User:Efrancis08/sandbox/Royal Oak Mines v Canada (Labour Relations Board)

Royal Oak Mines v Canada (Labour Relations Board)

Royal Oak Mines v Canada, [1996] 1 SCR 369 is decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on the duty to bargain. The Court held that the refusal to include a clause in a collective agreement, that is a standard term included in other collective agreements throughout the industry, violates the duty to bargain in section 50(a)(ii) of the Canada Labour Code.

Background

Royal Oak Mines is a company based in Yellowknife. During the course of bargaining a new collective agreement, unionized employees rejected the employer's proposal. The violent strike that followed lasted for 18 months, and resulted in nine deaths. The parties attempted to reach an agreement during the strike. Royal Oak Mines was unwilling to accept a standard grievance arbitration clause related to the dismissal of 49 employees during the strike for picket line violence.

The Canada Labour Relations Board held that the employer violated its duty to bargain by refusing to negotiate with the union until an agreement was reached on the reinstatement and discipline of the employees who were accused of picket line violence.

Royal Oak Mines applied for judicial review of the Board's decision which was dismissed by the Federal Court of Appeal.

The employer then appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. By the time the case reached the Supreme Court of Canada, 44 of the 49 employees had been reinstated.

Issue

The issue to be resolved by the Court was whether Royal Oak Mines violated its duty to bargain by refusing to accept or negotiate the grievance arbitration clause in the collective agreement.

Reasons of the Court

Duty to Bargain

Justice Cory, also writing for Justice L'Heureux-Dubé and Justice Gonthier, held that there are two aspects of the duty to bargain under s 50(a) of the Canada Labour Code. Both parties must (1) bargain in good faith, and (2) make every reasonable effort to reach a collective agreement. The duty to bargain good faith is evaluated on a subjective standard. The duty to make every reasonable effort to reach a collective agreement is measured on an objective standard.

Objective Standard

Cory J. notes that the objective standard prevents a party from claiming that it intends to conclude a collective agreement, when compared to other collective agreements in the industry, the proposals put forward by the party are clearly unreasonable. Making a proposal or taking an inflexible position on an issue that the other party would never accept is a violation of the duty to bargain. To determine whether every reasonable effort has been made, the Board should look to whether other collective agreements in the industry have included the particular clause in question; in this case a grievance arbitration clause. If other parties have included a grievance arbitration clause in the collective agreement, then to exclude or reject such a clause is not reasonable.

Drawing an Inference

Cory J. went on to say that it can sometimes it be inferred from a party's actions that the party clearly does not intend to conclude a collective agreement, such as refusing to include standard terms in a collective agreement, or refusing to negotiate about such terms. In this case, the employer's refusal to accept or negotiate the standard grievance arbitration clause was sufficient to infer its lack of intention to reach a collective agreement. Therefore, the employer has violated of the duty to bargain. The reasons for which an employer may dismiss an employee are fundamental to unionized employees. To allow an employer to refuse the inclusions of a process for employees to challenge their dismissal, denies employees their rights. In such cases, it is reasonable for a labour board to find that no union would accept an agreement without a grievance arbitration clause, and the employer's failure to negotiate such a clause is a violation fo the duty to bargain.

Holding

A party that refuses to accept or negotiate a standard term of the collective agreement that is included in other agreements throughout the industry, can be found not to have made every reasonable effort to reach a collective agreement, and in violation of the duty to bargain.

Decision

Appeal dismissed.