- May 12, 2021
- Unfair Labour Practices
The local brought a complaint before the Board alleging that the employer had failed to sign a collective agreement which both parties had concluded and ratified. The employer refused to sign the collective agreement because the local had not followed the ratification process which it had promised to follow; in particular, the local had promised ratification would be by a discrete group of affected employees but when that group voted against the agreement the local held a further ratification vote by the entire membership of the local. In the absence of any promise regarding ratification, there was no requirement under the Labour Code for the agreement to be ratified; however, since the local had pledged to follow a certain ratification procedure (i.e., ratification by the affected employees) then it is incumbent on the local to follow through on its promise.