- May 25, 2021
- Certifications/Decertifications
Application for certification. The local was certified for “All Stagehands employed by the Employer at The Pantages Playhouse Theatre in the Province of Manitoba, excluding those employees excluded by the Labour Relations Act”. The Theatre had initially disputed that it was the Employer of the proposed bargaining unit (arguing that renters of the facility were the Employer) but dropped this argument at the beginning of the hearing. The Board’s decision dealt instead with the applicability of Rule 28 of the Manitoba Labour Board Rules of Procedure. (The constitutionality of Rule 28 was also raised by the local but it was agreed that the constitutional issue would be deferred pending a determination of the applicability issue.) Rule 28 provides for the determination of membership support as a percentage of “all those employees who, on the date of filing of the application, are in the employment of the employer and within the unit…” and includes special criteria for dealing with part-time and regular or full-time employees. The local was successful in arguing that the three stagehands who were present on the date of application were full-time employees and that, accordingly, Rule 28 did not apply. The Board declined to comment on the local’s alternative argument that Rule 28 should not apply to the theatrical or live performance industry given its similarity to the construction industry; i.e., to apply a date of application rule similar to the one used in Ontario.