Over 3 years ago, back in March 2023, I wrote an article about maintenance workers in Bonnyville who were trying to unionize.
These half dozen maintenance workers are employed with Avenue Living Communities, a large corporation based out of Calgary, that owns and manages rental properties throughout the Prairie provinces.
Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers filed an application for union certification with the Alberta Labour Relations Board on behalf of these workers.
The ALRB approved the application, the workers voted in favour of certification, and the board certified these workers as a bargaining unit on 3 April 2023.
That is the good news.
The bad news is that, 3 years later, they still do not have their first collective agreement, and least not according to the collective bargaining agreement database maintained by Alberta Mediation Services.
In their latest new applications report, the ALRB indicated that Local 401 has submitted another application on behalf of these workers. However, this time, it is not an application for certification; it is an application for unionbusting.
According to the application summary, Local 401 has accused Avenue Living of several violations of Alberta’s Labour Relations Code.
For example, they claim that even though the workers’ bargaining team has served a notice to bargain, Avenue Living altered “the rights or privileges” of the workers, which is against section 147.3 of the Code.
If a notice to commence collective bargaining has been served, no employer affected by the notice shall, except
- in accordance with an established custom or practice of the employer,
- with the consent of the bargaining agent, or
- in accordance with a collective agreement in effect with respect to the bargaining agent,
alter the rates of pay, a term or condition of employment, or a right or privilege of any employee represented by the bargaining agent or of the bargaining agent itself until the right of the bargaining agent to represent the employees is terminated or a strike or lockout commences.
Labour Relations Code, 147.3
They also accused Avenue Living of discriminating against workers because they were members of the union, to the point that they laid them off, or as the summary put it: “refused to continue to employ” them.
Local 401 claims this contravenes section 149.1.a.i of the Code.
No employer or employers’ organization and no person acting on behalf of an employer or employers’ organization shall refuse to employ or to continue to employ any person or discriminate against any person in regard to employment or any term or condition of employment because the person is a member of a trade union or an applicant for membership in a trade union
Labour Relations Code, 149.1.a.i
Further to that, they accused Avenue Living of intimidating their unionized workers, dismissing at least one of them, and imposing a “pecuniary penalty”, all in an effort to “compel” workers to either refrain from joining the union or to leave the union.
If true, this is a breach of section 149.1.c of the Code:
No employer or employers’ organization and no person acting on behalf of an employer or employers’ organization shall seek by intimidation, dismissal, threat of dismissal or any other kind of threat, by the imposition of a pecuniary or other penalty or by any other means, to compel an employee to refrain from becoming or to cease to be a member, officer or representative of a trade union
Labour Relations Code, 149.1.c
Because the ALRB does not archive their new applications reports, I have included a copy of this week’s report below for your convenience.
