- May 25, 2021
- Collective Agreement Interpretation
This case involves three grievances filed by the Union in respect of remuneration received by its members for work performed on a load out following a performance call. The Union asserted that Article 7.01 of the collective agreement between the parties requires a four hour minimum payment for that work. The Employer argued that the employees were only entitled to be paid their hourly rate for the hours they actually worked.
Article 7.01 states:
The commencement time for calls can be staggered in accordance with NYPACC’s operational needs. The commencement time for a stage employees call is specific to each stage employee and shall continue until NYPACC no longer requires that stage employee’s services or until the stage employee has had an unpaid break in excess of three (3) hours. Four (4) hours shall constitute the minimum call.”
After considering the language of the Agreement, the Arbitrator allowed the grievance and held that Article 7 of the Collective Agreement when read as a whole provides that a performance call ends when the employee’s services are not needed for the purposes of the initial call. When employees are assigned further work (such as a load out), this amounts to a new call (distinct from a performance call) which attracts the four hour minimum.
In the result, the Arbitrator held that “the affected employees are entitled to be paid at the appropriate rate for a least four hours for any time worked on the load outs in question regardless of how long the call lasted.”