Russell Sheppard and other VR Furniture Employees v. United Steelworkers of America (Local 4970)
File No.: 2656-01-R Date: December 27, 2001
Applicant: Russell Sheppard and other VR Furniture Employees Responding Party: United Steelworkers of America (Local 4970) Intervenor: VR Furniture Inc.
Before: Christopher J. Albertyn, Vice-Chair and Board Members J. A. Rundle and R. R. Montague.
DECISION OF THE BOARD
This is an application to terminate bargaining rights under section 63(2) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995, S.O. 1995, c. 1, as amended ("the Act").
The Board issued a decision on December 20, 2001 inviting submissions on the responding union’s timeliness objection to the application. The intervening employer has filed a submission in response.
The Board will not now determine the union’s timeliness objection. It will be dealt with by the panel of the Board hearing this matter in due course.
This application was filed on December 17, 2001. The employees who are affected by this application are covered by a collective agreement between the responding party and VR Furniture Inc., with an effective date of March 1, 2001, until February 28, 2002. The bargaining unit description in that collective agreement is as follows:
all employees of VR Furniture Inc. working in the City of Brampton, save and except supervisors, persons above the rank of supervisor, office, technical and sales staff.
It appears to the Board on an examination of the evidence before it, that not less than forty per cent of the employees in the bargaining unit had expressed a wish not to be represented by the trade union at the time the application was filed.
The Board directs that a representation vote be taken of the employees of VR Furniture Inc. employed in the bargaining unit described in paragraph 2 above. All those employed in that bargaining unit on December 17, 2001, the application filing date, will be eligible to vote.
The vote will be held on January 2, 2001. Other vote arrangements will be as determined by the Registrar and set out on the attached Notice of Vote and of Hearing.
Voters will be asked to indicate whether or not they wish to be represented by the responding party in their employment relations with VR Furniture Inc.
The ballot box will be sealed and the votes not counted until the Board determines the union’s timeliness objection, or unless the parties agree otherwise.
The employer is directed to post copies of this decision and of the "Notice of Vote and of Hearing" adjacent to all copies of the "Notice to Employees of Application for Termination of Bargaining Rights" posted previously. These copies must remain posted for 30 days.
Any party or person who wishes to make representations to the Board about any issue remaining in dispute which relates to the application for termination of bargaining rights, other than status disputes, must file a detailed statement of representations with the Board and deliver it to the other parties, so that it is received by the Board within five days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays on which the Board is closed) of the date on which the vote is taken. Representations with respect to any status dispute must be made in accordance with the directions provided in Information Bulletin No. 5: Status Disputes in Termination Applications (Non-Construction).
The matter is referred to the Registrar.
“Christopher J. Albertyn”
for the Board