 15, 1988.

2. The Respondent acknowledges that it has violated the collective agreement and further agrees to cease and desist said violation immediately.

3. The Respondent agrees to pay to L.I.U.N.A. Local 183 and its trust funds [siel an amount of One Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty-two Dollars and Fifty cents. (1,662.50) because of said violation.

4. The parties request that the Board endorse these Minutes of Settlement and further issue an Order of the Board.

Signed this 4th of February, 1988 at Toronto.

"Nick Carlascio" "Frank Spers" For the Respondent For the Applicant

2The Minutes of Settlement do not indicate that the parties have agreed that the Board should make any particular declarations or orders. They merely indicate an agreement that the Board "endorse these Minutes of Settlement and further issue an order ...". The Board has previously commented on this sort of request in Consolidated Aluminium (Maritimes) Ltd., [1987] OLRB Rep. Mar. 350:

3. As there seems to be some confusion on the point, we think it important to note that the Board does not "endorse" Minutes of Settlement in the sense of approving them or lending them some legal effect they do not already have as a result of the parties' having entered into them. The Board will "endorse the record" with Minutes of Settlement by reproducing the text of the Minutes of Settlement in the decision by which it disposed of the matters settled, as we have done in paragraph 2 of this decision. If the parties have expressly agreed that the Board should issue a particular declaration, direction or order, and if the Board has the jurisdiction to do so, the Board will "endorse the record" in accordance with that particular agreement by including the agreed upon declaration, direction or order in its decision disposing of the matters settled. In the past, the Board might have converted the language of settlement agreements into specific Board orders in response to requests "that the Board endorse the record with these Minutes of Settlement", "that these Minutes of Settlement be issued as a decision of the Board", "that the Board issue the appropriate orders" and other equally general and ambiguous language. Generally speaking, it will no longer do so: see Elmont Construction Limited, [1987] OLRB Rep. Feb. 209 and N. D. Barbeau Mechanical Limited, Board File 0393-86-M, dated February 23, 1987, unreported.

4. Recognizing that there are differences, both legal and otherwise, between agreeing to do something and agreeing to be ordered to do it, and that settlement agreements can result in contractual obligations which could not be the subject of an order by this Board, the Board will not interpret mere agreement that the Board "endorse the record" with the Minutes of Settlement as licence or implied authority to convert the terms of Minutes of Settlement into declarations, directions or orders. The Board will only make a declaration, direction or order if there is express agreement that it do so and, even then, only if the Board has the jurisdiction to do so. Participants in the settlement of referrals under section 124 would be well advised to purge the phrase "endorse the record" from the language in which they couch Minutes of Settlement. When Minutes of Settlement recite that proceedings are thereby settled, but do not expressly provide that the Board make particular declarations, directions or orders, the only order the Board will make is an order terminating the proceedings.

3Those observations are apposite to this situation. If the parties to proceedings before the Board settle the matter, they should specify what declarations or orders, if any, they wish the Board to issue. No particular words are required and the degree of precision required will depend on the circumstances. What is important, is that the parties make clear which matters are to be the subject of declarations or orders of the Board. In our view, the parties have, at most, asked the Board to set out the terms of their agreement in a decision. Accordingly, the Board declines to make any declarations or orders.

4Having regard to the settlement between the parties as aforesaid, these proceedings are terminated.