- May 26, 2021
- Certifications/Decertifications
This is a subsequent decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board (the “Board”). In an earlier decision dated September 15, 2017 the Board found that the Union’s proposed site specific bargaining unit of all house crew audio/visual technicians and house crew riggers regularly employed at the Sheraton Centre hotel in Toronto was appropriate. In a subsequent decision dated January 8, 2018 the Board directed the parties to provide additional information on the hours worked by employees in dispute at the Sheraton Centre in the six month period before the application was filed.
The Union submitted a chart showing 7 employees working more than 65% of their hours at the Sheraton Centre, 7 employees worked between 35 and 65% of their hours at the Sheraton Centre and 57 employees worked less than 35% of their hours at the Sheraton Centre. The Employer agreed with that information, but nonetheless maintained the position that the proper test should be an ongoing employment relationship with the employer and the number of hours should be irrelevant. The Board rejected this argument on the basis that it does not account for the language from the bargaining unit description which uses the phrase “regularly employed”. The largest group is the one composed of those who worked less than 35% of the time at the Sheraton Centre and the Board directed the parties to deal with that group first and file submissions as to why those individuals should be included in the bargaining unit. The Board further directed the parties to select representative witnesses.