A nice victory!

Request for Certification rejected at UAP in Québec City

Update: The secret ballot vote that the union agreed to, rather than face the employees’ constitutional challenge, was held on Friday, October 1st at UAP inc. in Charlesbourg. All employees who had the right to vote did cast their ballot. The results are as follows:

7 votes cast “For”, 7 votes cast “Against” and 1 spoiled ballot.

Accordingly, the CRT (Québec Labour Board), in an October 13th, 2010 decision, rejected the Request for Certification filed by the union (CAW) back in the Spring of 2010.

The CRT noted that the union had not obtained the absolute majority of votes required among the employees of the employer who had the right to vote and concluded that the Request for Certification had to be rejected.

By their actions, the employees who had the benefit of your assistance were able to make sure that democracy prevailed through an actual vote and that all the employees of UAP inc. in Charlesbourg who were targeted by the Request for Certification were respected and were allowed to exercise their freedom of expression and of association rather than being unionized on cards after a relatively secret union campaign.

We sincerely thank all those who financially and otherwise supported this cause. Without your assistance, this fight for democracy would not have ended as successfully as it did.

Background: A group of UAP employees in Quebec City are challenging the constitutionality of unionization by "card count" rather than secret ballot votes.

A majority of Canadians are protected by secret ballot votes from unionization of their workplace by the undemocratic card count method. But the Quebec Labour Code has never guaranteed its workers a private choice through secret ballot votes.

This infringes the Freedom of Expression and the Freedom of Association rights enshrined in the Canadian and in the Quebec Charter. Secret ballot votes guarantee awareness in the workplace so that the union, the employer and all employees can debate the pros and cons ahead of the actual vote on association.

The union in this case is the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW). They filed a Request for Certification at a UAP store in Charlesbourg, while proposing the following bargaining unit:

"All salaried employees, as per the provisions of the Labour Code, excluding: office employees, sales personnel on the road and other employees automatically excluded by law."

Some employees and others were totally caught off guard by the union since many of them were not consulted apparently until the union had a majority of cards signed for the specific portion of the workplace the CAW wanted to unionize. Certain employees were denied the right to express their opinion about the Request for Certification itself and regarding the composition of the bargaining unit until it was too late and the 'deed had been done'.

The date of the hearing has yet to be set but these employees have found a lawyer to challenge the Quebec scheme favored by unions.

This case involves the freedoms of expression and association of employees, fundamental freedoms which are the core of a democratic society. Your support and donations are greatly appreciated.

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