Ontario Labour Relations Board
3865-99-R National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada (CAW-Canada), Applicant v. Maplewood Nursing Home Limited o/a Cedarwood Village, Responding Party v. Service Employees International Union, Local 220, Intervenor.
3866-99-R National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada (CAW-Canada), Applicant v. Maplewood Nursing Home Limited o/a Cedarwood Village, Responding Party v. Service Employees International Union, Local 220, Intervenor.
BEFORE: Patrick Kelly, Vice-Chair, and Board Members J. A. Rundle and H. Peacock.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; August 11, 2000
1These are displacement applications for certification of both full-time and part-time bargaining units of nurses. By decision dated July 17, 2000, the Board (differently constituted) directed that the full-time and part-time bargaining units be combined, and that the ballots be counted together.
2There remains one issue. The intervenor (“SEIU”) submits that the Board should postpone its decision in these matters regarding the issue of a certificate until the latter of two events, namely the final disposition of its contempt application before the Superior Court of Justice (which, the Board notes, was dismissed by the Court in its decision dated July 24, 2000), or the final disposition of proceedings under the constitution of the Canadian Labour Congress (“the CLC”) in which it was found that the applicant had acted contrary to the CLC constitution in making displacement applications covering workplaces in which the intervenor held bargaining rights, including this one.
3The applicant opposes the postponement of the Board’s decision in these matters.
4In its decisions of March 30, 2000, a differently constituted panel of the Board ordered the representation votes in these matters, despite SEIU’s request that the Board not conduct the votes on the basis of its court motion for an injunction (which later formed the basis for SEIU’s contempt motion). Moreover, the Board (again, differently constituted) dealt with similar SEIU arguments in its written decisions dated April 7, 2000 and April 18, 2000 covering these and a number of other certification applications. In those decisions, the Board found no support for SEIU’s position concerning the contempt motion or the CLC proceedings insofar as they impact upon proceedings under the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“the Act”). The Board refused to adjourn the proceedings.
5The Board can find no valid reason to delay the final determination of these matters. Section 10 of the Act requires that where more than 50 percent of the ballots cast in the representation vote are cast in favour of the applicant, the Board shall certify the applicant. There does not appear to be any Board discretion to postpone the issue of a certificate. Moreover, the Board declines to conduct a further hearing to deal with arguments that have been previously considered and rejected by the Board.
6Having regard to the decision of the Board dated July 17, 2000, the Board further finds that:
all registered and graduate nurses employed by Cedarwood Acres Limited in a nursing capacity at Cedarwood Village Nursing Home in the Town of Simcoe, save and except supervisors, and persons above the rank of supervisor,
constitute a unit of employees of the responding party appropriate for collective bargaining.
7On the taking of the representation votes directed by the Board, more than fifty percent of the ballots cast by employees in the bargaining unit were cast in favour of the applicant.
8A certificate will issue to the applicant.
9The Registrar will destroy the ballots cast in the representation votes taken in these matters 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.
10Meeting and hearing dates set previously are hereby cancelled.
11The responding party is directed to post copies of this decision immediately, adjacent to all copies of the "Notice of Vote and of Hearing" posted previously. These copies must remain posted for a period of 30 days.
“Patrick Kelly”
for the Board