The employees of Turtle Island, the private garbage collection company that won a 7 year collection contract from the 
City of Windsor after a garbage strike are going to a certification vote this Thursday. That would usually indicate that at least 40 percent of the 30 employees in Windsor have signed union membership cards. If more than 50% vote in favour of unionization Thursday, Turtle Island will find itself in collective bargaining shortly thereafter. Here is the Windsor Star story.
Turtle Island is often mentioned as the most likely candidate to win the Toronto bid, once the City farms out garbage collection here. None of its employees have yet joined a union, but this could start the ball rolling if its successful. I’ve wondered whether the Turtle Island employees enjoy being presented in the media all the time as the workers who will do this unpleasant work for cheaper, and for far fewer benefits than unionized garbage collectors. Maybe the Windsor workers are looking for a better deal.
The Mayor did a TV interview about the certification drive. Watch it here. He alludes to a contract clause between the CIty and Turtle Island that would guarantee garbage pickup even if there was a strike. I mentioned a while back that the City of Toronto was talking about inserting a clause in their tender contract that would require the private garbage collectors “post security bonds that they would forfeit in the event of a strike.” I queried whether such a clause would be illegal.
I don’t know what the Windsor contract says. I’d like to know though, so if you know, please send it along. Whatever the contract says, it can’t prevent the Turtle Island employees from striking if they so choose. That would be unlawful. Perhaps it just requires the garbage to be collected without interruption. A strike or lockout could certainly interfere with that obligation. Turtle Island would presumably need to use replacement workers to get the work done, which Ontario law permits.
Turtle Island managers are likely nervous about how the City of Windsor and Toronto will react to their employees unionizing. Hopefully, that won’t cause them to suggest to the employees that their job security could be threatened by unionizing. That would be unlawful, and possibly result in the union being certified by remedial order regardless of the vote outcome (see Section 11 of the LRA). So far, there’s been no suggestion I’ve heard that Turtle Island has done anything unlawful. Hopefully the vote will go smoothly on Thursday without any allegations of wrongdoing on either side.
Of course, there is no reason to believe that the Turtle Island employees will strike, even if they vote to unionize this week. Strikes are rare in Canada, notwithstanding the sustained media attention public sector strikes attract when they do occur. There is also the possibility of the union and Turtle Island agreeing to refer a bargaining dispute to interest arbitration if there is a real concern about the implications of a strike or lockout (See Section 40). And you’d hope that an elected government would not cancel a contract simply because workers elected to exercise their legal right to unionize. Especially in Windsor.
UPDATE: Windsor’s Garbage Collectors Vote Against Unionization, 22 to 7.
