National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers’ Union of Canada (CAW-Canada) v. Nordic Gaming Corporation, 2000 CanLII 4825

National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers’ Union of Canada (CAW-Canada) v. Nordic Gaming Corporation

3734-99-R National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers’ Union of Canada (CAW-Canada), Applicant v. Nordic Gaming Corporation, Responding Party v. Service Employees International Union, Local 528, Intervenor.

BEFORE: Patrick Kelly, Vice-Chair, and Board Members J. A. Ronson and H. Peacock.

DECISION OF THE BOARD; March 30, 2000

1This is a displacement application for certification.

2By decision dated March 21, 2000, the Board directed the parties to file submissions concerning the timeliness issue raised by the intervenor in its intervention. The intervenor did so, the other parties did not.

3The intervenor contends that the application is untimely pursuant to the collective agreement and section 7(6) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“the Act”). The intervenor states that there is a collective agreement between it and the responding party, with a nominal expiry date of December 31, 1999. Article 35 of the collective agreement (a copy of which was filed by the responding party) states:

This Agreement shall be in force until the 31^st day of December, 1999 and shall continue in force from year to year thereafter unless not more than ninety (90) days and not less than sixty (60) days before the date of termination, either party shall furnish the other with notice of termination or of proposed revision to this Agreement.

4The intervenor submits that neither it nor the responding party provided the other with written notice “of termination or of proposed revision” of the collective agreement that otherwise would have expired on December 31, 1999. Consequently, the intervenor argues, section 7(6) of the Act applies to bar the application for certification at this time. The relevant portions of section 7 are as follows:

7. (4) Where a collective agreement is for a term of not more than three years, a trade union may apply to the Board for certification as bargaining agent of any of the employees in the bargaining unit defined in the agreement only after the commencement of the last two months of its operation.

(6) Where a collective agreement referred to in subsection (4) or (5) provides that it will continue to operate for a further term or successive terms if either party fails to give to the other notice of termination or of its desire to bargain with a view to the renewal, with or without modifications, of the agreement or to the making of a new agreement, a trade union may apply to the Board for certification as bargaining agent of any of the employees in the bargaining unit defined in the agreement during the further term or successive terms only during the last two months of each year that it so continues to operate, or after the commencement of the last two months of its operation, as the case may be.

5Having regard to the submissions of the intervenor, and in light of the absence of any submissions to the contrary by the responding party and applicant, the Board determines that the effect of article 35 of the collective agreement is that the collective agreement was continued beyond the nominal expiry date of December 31, 1999, and as the application for certification was filed on March 16, 2000, it is an untimely application pursuant to section 7(6) of the Act.

6The application is dismissed.

“Patrick Kelly”

for the Board