Rick Overend v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, A.F.L.
0521-00-U Rick Overend, Applicant v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, A.F.L., Responding Party v. CAA South Central Ontario ("CAA-SCO"), Intervenor.
BEFORE: Bram Herlich, Vice-Chair.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; July 13, 2000
1This is an application filed in which it is alleged that the responding party trade union has violated section 74 of the Labour Relations Act (the "Act").
2Although it is most difficult to ascertain the precise nature of the claim, it appears to have some relationship to a warning letter the applicant received in January of this year.
3The first nine words of the voluminous letters, notes and documentation the applicant has attached to the application are perhaps the most telling. He says: "My problem here is deeper than this warning letter" and proceeds to outline events and attach documents which bear out that preamble, while at the same time seeming to suggest that the issue of the warning letter is what he is bringing to the Board.
4The applicant has no doubt, misconceived the nature of an application of the type he has filed.
5First of all, if he has any expectation that this Board will act as an arbitrator and determine whether or not there was just cause for the warning, he is mistaken.
6An application under section 74 is, by definition, a complaint about the conduct of a trade union not an employer. Such an application is not a means to directly challenge the justness or the fairness of discipline imposed on a employee by his employer. Neither is it a means for an employee to challenge what it views as the poor management of an enterprise.
7Despite the over abundance of paper filed with this application, the Board is unable to determine whether the applicant actually has a complaint against his union.
8Accordingly, this application is dismissed.
9This dismissal, however, is without prejudice to the applicant's right to file a proper application.
10If he does in fact have a complaint against his union under section 74, he will wish to set out in concise and coherent terms what exactly it is he alleges the union has or has not done which is unlawful. Section 74 of the Act provides:
- A trade union or council of trade unions, so long as it continues to be entitled to represent employees in a bargaining unit, shall not act in a manner that is arbitrary, discriminatory or in bad faith in the representation of any of the employees in the unit, whether or not members of the trade union or of any constituent union of the council of trade unions, as the case may be.
11If the applicant does file a fresh application, he must clearly identify which conduct of the union is alleged to have violated the section. He must also set out quite clearly what relief he seeks against the responding party, i.e. the union not the employer. He will not advance his case by burdening the Board with a large volume of documents which may only serve to demonstrate the accuracy of his opening nine words.
12This application is dismissed.
"Bram Herlich"
for the Board