3039-99-R Universal Workers Union, L.I.U.N.A., Local 183, Applicant v. Coughlan Homes Inc. and Cougs Investments Ltd., Responding Parties.
BEFORE: David A. McKee, Vice-Chair.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; April 7, 2000
1This is an application for certification pursuant to the construction industry provisions of the Labour Relations Act, 1995, S.O. 1995, ch. 1 (the "Act"). The first issue to be dealt with in this application is the status of the applicant. The Board has not yet previously found that the Universal Workers Union, L.I.U.N.A., Local 183 is a trade union within the meaning of section 1(1) or section 126. On March 29, 2000 the Board issued a direction to the applicant to produce certain documents to the Board. It has done so. The responding party advises the Board it takes no position with respect to the submissions of the applicant and asks the Board to issue a decision forthwith. We propose therefore to make a decision on the basis of the material in the file.
2On August 25, 1952 the International Hod Carriers, Building and Common Labourers' Union of North America, issued a charter to an affiliated local union which was given the name "Ontario Hydro Workers Local 183" of that international union. That local union, at some point in the 1950's or 1960's, appears to have simply dropped the reference to "Ontario Hydro Workers" from its name without asking for the charter to be amended. In or about 1965 the International Union changed its name to Labourers' International Union of North America. Local 183 changed its name as well, although no new charter was issued.
3This change of name appears to have generated no comment at all from this Board. Prior to May 1966, all certificates issued to the international or a local were in the name of the "International Hod Carriers, Building and Common Labourers' Union of North America" ("IHC"). In the May 1966 OLRB Reports all of the certificates issued in respect of construction labourers were issued to the IHC or a local of the IHC except one which was issued to Labourers International Union of North America Local 506 (Canadian Engineering and Contracting Company Limited [1966] OLRB Rep. May p.83). The certificate was issued without reported comment about the new name. Commencing in June, 1966, all certificates issued to the international or a local were issued to Labourers' International Union of North America ("LIUNA") or a local of LIUNA. The first certificate issued to the International Union was in Droge Construction
Limited [1966] OLRB Rep. June p.155. The first for Local 183 was C.H.Heist (Canada) Limited [1966] OLRB Rep. July p. 223. The Board issued both certificates without any comment. In other words, the last time this union changed its name, that change raised no issue for the Board.
4On August 7, 1998 Local 183 sought a change of name from the International Union. This was a decision of the executive of Labourers Local 183; there was no evidence filed of a vote of the membership. This request was approved in principle by the International President shortly before March 1, 1999 and confirmed in writing on behalf of the Executive Board of Labourers International Union of North America on May 26, 1999. A new charter was issued with the date of 7 October, 1999 and presented to the executive of Local 183 in December of 1999. The membership of Local 183 was advised of this at a membership meeting on December 19, 1999. The applicant asserts as follows:
the seven existing executive board members of Local 183 who were duly elected to their positions in or about June 1996 .... will continue to serve in office and will do so until the next regularly scheduled election which, pursuant to the above-noted constitution by-laws, will be held in or about June 2000;
all members of Local 183 continue to be members of the Universal Workers Union, L.I.U.N.A., Local 183;
the business agents of Local 183 continue to be the same before and after the name change;
the address, telephone numbers and fax numbers of Local 183 have not changed;
the bank accounts of Local 183 remain the same as do the signing officers for those bank accounts;
the collective bargaining activities and administration of existing collective agreements have gone on exactly as they always have gone on. Local 183 continues to enter into and enforce the terms and provisions of its collective agreements, and to represent its members and their rights under those collective agreements, just as it always has done.
5Article II, section 2(b) of the LIUNA Constitution provides the following power for the International Union:
As the sovereign authority it has the power to issue charters to local unions, district councils, and other subordinate bodies; and to define their powers and craft or territorial jurisdiction; to revise, amalgamate or revoke existing charters; and to govern,
discipline, regulate or supervise these subordinate bodies as hereinafter provided. (emphasis added)
Article XVII deals with the issuing of charters and provides as follows:
(i) Charters to Local Unions, District Councils and other subordinate bodies shall be issued in accordance with this constitution, as herein above provided.
(ii) The General Executive Board shall fix and determine the form of application for charter and the form of the charter.
The power to regulate the name of the local is implicit in these Articles. There is no other or more specific reference anywhere in the constitution. The Uniform Local Union By-laws (which apply to Local 183) do not address the issue specifically. This is not surprising since the constitution makes the issuing and revocation of charters a prerogative of the International Union. Indeed, the Uniform Local Union By-laws are explicitly subject to the International constitution and to the actions of the International itself.
6The charter is clearly intended as a revised charter, although it does not explicitly say so. Although it is signed and dated 7 October 1999, the first effective paragraph states:
Now, therefore, acting under and in pursuance of the authority vested in us by the Constitution and laws of the International Union on April 27, 1952, we issue this charter to the applicants and to their legally elected successors to institute and constitute a local union known as
Universal Workers Union
Local Union No. 183
At the bottom of the charter is the handwritten notation "amended to add craft jurisdiction. Original charter issued August 27, 1952".
7Territorial jurisdiction is described as "Board Areas 8 and 18 of the Ontario Labour Relations Board". The original charter provides for a territorial jurisdiction of Toronto, Ontario. Clearly, Local 183's territorial jurisdiction has expanded beyond the confines of the City of Toronto as it existed in 1952. The territorial jurisdiction in the new charter may in fact be slightly larger than the traditional jurisdiction of Local 183, at least as described in certain of the collective agreements to which it is bound. Whatever other legal issues a change to territorial jurisdiction may
raise, none of them affects the nature or continued existence or status of the applicant as a local trade union.
8The craft jurisdiction is described as "civil engineering, heavy and highway construction, industrial, landscaping, pipelines and utilities, plumbing, railroad, residential, restoration, roads, sewer and watermain, tile and terrazzo". Again, this raises no issue for the Board about the status of the union. The Board is familiar with Local 183's collective agreements in most (though not all) of these fields.
9The applicant states that it is the same organization as Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 183, but simply has a different name. It appears to this panel of the Board that this is an accurate description of the process by which the new charter was issued.
10The 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.
11The 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.
12While it would have been preferable had the applicant indicated its full name in the style of cause, that is, Labourers' International Union of North America, rather than "L.I.U.N.A.", this is not a defect which would cause the Board to dismiss the application. However, it is inappropriate to use initials rather than the full name of the organization as set out in its charter, particularly in applications for certification where the Board is required to determine by reference to the membership evidence submitted, whether the applicant has the appearance of forty percent of the bargaining unit as members. Therefore the name of the applicant is amended to Universal Workers' Union, Labourers' International Union of North America, Local 183.
13The Board therefore finds that the applicant has status as a trade union under sections 1(1) and 126 of the Act. The hearing set for April 11, 2000 is hereby cancelled. The parties are directed to contact the Registrar forthwith and arrange for two further days to deal with the remaining issues.
"David A. McKee"
for the Board