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Unions charge bias at BC Labour Relations board

A group of B.C. construction unions have gone to court asking for a declaration that the BC Labour Relations Board and two of its key officers are biased against the interests of the five unions bringing the petition. The unions making the complaint are Ironworkers local 97, Plasterers and Cement Masons local 919, Operating Engineers local 115, Construction and Specialized Workers local 1611, and Teamsters local 213.

The call for judicial review stems from a long simmering dispute between the petitioning unions and the PCL family of companies, Canada’s largest general contractor, in which the unions are trying to block efforts by PCL to restructure its member firms in a way that would, the unions say, breach existing collective agreements. Also named as respondents in the action are the Christian Labour Association of Canada local 68 and Carpenters local 2404.

In a document filed with the Supreme Court of BC on February 22, the five construction unions, all affiliated with the BC Building Trades Council, asked for independent review of several matters decided by the Board in the past and for a declaration that Board Chair Brent Mullin and Michael Fleming, associate chair, are both biased, or could be viewed as biased, against the interests of the petitioning unions. The document also asks the court to declare that the LRB itself is or could be viewed to be biased against their interests.

BC Building Trades Council Executive Director Tom Sigurdson said in a release from the Council that union lawyers have submitted a sworn affidavit stating that Fleming told them he had to make a ruling that met the approval not only of Mullin but also of Peter Gall, the lawyer for the employer in the case, PCL Constructors and related companies.

“This is a shocking case where a quasi-judicial body that is supposed to be independent has instead shown that its top officials appear to take direct orders from one side - the employer – and demonstrates bias against the other side – workers and their unions,” Sigurdson says.

“This violates the fundamental principles of fairness and natural justice – we believe that the BC Supreme Court will rule that the Labour Relations Board and its officials must be removed from adjudicating this important case,” he says.

On February 28, Trish Martini, a special investigating officer at the Labour Relations Board told The Tyee that because the matter was under judicial review, the Board would not be able to comment.

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