Earlier this week, the Alberta Labour Relations Board released another new applications report for April 2024. In it was an application for union certification.
Local 4050 of Unifor filed the application on 11 April 2024 for all the workers employed at the Edmonton facility of Autoport Inc.
Based in the US state of Delaware, Autoport offers vehicle port processing, vehicle upfitting/modifying, and terminal services.
The Edmonton facility is actually located near the CN Rail Cloverbar yard, and the workers there process vehicles coming off trains.
Unifor is attempting to organize on behalf of around 20 workers. They already represent workers at the company’s Halifax location, which went on strike earlier this year. That strike led to a contract settlement at the beginning of April, despite the company’s use of strikebreaking tactics and scab labour.
The ALRB has scheduled a hearing for tomorrow, during which time, Autoport will have a chance to argue why they think their Edmonton workers shouldn’t unionize with Unifor.
If the ALRB approves the union certification, they will organize a vote, during which time, the workers will have choose whether to join the union.
The next step after certification, assuming it passes, will be for the workers to choose a bargaining team and begin negotiating for their first contract.
Because the ALRB doesn’t archive their new application reports, I’ve included a copy of this report below. This particular application is listed on page 15.
One reply on “Edmonton vehicle workers try to unionize”
What kind of reasoning could an employer make to the Labor Board that would have the Board deny union representation for the employees?