[1993] OLRB Rep. March 157
3185-92-U United Steelworkers of America, Applicant v. Cooper Industries (Canada) Inc. c.o.b. as Wagner Division of Cooper Industries (Canada) Inc., Responding Party
BEFORE: O. T. Surdykowski, Vice-Chair, and Board Members R. W. Pirrie and H. Peacock.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; March 4, 1993
- This is an application under section 91 of the Labour Relations Act in which the applicant requested an expedited hearing under section 92.2 of the Act. Section 92.2 provides that:
92.2-(1) This section applies to a complaint under section 91 alleging that, during the period beginning with a trade union's organizing activities and ending with the disposition of its application for certification, an employee has been disciplined, has had his or her employment terminated, has received notice of discipline or termination of employment or has been otherwise penalized contrary to this Act.
(2) If the trade union requests an expedited hearing of the complaint, the Board shall begin its inquiry into the complaint within fifteen days after the later of,
(a) the day on which the request is filed with the Board; and
(b) the day on which the request is delivered to the respondent named in the complaint.
(3) The Board shall hear the complaint on consecutive days from Mondays to Thursdays, except holidays, until the hearing is completed.
(4) The Board shall render its decision on the complaint within two days after the hearing is completed, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. The Board may give its decision orally or in writing.
(5) The Board shall give written reasons for the decision within a reasonable period of time upon the request of either party.
(6) The Board may hear and determine any other application or complaint under this Act together with a complaint to which this section applies.
The application was filed on February 4, 1993. The Board scheduled a hearing to begin on February 18, 1993. By letters dated February 16, 1993, the applicant and responding employer both advised the Board that they were engaged in what appeared to be productive settlement discussions, and jointly requested that the scheduled hearing be adjourned sine die to permit them to pursue those settlement discussions.
In the Board's experience, labour relations matters are best resolved by the parties themselves. Consequently, the Board is generally content to permit parties to pursue genuine settlement efforts. On the other hand, there is much truth to the maxim that "labour relations delayed are labour relations defeated and denied" and labour relations matters therefor require prompt attention. Some of the amendments to the Labour Relations Act which came into force on January 1, 1993 emphasize this need for expedition.
Nevertheless, speed is not the only objective. On the contrary, the prime objective is the resolution of the dispute, on agreement of the parties if possible, through adjudication if necessary. Consequently, parties should still be allowed, and indeed encouraged, to settle matters between themselves, though perhaps without the luxury of the same kind of time they have enjoyed in the past.
We take the applicant trade union's request for an adjournment to be an implicit, if not explicit, withdrawal of its request for an expedited hearing. Accordingly, this application is adjourned sine die as requested. In the circumstances, however, the period of the adjournment is not to exceed three months from the date hereof.
The parties are directed to forthwith advise the Board if they do settle the dispute in this application, and to any event report to the Board in that respect prior to the expiry of the three month adjournment period herein. If within that three month period the Board receives no such written report, or a request for a hearing, and the matter is not otherwise disposed of by the Board, the application will be dismissed.