Union Certification Overturned in Saskatchewan

In a unionizing effort that stretches back to 2004, it would appear that Wal-Mart has once again attained the upper hand.

After four years of legal wrangling, Wal-Mart workers in Weyburn, Saskatchewan were finally granted union status last December. It had been four years since the United Food and Commercial Workers union originally filed an application to represent the Weyburn Wal-Mart workers based on the fact that more than half the store’s workers had signed union cards, but victory seemed within grasp. And that victory seem even closer in April, when an application Wal-Mart filed for reconsideration of union certification was dismissed by the Labour Relations Board of Saskatchewan.

Wal-Mart appealed, however, and now a Saskatchewan judge has pulled a Lucy, yanking the football away from Weyburn’s band of Charlie Browns.

A Saskatchewan judge has overturned the union certification of a Weyburn Wal-Mart store, saying workers should be allowed to vote on the matter...The law in 2004 was that if more than 50 per cent of employees signed cards, a secret ballot vote wasn’t required. However, after the Saskatchewan Party won the 2007 provincial election, defeating the NDP, the law changed — an employee vote is now mandatory before certification can be considered.

Where the Labour Relations Board had held that the applicable law was that in place at the time union status was filed for, this judge took the opposite route. He ruled that the amended law should have been the basis of the Labour Board’s decision when it ruled last year.

At the time, the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board held that the change passed in 2008 would not apply to the union certification which begun back in 2004.

“In the Board’s opinion, when the Union filed an application for certification together with sufficient evidence of majority support in accordance with state of the law at that time, they completed all procedures within their control to complete under the procedures in place,” the labour board said. “At that point in time, their reliance on the state of the law crystallized into a right, a tangible and particular legal right protected under the common law presumption against retrospectively.”

According to the article, UFCW has not yet decided whether to appeal the judge’s decision. If they did, they’d be asking the high court to rule on whether, in fact, the Union should be bound by the law at the time the certification process began, or the law as changed, which would render their previously valid union status inconsequential.

Sask. judge overturns Wal-Mart union certification [CBC News]

Sask. judge overturns Wal-Mart union certification
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
CBC News

A Saskatchewan judge has overturned the union certification of a Weyburn Wal-Mart store, saying workers should be allowed to vote on the matter.

It’s the latest twist in a battle between the retail giant and the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

The union applied for certification in 2004 after obtaining signed union cards from most of the employees in the proposed bargaining unit. The labour relations board approved certification in 2008.

The law in 2004 was that if more than 50 per cent of employees signed cards, a secret ballot vote wasn’t required.

However, after the Saskatchewan Party won the 2007 provincial election, defeating the NDP, the law changed — an employee vote is now mandatory before certification can be considered.

Justice Peter Foley ruled the amended Trade Union Act should have been the basis of the labour board’s decision when it ruled on the Wal-Mart case in 2008.

“The UFCW had no vested right to insist on a particular procedure involving membership cards being followed by the board,” Foley said in the 11-page decision which was made public Wednesday.

“The board erred in law in not giving effect to the enactment [of Bill 6] and proceeding under the repealed procedure. This error of law rendered the certification order void.”

Foley said he was sending the certification order back to the labour relations board so a vote can be ordered.

Neither Wal-Mart nor the union was immediately available for comment.

Gordon Button, a stockroom worker who has been employed at the Weyburn store for the past year and a half, was pleased about the decision.

Button, who thinks there’s no need for a union, said employees cheered Wednesday morning when they heard the news.

“This is what I and a few more of the people, we’ve been fighting for for a long time,” he said. “The people that the union had signed up are not here anymore ... and anybody that I’ve talked to and dealt with, don’t want ‘em.”

There is no word from the union on whether it will appeal. The United Food and Commercial Workers union is also trying to unionize Wal-Mart stores in North Battleford and Moose Jaw.

Posted by Corey Himrod on Thursday, June 25, 2009