- June 9, 2021
- Jurisdiction/Cases Involving Rival Unions
The British Columbia Council Of Film Unions (the “Council”) is comprised of IATSE, Local 891 (“Local 891”), Teamsters Local 155 (“Local 155”) and IATSE, Local 669 (“Local 669”).
The Council filed a grievance asserting that Warner Brothers Television (B.C.) Inc. (the “Employer”) had violated the Master Agreement between the Canadian Affiliates of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (“AMPTP”) and the Council. The grievance alleged the Employer had not remunerated employees for time spent travelling on a shuttle bus provided by the Employer between an employee parking lot and set locations in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve (“LSCR”), located in North Vancouver, B.C.
The entire LSCR is in the Vancouver Studio Zone. The Master Agreement dealt with travel time. Pursuant to Article 5, employees were not paid for time travelling to and from a set location in the Studio Zone, with several exceptions, including an exception at Article 5.05:
5.05 Parking
Whenever the Employer does not provide transportation and Employees use personal vehicles to transport themselves to any type of location, the Employer shall provide secure or supervised parking or reimburse each Employee for parking fees on the same day that the fees are incurred. Parking will be provided within a reasonable distance from the worksite.
The Council asserted that, despite the language in the Master Agreement, the circumstances in the LSCR were unique and such that time spent travelling on the shuttle was work time and should be paid accordingly. Specifically, private vehicles could not drive to the set locations and taking a shuttle bus controlled by the Employer was mandatory.
The arbitrator held that the Master Agreement did not obligate the Employer to pay employees for time spent on shuttles between the LSCR parking lot and LSCR set locations beyond the circumstances contemplated in Article 5.05 of the Master Agreement and that those trips were not properly characterized as work time. Accordingly, the grievance was denied.