The Employer:
Big Blue Inn is a boutique hotel privately owned by the Murray McMoney, a local land developer. In addition to the hotel, McMoney owns a property management company, two nightclubs and a catering company. The workforce at the hotel is comprised as follows:
· Front Desk/Customer Service: 6 clerks, 4 porters, 1 concierge specialist,
· Kitchen: 1 head chef, 3 chefs, 4 cook assistants, 2 dishwashers
· Restaurant/Bar: 6 servers, 4 bussing assistants,
· Office: 2 secretaries, 1 accountant,
· Management: 1 General Manager, 2 Assistant General Area Managers, 1 Customer Service Manager, 1 Restaurant Manager
McMoney has contracted maintenance services to an outside company, B & S Maintenance Services. Four maintenance workers work at the hotel on a permanent basis and are supervised by one of the assistant general managers, who determines their workload and sets their working hours. B & S establishes their wage rate and benefits. There are six housekeepers who are independent contractors paid a per-room rate. Their contract outlines their working hours as 8am
to 4pm five days a week (shifts rotate among the six workers in a set pattern) and stipulates a daily room quota that must be met. Cleaning and other supplies are provided by the hotel. The other assistant general manager supervises their work. Laundry services are contracted out to Quickie Clean Ltd., which picks up dirty laundry and delivers clean laundry daily.
All hiring, discipline and firing was conducted by the General Manager and Assistant General Managers. The two area managers supervised workers in their area, created schedules and conducted annual performance reviews. They participated in all managerial meetings regarding hotel operations.
Scenario One
The Canadian Hotel Employees Union (CHEU) has filed a certification application for a group of workers at the Big Blue Inn. The application proposes the following bargaining unit: “All workers employed by Big Blue Inn excluding management, front desk and office staff”. The union claims housekeeping and maintenance staff are employees of Big Blue Inn. They submit the following signed cards in support of the application:
· Kitchen: 5 workers
· Restaurant/Bar: 3 workers
· Housekeeping: 5 workers
· Maintenance: 4 workers
1. Is the bargaining unit appropriate? If not, what is the appropriate bargaining unit? Explain the reasoning for your decision.
2. Using your determined bargaining unit, does the application demonstrate sufficient support for either certification or conducting of a certification vote? Why or why not? (Use the rules of the jurisdiction in which you live).
Scenario Two
CHEU submitted a certification application that was approved by the Labour Board to proceed to a certification vote (assume it met the threshold requirements based on your bargaining unit determination in Scenario 1). In the days leading up to the vote, the employer took a number of steps to discourage workers from voting for a union. The actions included:
· The General Manager held a mandatory meeting of all employees. In the meeting they emphasized that Big Blue was a “family”, that the union was an outsider to this relationship and that workers would be worse off because they would have to pay dues to the union. They hinted that extra costs from a union might weaken the financial situation of the hotel.
· Each manager conducted one-on-one meetings with every worker under their supervision, asking what their concerns were and promising to make changes. They also hinted a union would make it harder to make those positive changes.
· The employer issued a $2/hour raise for all front desk/customer service employees. Workers in this area were known to be less supportive of the union.
· The General Manager terminated the contract with B & S Maintenance, causing all four maintenance workers to be laid off. Two of the maintenance workers were vocal union supporters.
· The General Manager announced the creation of a new dispute resolution process to allow workers to have their concerns heard by a panel of managers and an employee representative.
1. Which of these actions might be considered an unfair labour practice? Why or why not?
2. If you find one or more of these actions to be an unfair labour practice what would be an appropriate remedy? Why?
Scenario Three
Big Blue Inn workers successfully certified their union. Negotiations for a first agreement went poorly and dragged on for many months. The parties were in a legal strike/lockout position, having fulfilled all legal pre-conditions to a strike/lockout. CHEU provided strike notice and the workers went on strike. The parties took the following actions during the strike.
· The union set up a picket line at every entrance to the hotel. Picketers would stop every person wishing to enter the hotel to talk with them. If they were a member of the public they would let them enter after a few minutes delay. They refused to let managers pass.
· The employer hired replacement workers to keep the hotel running.
· The union set up a picket line at Quickie Clean Ltd., which had continued to perform laundry services for the hotel. At this picket line they delayed trucks by five minutes each.
· The union began setting up temporary picket lines (called “flying pickets”) at McMoney’s other businesses. At these lines they handed out information about the strike to passers-by but did not impede anyone’s access to those businesses.
· The employer asked the government to order a vote of the employer’s last offer.
· When the strike was settled, the employer insisted that it was keeping the replacement workers and was not re-hiring the striking workers, citing decreased business at the hotel.
1. Which of these actions are legally permitted? Why or why not?
2. For the actions that you determine are not legal, what would the party need to do differently to make that action (or similar action) legal? Why?