ALRB issues union certification for 6 employers

The Alberta Labour Relations Board publishes a list of all the certificates they’ve issued for unionized workplaces in the province.

They update it every month, with the latest update being 2 December 2024.

I thought I’d report on the certificates that the ALRB awarded in November 2024.

Technically, they awarded 11 certificates, but several of them are for the same workplace and the same union. Some unions apply for several certificates to capture as many versions of the positions as possible.

Last month, the ALRB awarded certificates to 8 unions who were employed with just 6 employers.

The first certificate that the ALRB issued was for workers employed by Carewest, the largest public care provider in Calgary and one of the largest in Canada.

This certificate specifically covers those working in direct nursing care or nursing instruction at the company’s George Boyack location in northeast Calgary.

These workers will be represented by the United Nurses of Alberta, who received the certificate on 5 November 2024.

The UNA represents registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses at the company’s Colonel Belcher, Rouleau Manor, Signal Pointe, Sarcee, Beddington, Glenmore Park, and Dr. Vernon Fanning locations.

Workers at Carewest’s Garrison Green location recently voted in favour of unionizing with UNA as well; however, their certificate must have been awarded after 2 December 2024.

The second certificate the ALRB issued was for workers employed at the public library in Spruce Grove.

These workers applied for union certification back in May, but it took several months to get their application approved because the board of directors of the Spruce Grove Public Library tried to interfere in the process by claiming not everyone included in the application counted as employees.

Luckily, the ALRB eventually sided with the workers and approved the application. A majority of the two dozen or so workers employed by the public library voted in favour of unionizing, and the ALRB issued their certificate on 7 November 2024.

These workers will be represented by Local 30 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, making them the 11th group of library workers to be represented by CUPE.

6 days later, on the 13th, the ALRB issued 5 certificates for Stuart Olson Industrial Maintenance Inc. The workers covered by these certificates are represented by 3 unions.

Local 2103 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America will be representing all general construction carpenters in Zone 14.

Local 1325 of the same union got 2 certificates: one for “all maintenance carpenters” and one for “general construction carpenters” in one 9.

Finally, Local 8 of the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association was also awarded 2 certificates: one for general construction sheet metal workers and one for non-construction sheet metal workers.

These 3 unions aren’t actually unionizing a new worksite. These are new certificates to account for the fact that there has been a change in employer.

Back in July, the original employer—Fuller Austin Insulation Inc.—applied to the ALRB for a certificate amendment because they were changing their name to Stuart Olson Industrial Maintenance Inc.

Interestingly, the application named another union—Local 110 of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers—but they weren’t included in last month’s issued certificates.

Next up was Local 4050 of Unifor, which applied for certification on behalf of workers employed by GFL Environmental, a Toronto-based wast management company.

This certificate is specifically for all those workers employed by GFL in Fort McMurray, except those in the office or in sales.

These workers were already unionized, but it was a voluntary recognition. This certification makes their representation official with the labour relations board.

Both parties actually recently ratified a new 3-year collective agreement, which doesn’t expire until October 2027.

The fifth workplace to receive a union certificate was Cessco Fabrication & Engineering Ltd. The certificate will apply to all workers at Cessco’s fabrication shop in Edmonton, except those in office, clerical, quality control, security, construction, or maintenance positions.

Local 1999 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America is the union named in the certificate, which was issued on 26 November 2024.

This certificate is interesting for a couple of reasons.

First, Cessco locked out its workers back in the summer 2020 after negotiations on a new collective agreement broke down. The two parties had been in bargaining for over two and a half years, but the lockout began shortly after the workers rejected an offer that would’ve meant reduced wages, smaller pension contributions, and whittled-down seniority.

They kept them locked out for over two years.

The Alberta Labour Code specifies that lockouts can’t occur beyond two years, and when this lockout expired, the employer hired workers not represented by the original union—Local 146 of the Boilermakers.

The second reason this certification is interesting is that Carpenters Local 1999 has been accused of undermining the organizing efforts of other trade unions.

Last year, the Canadian Office of the North America’s Building Trades Unions—otherwise known as Canada’s Building Trades Unions—claimed that Local 1999 puts forward “sub-standard agreements” that “may cause irreparable damage to our unions”, including lower wages and worse pensions and benefit plans.

It’ll be interesting to see how a company that refuses to negotiate a new collective agreement for 4.5 years works with a union accused of undermining class solidarity.

The final certificate issued last month—onthe 28th—was awarded to all workers employed by Harvest Operations Corp. at their BlackGold bitumen mining site. It doesn’t cover office or clerical workers, however.

Based out of Calgary, Harvest Operations is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Korea National Oil Corporation. Their BlackGold site is located near Conklin, Alberta, and is a steam-assisted gravity drainage operation.

The workers will be represented by Local 707-A of Unifor.