0375-00-R Allied Construction Employees Local 1030, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America Applicant v. 539243 Ontario Ltd., Responding Party.
BEFORE: Gail Misra, Vice-Chair, and Board Members J. Knight and G. McMenemy.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; July 12, 2000
This is an application filed under the construction industry provisions of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the “Act”).
The application was filed on May 3, 2000, and a representation vote was held on May 11, 2000. There are no matters remaining in dispute between the parties. However, the Board (differently constituted) had identified in its decision of May 9, 2000 that the applicant has not previously established that it is a trade union within the meaning of sections 1(1) or 126 of the Act. Since that time the applicant has provided the Board with its submissions regarding its trade union status. The responding party has taken no position regarding this issue so the Board has made its decision based on the material submitted by the applicant.
Since March 1, 1982, when it was granted a charter by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, the applicant has operated under the name of “United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, General Workers Local Union No. 1030” (hereinafter referred to as “Local 1030”). This entity proved its trade union status under both sections 1(1) and 126 of the Act as has been noted in the Board’s decisions in Manacon Construction Ltd., [1983] OLRB Rep. March 407 and Manacon Construction Ltd., [1983] OLRB Rep. July 1104. In those decisions the Board confirmed that Local 1030 was a newly chartered local union of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (the “UBCJA”), was a trade union that according to established practice pertained to the construction industry, and was an affiliated bargaining agent of the UBCJA represented by the Millwright District Council of Ontario of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
In a decision in Rolland Duquette Construction, [1983] OLRB Rep. Nov. 1884, the Board found that the Local 1030 was entitled to bring an application for certification relating to all unrepresented trades employed outside the ICI sector of the construction industry pursuant to what was then section 144(3) of the Act. Since that time the Board has granted a number of certificates to Local 1030 for both types of bargaining units. Unlike other locals of the UBCJA, this entity has since its inception had a geographic jurisdiction spanning the province of Ontario.
In January 2000 the General President of the UBCJA directed that Local 1030 be affiliated with the Central Ontario Regional Council of the UBCJA, and accordingly disaffiliated from the Ontario Industrial Council of the UBCJA. The General President further granted his approval for a change in the name of Local 1030 to the name “Allied Construction Employees Local 1030, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America”. The administrative offices of Local 1030 were moved from Ottawa to Toronto.
The Board was provided with a copy of the Constitution of the UBCJA. The Constitution was last amended on January 1, 1996. Pursuant to section 10 of the Constitution, the General President of the union has far-reaching powers, including the power to issue and sign all charters. In a letter dated January 10, 2000 to the officials of Local 1030, the General President stated:
Also, you described the motions that were passed at the December 23, 1999 meeting. First, that Local Union 1030 be affiliated with the Central Ontario Regional Council “with its head office in Toronto”. Second, “to change the name of the General Workers Local 1030 United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America to [the] Allied Construction Employees Local 1030 United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America”. Third, “that the By-laws attached be approved”.
You requested that this office take specific action regarding Local Union 1030. Namely, grant dispensation for the members named herein to “be elected and to hold office”. You also requested that Local Union 1030 be affiliated with the Central Ontario Regional Council, with its head office in Toronto, and disaffiliated from the Ontario Industrial Council. Finally, that the name change be approved. (You indicated that the bylaws have been submitted to UBC [United Brotherhood of Carpenters] 1st General Vice President Douglas J. Banes for his review and approval.)
I have carefully considered and reviewed your requests, and have determined that it is in the best interests of the United Brotherhood and its members that the following action be taken. Specifically, pursuant to my authority under UBC Constitution Section 10K, dispensation is granted so that the members listed above are eligible to serve in their elected offices. Pursuant to my authority under Section 6A of the UBC Constitution, Local Union 1030 is hereby directed to be affiliated with the Central Ontario Regional Council, with its head office in Toronto, and disaffiliated from the Ontario Industrial Council. Approval is given to change the name of Local Union 1030 from the General Workers’ Local 1030 United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America to the Allied Construction Employees Local Union 1030, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. A new charter shall be issued noting this change.
As is obvious from the above excerpt, the executive of Local 1030 passed motions in December 1999 seeking to change the local’s name and affiliation. It then applied to the General President for his authorization and on January 10, 2000 received such authorization and the undertaking that a new charter would be issued. Although the Board was not provided with a copy of the new charter, it is clear that one was going to be issued.
The Board has recently had occasion to address the issue of trade union status where a union had changed its name. In Coughlan Homes Inc. and Cougs Investments Ltd., (as yet unreported, Board File No. 3030-99-R, April 7, 2000) the Board dealt with the change of name of the Labourers’ International Union of North America, Local 183, to the Universal Workers’ Union, Labourers’ International Union of North America, Local 183. The Board noted that:
The responding party does not assert the existence of a doctrine which suggests that a trade union, or any other unincorporated association, loses its existence merely because it changes its name. Nor is the panel aware of any such doctrine. Presumably such an organization may do so at any time. There is no statutory scheme (as there is with a change of name for a corporation) that must be followed. Even if the local union does not follow its own constitutional process for doing so, and assuming that the issue arose in a manner that the Board would have the jurisdiction to consider it, such failure would not affect the existence or status of the union as a bargaining agent or as a trade union under the Act.
The question for the Board at this point, then, is simply whether the applicant has status as a trade union under section 1(1) and section 126. The Board finds as a fact that the applicant is one and the same organization as Labourers’ International Union of North America, Local 183. It has simply changed its name. It is no more reasonable to suggest that this is a different trade union than it would be to suggest that the Board should revoke every certificate ever issued to Labourers’ International Union of North America, Local 183 which did not contain the words “Ontario Hydro Workers” in the name of the applicant.
This panel of the Board shares the views outlined in Coughlan Homes. (See also Barrie Glass & Mirror Ltd., unreported, Board File No. 3950-99-R, April 6, 2000). The Board finds as a fact that the applicant in this application is the same union as the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, General Workers Local Union No. 1030 and that Local 1030 has simply changed its name and affiliation with the authorization of the General President of the UBCJA.
The Board therefore finds that the applicant has status as a trade union under sections 1(1) and 126 of the Act.
No statement of desire to make representations has been filed with the Board within the time fixed under Rule 62 of the Board's Rules of Procedure following the taking of the representation vote pursuant to the Board's direction of May 9,2000.
In its decision of May 9, 2000, the Board found the following bargaining unit to be appropriate for collective bargaining:
all carpenters and carpenters’ apprentices, cement finishers and cement finishers’ apprentices and construction labourers in the employ of 539243 Ontario Ltd. in all sectors of the construction industry in the City of Toronto, the Regional Municipalities of Peel and York, the Towns of Oakville and Halton Hills and that portion of the Town of Milton within the geographic Townships of Esquesing and Trafalgar, and the Towns of Ajax and Pickering in the Regional Municipality of Durham, excluding the industrial, commercial and institutional sector, save and except non-working foremen and persons above the rank of non-working foreman.
On the taking of the representation vote directed by the Board, more than fifty per cent of the ballots cast by employees in the bargaining unit were cast in favour of the applicant.
A certificate will issue to the applicant.
The Registrar will destroy the ballots cast in the representation vote taken in this matter following the expiration of 30 days from the date of this decision unless a statement requesting that the ballots should not be destroyed is received by the Board from one of the parties before the expiration of such 30-day period.
The responding party is directed to post copies of this decision immediately, adjacent to the "Notice of Vote and of Meeting" posted previously. These copies must remain posted for a period of 30 days.
“Gail Misra”
for the Board