[1988] OLRB Rep. June 596
0514-88-R The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, Local 46, Applicant v. Heritage Mechanical Ltd., Respondent
BEFORE: G. T. Surdykowski, Vice-Chair, and Board Members D. A. MacDonald and C. A. Ballentine.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; June 16, 1988
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 clause (a) of section 139(1) of the Act on May 14, 1982, the designated employee bargaining agency is the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, and the Ontario Pipe Trades Council of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada.
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:
-(1) 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.
- In paragraph 7 of its application for certification herein, the applicant describes the unit of employees that it claims to be appropriate for collective bargaining as being:
all plumbers, plumbers' apprentices, steamfitters and steamfitters' apprentices in the employ of the respondent engaged 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
and
all plumbers, plumbers' apprentices, steamfitters and steamfitters' apprentices in the employ of the respondent in Board Geographic Area No. 8, excluding the industrial, commercial and institutional sector of the construction industry, save and except non-working foremen and persons above the rank of non-working foreman.
In paragraph 10 of its application, the applicant requests that the Board issue a clarity note declaring that welders working in the plumbing and steamfitting trades are included in the bargaining unit.
The respondent has not filed a reply, a list of employees in the bargaining unit for which the applicant seeks to be certified, or any other material.
In circumstances such as these, the Board would normally proceed to process the application based on the material provided by the trade union. However, there are presently a number of applications for certification pending before the Board in which the employee bargaining agency referred to in paragraph 1 herein or one of its affiliated bargaining agents seeks to be certified for a bargaining unit of employees described in substantially the same terms as the unit sought by the applicant herein together with the same welders clarity note sought by the applicant, and an issue has arisen with respect to, among other things, the appropriateness of the clarity note.
In that regard, we observe that the trades of "plumber" and "steamfitter" are compulsory certified trades under the Apprenticeship and Tradesmen's Qualification Act, RSO. 1980, Chapter 24. In addition, the designation referred to in paragraph 1 herein designates the employee bargaining agency of which the applicant is an affiliated bargaining agent to represent in bargaining all "Journeymen and Apprentice, Plumbers, Pipefitters" represented by its affiliated bargaining agents. In previous cases, the Board has observed that the designations issued pursuant to section 139(1)(a) of the Labour Relations Act describe the provincial units of employees contemplated by the province-wide collective bargaining scheme established by the Act for the industrial, commercial and institutional ("ICI") sector of the construction industry and designate, for each such unit, an employee bargaining agency (see, Orocon Inc., unreported decision of the Board dated January 5, 1988). The Board has also observed that, in the ICI sector, the employee bargaining agency and their affiliated bargaining agents can only represent employees in a trade which they have been designated to represent (see, Superior Plumbing and Heating Ltd., [1986] OLRB Rep. Nov. 1589; D. E. Whitmer Plumbing and Heating Limited, [1987] OLRB Rep. Oct. 1228).
Finally, the Board has, in other cases, concluded that, where an applicant for certification is a construction trade union designated to represent, in bargaining, persons in a compulsory certified trade within the meaning of the Apprenticeship and Tradesmen's Qualification Act, it is appropriate to describe the bargaining unit in terms of the journeymen and registered apprentices of the trade, and to include in such bargaining units only employees who are either such journeymen or registered apprentices (see, Irvcon Roofing and Sheet Metal (Pembroke) Ltd., [1981] OLRB Rep. Nov. 1594; C. T. Windows Limited, [1982] OLRB Rep. Nov. 1597 and [1983] OLRB Rep. May 627; Mechanical Installations Roofing and Siding Ltd., [1985] OLRB Rep. Apr. 549; Naylor Group lncorporated, [1986] OLRB Rep. Nov. 1559 and [1986] OLRB Rep. Nov. 1563).
Accordingly, the Board does not find it appropriate to dispose of this application of the basis of the material presently before it. Instead, the Registrar is directed to schedule the matter for hearing for the purpose of hearing the evidence and representations of the parties with respect to the bargaining unit description, the appropriateness of the clarity note, and all other matters arising out of and incidental to the application.
In the circumstances, and having regard to the nature of the clarity note issued, the Registrar is directed to send a copy of this decision and a notice of hearing to the Mechanical Contractors Association of Ontario and the Ontario Pipe Trades Council of the United Association of Journeymen and apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada.