Ontario Sheet Metal Workers' Conference v. Lorlea Steels
[1990] OLRB Rep. January 57
2036-89-G Ontario Sheet Metal Workers' Conference, Applicant v. Lorlea Steels, A division of Jannock Steel Fabricating Company, Respondent
BEFORE: Owen V. Gray, Vice-Chair, and Board Members D. A. MacDonald and H. Kobryn.
APPEARANCES: Bernard Fishbein, George Ward and Owen Pettipas for the applicant; Jack Wilson for the respondent.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; January 2, 1990 (delivered orally)
1The respondent Jannock is admittedly bound by the provincial agreement governing employment of sheet metal workers represented by members of the applicant in the ICI sector of the construction industry. The respondent intends to implement a direct deposit system for paying those workers their wages. The applicant grieves that such a wage payment method would violate Article 27.2 of the collective agreement, and asks for a declaration to that effect.
2Article 27.2 of the collective agreement provides as follows:
Method of Payment
Wages at the established rates shall be paid by cash before quitting time on Friday, or if by cheque, before quitting time on Thursday each week. If Friday is a holiday, payment in cash will be on Thursday and if by cheque, on Wednesday; the employer will arrange facilities for the cashing of cheques with an area bank.
The applicant union says that direct deposit of wages in a worker's account with a financial institution is not payment "by cash" or "by cheque" as required by this Article. As for its not being payment "by cheque", it relies on the decision in Maritime Telegraph & Telephone Co., Ltd., (1986) 24 L.A.C. (3d) 381 (J. A. Machellan). It argues that payment "by cash" means delivery of "coin of the realm" into the hand of the worker. The respondent says that direct deposit amounts to payment "by cash" since the bank deposit is as liquid and accessible as cash.
3The issue here is not whether payment by direct deposit is as advantageous or convenient for workers as payment "by cash" or "by cheque". The issue is whether payment by direct deposit is payment "by cash" or "by cheque". In our view, "payment" in Article 27.2 means payment directly to the worker, not to one of a limited number of agents from whom the employer obliges the employee to make a selection. Payment "by cash" means payment of legal tender directly to the worker.
4We declare that payment of wages by direct deposit would not comply with the requirements of Article 27.2 of the current collective agreement.