[1999] OLRB REP. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1087
2449-99-R Hotel, Hospitality & Casino Workers Union, Applicant v. Renaissance Fallsview Hotel, Responding Party
Certification - Union winning representation vote by margin of 92 to 59, but Board dismissing certification application under section 8.1 of the Act where membership evidence on behalf of less than 40% percent of employees in bargaining unit had been submitted with application by union
BEFORE: Patrick Kelly, Vice-Chair, and Board Members J. A. Rundle and H. Peacock.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; December 16, 1999
This is an application for certification under the Labour Relations Act, 1995 the "Act").
The Board issued a decision on November 18, 1999 in this matter. It noted the responding party's section 8.1 notice, and, after comparing the membership evidence provided by the applicant as against the information provided by the responding party, the Board stated that it could not be absolutely certain that the percentage of the individuals who appeared to be members of the applicant comprised forty per cent or more in the bargaining unit proposed by the applicant. The Board directed a representation vote, and ordered the ballot box sealed and the ballots not counted until further ordered by the Board or upon the agreement of the parties.
The representation vote took place on November 22, 1999, and the parties agreed to count the vote, although the responding party did not waive its section 8.1 objection. Upon a count of the ballots in the representation vote the union won the vote by a margin of 92 to 59, with 16 ballots segregated and not counted. The parties agreed to 178 eligible voters on the voters' list. The applicant had seven further challenges to proposed additional names on the list.
A review of the materials in the file, including the voters' list reveal, that even if all the applicant's challenges to the voters' list are subtracted from that list, the number of membership cards submitted by the applicant do not comprise forty per cent or more of the smallest possible number of employees agreed by the parties to be included in the applicant's proposed bargaining unit.
Therefore, notwithstanding the union's success in the representation vote, the responding party's 8.1 objection is valid and effective because the applicant did not establish sufficient membership evidence to have secured the representation vote.
Accordingly, the application is dismissed pursuant to paragraph 7 of subsection 8.1(5) of the Act.