- May 26, 2021
- Certifications/Decertifications
In a decision dated January 16, 2017, the New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board (the “Board”) dismissed an Application for Certification filed by IATSE Local 680 (the “Union”) against the Imperial Theatre Inc. (the “Employer”) on the basis that the membership evidence they had filed did not meet the stringent tests for sufficient of membership documents. On the same day, the Union filed an application for certification respecting the same bargaining unit.
The Employer objected to the Application for Certification. It requested that the Board reconsider its decision of January 16, 2017 and vary it by adding language that would bar the Union from filing an application for certification for a period not exceeding 10 months from the date of dismissal of the unsuccessful Application.
The Board dismissed the Employer’s request for a time bar against the Union. The New Brunswick Industrial Relations Act gives the Board the power to bar parties who have filed unsuccessful applications for certification from re-filing for a period not exceeding ten months. However, the Employer did not raise the issue of a time bar during the hearing of the previous Application; rather, it waited until the Union filed the present Application to raise the issue. The Board noted that the purpose of the time bar was to provide a “cooling off period” and examined the extent of the disruptions in the workplace following the original or subsequent applications for certification. The only argument put forward by the Employer was an assertion that they had been subjected to a statutory freeze since September 2016. The Board concluded that there was nothing before it that could lead it to conclude that there was a disruption in the workplace requiring a “cooling off period.” As such, the Board dismissed the Employer’s Request for Reconsideration and ordered that dates be set scheduled to deal with the merits of the Application.