Earlier this week, the Alberta Labour Relations Board published their latest new applications report for December 2025. In it was an application for union certification.
The Construction Workers Union, also known as Local 63 of the Christian Labour Association of Canada, filed the application on 16 December 2025.
CLAC submitted their application to be the union for the 8 arena operators employed by the Northern Alberta Athletic Association.
The problem is that these workers are already represented by Local 92 of the Construction and General Workers’ Union , also known as the Laborers’ International Union of North America or just LIUNA for short.
CLAC does not have a positive reputation among the broader labour movement, which accuses them of masquerading as a labour union while using employer accommodationist strategies that undermine other unions.
In fact, in 2018, CLAC teamed up with the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, an employer lobby group, and an open shop industry association to sue the BC government for favouring building trades unions in public infrastructure projects.
You cannot get more pro-employer than that.
LIUNA 92 has represented these workers since 29 August 2022, when the ALRB awarded them the certificate a month after they had applied for it.
Of note, the most recent collective agreement for these workers expires next month, so it may not be a coincidence that CLAC applied for this certification when they did.
For an organization to apply for certification, they have to demonstrate that they have support among 40% of the workers who would be covered under this bargaining. In this case, that would be 4 workers.
The ALRB has scheduled a hearing for 9 January 2026 regarding this application. During that hearing, the Northern Alberta Athletic Association can present arguments, if they have any (and that is a big if), as to why these workers should not become members of CLAC.
At this hearing, CLAC will argue why they think they should be the ones to represent these workers.
