Canadian construction company Aecon broke the law when it fired a worker who was trying to get others to join a new union, the Manitoba Labour Board found.Aecon Construction Solutions committed unfair labour practices by dismissing an employee trying to get the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America (UBCJA) Local 1999 certified to represent workers at two Winnipeg sites, a decision from September says.The province awarded the company a contract to build roundabouts and overpasses at St. Mary’s Road and the Perimeter Highway in 2022. Aecon is also part of a joint venture making upgrades to the city’s North End sewage treatment plant.Aecon Group said in a statement the incident happened during what’s often called a union “raid.””The individuals involved are no longer employed with Aecon and we remain committed to working with our union partners,” the statement said.The labour board’s ruling, dated Sept. 9, said that last year, Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) Local 152 became aware a shop steward — identified in the decision as “T.V.” — was recruiting for UBCJA. He was removed from the shop steward role on March 21, 2024.Witnesses said the following morning, T.V. was talking about being removed as steward, and about the advantages of joining UBCJA, at the St. Mary’s Road project when a foreman interrupted him and told him to sit down.”The unchallenged evidence is that very shortly after that … he was escorted off the premises,” the decision says. The construction manager “directed the termination of T.V.,” it says.Foreman said employees would be ‘blacklisted’: rulingA tradesman who testified he had also been working for UBCJA to gain employees’ support said during coffee break that day, the site’s superintendent/general foreman told crews T.V. was fired because he was being “disruptive.””We can’t have that shit here,” the general foreman said, according to the tradesman’s testimony.The foreman who had interrupted T.V. then said that if employees showed support for the union, they “would get blacklisted with Aecon, and Aecon is a big company,” he testified.The foreman also said that if the new union came in, “all travel cards will be sent home,” according to the UBCJA organizer. Many of the projects’ employees had travelled from the East Coast, the decision said. The organizer said that after T.V. was fired, employees were no longer open to talking about union matters.Another witness who said he’d been organizing for UBCJA in the North End site said he felt there was a change in the campaign after the firing.”He said he felt like the guys wanted to talk, but could not,” according to the decision.Targeted union ‘notorious’: labour profCBC News reached out to UBCJA, but did not hear back.CLAC said in a statement another union began an attempt to displace them in 2023, but did not secure enough support.”In the same workplace, CLAC filed a number of grievances on behalf of workers in relation to their ongoing employment relationship. Each of these matters has since been resolved,” the statement said.David Camfield, a professor of labour studies at the University of Manitoba, said CLAC is “notorious” among unions for being compliant with employers instead of fighting for workers rights.”They have a reputation for kind of signing what you could call ‘sweetheart deals’ with employers,” Camfield said. “I think it’s an accurate perception that it’s a very employer-friendly organization,” he said, citing as an example Nova Scotia’s labour board denying the union certification because it didn’t meet the definition of a trade union.David Camfield, University of Manitoba labour studies professor, said CLAC has a reputation in union circles as being employer-friendly. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)Last month, federal NDP leadership candidate Heather McPherson specifically pointed to CLAC when she announced a private member’s bill to crack down on “company unions.”Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour, said he agrees with that approach.Rebeck said that while UBCJA has been in and out of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), he’s never heard of CLAC being part of a mainstream union group.”Members of the CLC are pretty clear that we have processes in place that make us accountable to our membership,” he said. “I’d love to see that further enforced — and I’d also love to see when employers break the law, that the consequences have to be more in line with true deterrence.”$2K in fines ‘not enough’: federationAccording to the Manitoba Labour Board’s decision, Aecon’s labour relations manager testified she’d told the construction manager not to fire T.V., but he disregarded the advice.The labour board ordered Aecon to pay $1,000 to T.V. and $1,000 to UBCJA. However, the board didn’t agree to UBCJA’s request to be granted discretionary certification, which allows the labour board to certify a union without a vote, in the case of unfair labour practices.”Discretionary certification is a remedy the board issues only in the rare situation where the true wishes of employees are not likely to be ascertained, and where the union has evidence of membership support,” the board’s decision said.Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck says the fines aren’t enough to deter employers who take similar actions. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)UBCJA had filed an application for certification in April 2024, seeking to displace CLAC as the bargaining agent for some Aecon employees. A vote was held later that month, but the contested ballots and the ballot box were sealed “pending further determinations,” including whether UBCJA had the support of the required 45 per cent or more of the employees in the unit, the decision said.However, the board said it was not satisfied that threshold was met. It determined the ballots will remain uncounted, and dismissed UBCJA’s application for certification.”Workers were intimidated and saw their colleagues fired. So, yeah, they’re not signing cards anymore,” Rebeck said. “That’s not a surprise. But that … seems wrong, and seems like the penalty of just saying, ‘Pay 2,000 bucks and let’s forget this happened’ is not enough. “CLAC said it remains dedicated to advocating for workers’ rights and ensuring fair labour practices.
Construction company broke law by firing employee who pushed for new union at Winnipeg site: labour board
