Ontario Labour Relations Board
File No.: 0283-01-R Date: April 27, 2001
Between: Allied Construction Employees, Local 1030, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Applicant v. Chesterform Ltd., Responding Party v. The Formwork Council of Ontario, Intervenor.
Before: Mary Ellen Cummings, Alternate Chair, and Board Members J. G. Knight and G. McMenemy.
Decision of the Board
1This is an application for certification filed under the construction industry provisions of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the "Act").
2The Board finds that the applicant is a trade union within the meaning of sections 1(1) and 126 of the Act.
3The responding party, although duly served with the application material on April 24, 2001, according to the certificate of delivery filed by the applicant, failed to file its response with the Board within the time stipulated by Rule 135 of the Board's Rules of Procedure.
4It appears to the Board on an examination of only the information provided in the application and the information and membership evidence filed by the applicant (see section 8(3) of the Act), that not less than forty per cent of the individuals in the bargaining unit proposed in the application for certification were members of the union at the time the application was made.
5The Board further finds that this application does not relate to the industrial, commercial and institutional sector of the construction industry referred to in section 126 of the Act.
6An intervention has been filed by The Formwork Council of Ontario. It submits that it has a collective agreement with the responding party, and that the bargaining unit the applicant applied for includes employees for whom the intervenor holds bargaining rights. The intervenor submits that the Board ought not to order a vote. The Board will order a representation vote and direct a segregation of ballots of employees who were performing work the intervenor asserts is subject to its bargaining rights.
7The Board directs that a representation vote be taken of the employees in the following voting constituency:
all construction employees of the Responding Party, save and except non-working foremen and persons above the rank of non-working foremen, in all sectors of the construction industry excluding the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional sector, in the Province of Ontario.
If any of the employees who seek to cast a ballot was engaged in concrete forming construction on the application date, those ballots shall be segregated. The segregated ballots will not be counted until the parties so agree or the Board otherwise directs. The Board is not ordering the sealing of the ballot box.
8The vote will be held on May 1, 2001. Vote arrangements are set out on the attached "Notice of Vote and of Meeting".
9The responding party is directed to post copies of the application for certification, the "Notice to Employees of Application for Certification", this decision and the "Notice of Vote and of Meeting" in a location or locations where they are most likely to come to the attention of those individuals who are eligible to vote. These copies must remain posted for 30 days.
10All individuals who were employed by Chesterform Ltd. and at work in the voting constituency on April 24, 2001 are eligible to vote.
11Voters will be asked to indicate whether or not they wish to be represented by the applicant in their employment relations with the responding party.
12Any party or person who wishes to make representations to the Board about any issue relating to the application for certification which remains in dispute, other than status disputes, must file a detailed statement of representations and all material facts upon which they rely with the Board and deliver it to the other parties, so that it is received 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. 9: Status Disputes in Certification Applications in the Construction Industry.
13This matter is referred to the Registrar.
"Mary Ellen Cummings" for the Board