0048-01-R Canadian Union of Public Employees, Applicant v. Ryerson Polytechnic University, Responding Party.
BEFORE: Anthony Brown, Vice-Chair.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; April 19, 2001
1. On April 9, 2001 the Board ordered that a representation vote in respect of this application take place on April 11, 2001. Prior to the vote taking place, the applicant advised the Board, by letter dated April 10, 2001, that it wished to withdraw its application. The Registrar therefore advised the parties that the vote would not be held.
2. By letter dated April 10, 2001, the responding party made submissions as to whether or not there should be a period following the date of application in which the applicant would be barred from reapplying for certification in respect of the affected employees. Having read those submissions, the Board is not convinced that it should exercise its discretion to impose a bar. It appears that the applicant became aware of the size of the proposed bargaining unit after the responding party gave notice under section 8.1 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the “Act”). That is a cardinal purpose of section 8.1, i.e. to give notice to the applicant about the number of persons in its proposed bargaining unit. The Board must be vigilant about the unnecessary use of its resources in ordering and arranging votes, only to have them suddenly cancelled. However, in this application, there is no evidence of a deliberate attempt by the applicant to abuse the Board’s process.
3. The application is withdrawn with leave of the Board, without a bar against a further application (subject to any relevant mandatory bar provisions in the Act, as amended).
“Anthony Brown”
for the Board