In a decision on remedy issued on October 13, 2005, the Labour Relations Board ordered RMH Teleservices to take several measures to allow a union to complete an organizing drive at the employer’s workplace, including providing the union access to its parking lot for three months for the purpose of the union’s certification campaign.
The recent decision follows an earlier LRB reconsideration decision (July 8, 2005), which concluded the employer had committed unfair labour practices by forcing employees to watch an anti-union slide show and by distributing gifts bearing anti-union messages. The reconsideration panel remitted the question of remedy back to the original panel for determination. (See the “Legal News” entry of July 11 2005, for a summary of the earlier decision.)
In its October 13, 2005 remedy decision the Board noted that the employer’s contraventions deprived the union of the opportunity to complete the organizing drive free from unlawful interference, coercion and intimidation. Similarly, employees were denied their right to freely decide about union representation. To remedy those effects, the Board ordered that the employer:
- compensate the union for the duration of the contraventions;
- allow the union to organize on the employer’s parking lot for three months;
- pay for one mail-out of union organizing material;
- provide a representative of the Board access to its personnel and payroll records to allow for an employee list to be prepared and provided to the union;
- cease and desist contravening the Labour Relations Code; and
- post a prepared summary of the decision regarding remedies at the workplace.
The Board refused to grant the union’s requests for automatic certification or a representation vote. In reaching this decision, the Board determined these remedies were inappropriate as there was no evidence that without the contraventions the union would have had the requisite support for certification or a representation vote.