Ontario Labour Relations Board
File No.: 0823-92-U Date: 1994-06-15
Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild, Applicant v. Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing, Responding Party
Before: M. A. Nairn, Vice-Chair, and Board Members R. W. Pirrie and P. V. Grasso.
Appearances: Stephen Krashinsky and Lorne Slotnick for the applicant; Harvey Beresford and Brenda Biller for the responding party.
DECISION OF M. A. NAIRN, VICE-CHAIR AND BOARD MEMBER P. V. GRASSO, June 15, 1994
[1]. This is a section 91 complaint alleging that the responding party (the "employer") has violated sections 3, 15, 65, 67, and 71 of the Labour Relations Act (the "Act"). At the outset of the hearing, the panel dismissed the allegation of a violation of section 15 of the Act on the basis that the particulars filed did not support an arguable case for a violation of that section.
[2]. The gist of the dispute is very narrow. It raises an issue of whether or not, in particular circumstances during working hours, members of the bargaining unit are entitled to wear buttons supporting the applicant (the "union"). The limited nature of the dispute can be better understood following a review of the background leading up to this complaint.
[3]. The employer is in the business of selling newspapers. Included in the Metroland "chain" are some twenty-five local community papers, originating throughout southern Ontario, and which are distributed from one to three times a week, depending on the paper. Each paper is locally managed by a Publisher, although there is centralized management through an Executive Committee and the President of the company. Each paper has its own editorial, advertising, distribution, administrative, and sometimes production departments.
[4]. The union represents a bargaining unit of editorial employees throughout the chain that includes primarily reporters, editors, and photographers. The unionized workforce now represents about eight percent of the total workforce. The great majority of the work of the bargaining unit is done in the papers' offices, with the exception of reporters and/or photographers attending at various public meetings or holding interviews. Depending on the reporter, they may be out of the office from approximately once to six or seven times over a two week period. Reporters are generally assigned to a "beat". For example, health care would include covering the local Hospital Boards or public health. Other beats include crime (and the courts), municipal or regional councils, and education. Interviews are conducted and photographs are taken in the office as well. Many interviews take place over the phone.
[5]. At the time of this dispute the parties were engaged in their third set of negotiations (the "1992 round") and were nearing their legal strike/lockout deadline. On June 3, 1992 the union issued certain material to its members in preparation for a strike. Included in the package was a button about two inches in diameter, bearing a picture of a dinosaur and the words "Metroland Journalists, Save Us From Extinction, Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild". The union's main priority in the negotiations was job security. It would appear that since certification, the bargaining unit has shrunk by almost one-half due to lay-offs and cut-backs.
[6]. Members of the bargaining unit were asked in the material to wear the button starting June 8, and to continue to wear it until a settlement was reached. The memo went on to say:
…..Management may request you to remove your button -- particularly if you are going out on an assignment -- but management legally has no power to discipline anyone for wearing a union button. If a manager requests you to remove a button, politely reply that you have the right to wear it, and ignore the request.
[7]. That memo came to the attention of Brenda Biller, the employer's Director of Human Resources. In response, she forwarded a memo dated June 9, 1992 to the Publishers as follows:
RE: Guild Buttons
As was the case during our prior negotiations with the Guild, Union buttons may be worn by editorial employees except when they are meeting with members of the public on company business.
The Guild have informed members that they legally have the right to wear these buttons at any time. Further they are to politely refuse to remove them when asked by management to do so.
Should you be faced with an editorial employee who refuses to comply with our rule regarding buttons, you are