CIRB Rejects Union Application for BC Grain Terminal Company to be Declared Single Employer

The Canada Industrial Relations Board has rejected an application by a union to have a BC grain terminal company declared a single employer with an employers’ organization. Prince Rupert Grain had withdrawn from membership in the BC Terminal Elevator Operators’ Association and given notice to the Grain Workers Union Local 333 to engage in collective bargaining separately from the five remaining members of the Association. The Association had negotiated for all six grain terminals in BC for decades and was designated as the employer for all but Prince Rupert Grain under section 33 of the Canada Labour Code. The union applied to have Prince Rupert Grain declared a single employer with the Association in order to prevent it from leaving industry bargaining. The Board ruled that common control or direction must be between the “business” operated by each employer, and there was no common control or direction in that sense despite overlapping ownership among the members. It also rejected the application on the basis that there was no proper labour relations purpose.