The Alberta Court of Appeal overturned a Labour Relations Board (LRB) decision which allowed Finning International to use a new company and bargaining unit for part of its operations in Canada.
Legal
The Alberta Court of Appeal overturned a Labour Relations Board (LRB) decision which allowed Finning International to use a new company and bargaining unit for part of its operations in Canada.
“We figure it’s great. It’s great for all unions in Alberta and throughout Canada. This is a big step in the right direction,” said Leonard Loza, vice president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW).
The unanimous decision by Justices Carole Conrad, Keith Ritter and June Ross, leaves the IAMAW free to pursue remedies for its members.
“We’ll have to go back to the LRB and argue the remedy. The original remedy was not complete and was overturned before completion, which kind of killed it,” Loza said.
“Our goal is, we should be the union in that place,”
Finning decided to construct a new Component Rebuild Centre (CRC) in 2001 and restructure operations through a complex series of transactions in 2003-2004.
The restructuring included an investment of $87 million for a new plant and an agreement to contract out the work carried out by Finning Canada at the CRC.
O.E.M. Remanufacturing Company Inc. was created during the amalgamation of three related companies on Jan.1, 2004.
In the transfer, OEM evaded the existing contract with the IAMAW and signed a contract with the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC).
David Prentice, CLAC regional director said that his association still has a role to play in the matter.
“We are still certified with the LRB for this unit. We are still the bargaining agent. I don’t know what OEM will do. What they do is their business,” he said. “We had negotiations and have good support. We want to see how things play out, because there are so many things at play.”
The court case is of interest to those in the construction industry, but it won’t have much of an impact.
“This is a construction issue in so much as they use heavy machinery and equipment. However, it does not directly affect us, because the court decision involved the International Association of Machinists and we are building trades,” said Richard Wassill, chairman of the board of the Alberta Building Trades Council.
“Labour in general is ecstatic and think an injustice was corrected.”
The original LRB decision ruled OEM was a successor to Finning and the two companies were a common employer.
This should have meant the IAMAW would keep its status as the official bargaining agent and the workers were protected by the existing collective agreement.
However, two months later, the LRB reconsidered the decision at the request of Finning. In that reconsideration, a five-person super panel consisting of the LRB chair Mark Asbell, two vice-chairs and two board members overturned the original ruling.
The IAMAW then appealed this decision to the courts.
The decision by the Court of Appeal criticizes the LRB for substituting its opinion for the factual findings of the original panel.
The Court of Appeal found that the panel deviated from well-established successorship principles, which were clearly evident in the LRB’s own rulings and in court decisions.
It ruled the decision was “patently unreasonable” and ordered the original decision re-instated.
Patently unreasonable is a legal term indicating that the decision was irrational or absurd.
Finning is the authorized dealer for Caterpillar equipment in Alberta, B.C., Yukon and part of the Northwest Territories.
Finning Canada, an unincorporated division of Finning, repaired and overhauled Caterpillar heavy equipment components that originated from operations at the CRC.
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