In a recent post, labour lawyer Jim Robbins of the law firm Cavalluzzo’s in Toronto noted that an argument had been presented to the Ontario Labour Relations Board by employer counsel that the OLRB stop accepting applications filed by unions to represent workers during the COVID19 epidemic. The OLRB has rejected that request.
It is a source of considerable controversy in the U.S., where the Trump stacked National Labor Relations Board suspended all union certification applications during COVID19. As far as we are aware, no Canadian labour board has gone in this direction, although please do let us know if we have missed something.
We did learn that the Nova Scotia Labour Board had temporally suspended receipt of all new applications for a brief period while it established a process for dealing with applications electronically and remotely. A memo just released by the Board indicates that the Board is now accepting applications and explaining its new processes, which include accepting scanned copies of union membership cards. Here is the memo. [HT: Prof. Bruce Archibald, Q.C., Prof. Claire Mumme]
We will keep track of any other developments in Canada on this issue.
