Canada Post arbitrator declares himself unbiased – union prepares court challenge
Posted May 2, 2012

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is headed back to court now that the second arbitrator appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government to resolve the dispute with Canada Post has dismissed the union's application to recuse himself on grounds of apprehended bias. (The government's first appointee was declared unqualified for the task by a Federal Court of Canada judge.) Arbitrator Guy Dufort determined after a hearing on the issue that neither the fact that he had served as Canada Post's lawyer in fighting CUPW over a massive pay equity claim, nor the fact that he ran for Parliament three times as a Conservative candidate and had been a member of the party's national policy committee, gave rise to a reasonable apprehension that he might be biased against the union and in favour of the employer. (more)

Refusal to arbitrate dismissal of employees during strike breached bargaining duty, Labour Board rules
Posted April 13, 2012

The Ontario Labour Relations Board has ruled that multinational mining giant Vale Inco Ltd. breached its statutory duty under s.17 of the provincial Labour Relations Act to "make every reasonable effort to make a collective agreement" when it adamantly refused, to the point of impasse, to submit to arbitration the grievances of nine employees who had been dismissed for alleged acts of misconduct during a lawful strike. (more)

Charter protects right to strike, Superior Court judge rules
Posted March 30, 2012

In a ground-breaking decision that ventures into territory not yet explicitly addressed by the Supreme Court of Canada, a Saskatchewan judge has declared that the right to strike is essential to the right to bargain collectively and is therefore constitutionally protected by the guarantee of freedom of association in s.2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (more)

The Marco Biagi Award is an annual award for the best paper on comparative or international labor law by a young scholar. The award is sponsored by the International Association of Labour Law Journals (IALLJ), a consortium of 21 of the leading labor law journals from around the world. The award is named for Marco Biagi, a founder of the IALLJ and one of the world’s most prominent labor law scholars, when he was assassinated in 2002 by the Red Brigade for his prominent role in labor law reform in Italy. Please feel free to contact Steven Willborn, President of the International Association of Labour Law Journals, with any questions.

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Collective Bargaining

• Employer's opposition to arbitration of mid-strike discharges breaches bargaining duty

• Refusal to transfer disabled employee's seniority deemed discrimination
• Employee required to disclose confidential medical information

• Arbitrator strikes down exclusion of parental leave top-up for birth mothers
• Educational assistants who volunteered for overnight trip held entitled to be paid for time

• Firefighters in Airdrie, Alberta win right to 24-hour shifts

Human Rights and Workplace Privacy

• B.C. law limiting pre-election advertising deemed a breach of Charter
• Lack of individualized consideration in medical assessment policy found discriminatory

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