FPSLREB Decisions
Decision Information
New separate employer - Successor rights - Bargaining unit - Determination - Bargaining agent - Certification - Collective agreement - Continuation in force - Section 48.1 of the Public Service Staff Relations Act - Parks Canada Agency (PCA) - Standing of bargaining agents to participate in proceedings - Representation vote - the PCA became a separate employer on December 21, 1998 - the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) requested to be recognized as the bargaining agent of a bargaining unit comprised of all the bargaining units represented by the PIPSC or the Social Science Employee Association (SSEA) prior to the creation of the PCA - the PCA requested that all bargaining units in existence prior to the creation of the PCA be amalgamated into two, i.e. one for the employees involved in program delivery and the other, in program development - the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) requested to be recognized as the bargaining agent of a bargaining unit comprised of all the employees which it represented prior to the creation of the PCA, as well as of all the employees in the Social Science Support (SI) Group which were represented by the SSEA at that time - the Association of Public Service Financial Administrators requested to be recognized as the bargaining agent of all the employees in the Financial Management Group which it represented prior to the creation of the PCA - in an earlier decision, the Board had decided that a single bargaining unit for all of the employees of the PCA was the most appropriate option, ordered a representation vote by mail ballot, which included the names of both the PIPSC and the PSAC, and further ordered that all collective agreements continue into force and expire on the 60th day following the Board's decision certifying either the PIPSC or the PSAC as the bargaining agent for the new bargaining unit: 2000 PSSRB 109 (140-33-15 and 16), (2000) 38 PSSRB Summaries 1 - the result of the mail ballot was that a majority of the ballots cast were in favour of the PSAC - the Board certified the PSAC as the bargaining agent for a bargaining unit comprised of all the employees of the PCA. Certification granted.
Decision Content
Public Service Staff Relations Act
- Date: 2001-05-01
- File: 140-33-15 and 140-33-16
- Citation: 2001 PSSRB 39
Before the Public Service Staff Relations Board
BETWEEN
PARKS CANADA AGENCY
Employer
and
PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE OF CANADA and
PUBLIC SERVICE ALLIANCE OF CANADA
Bargaining Agents
| RE: | Applications Pursuant to Section 48.1 of the Public Service Staff Relations Act |
[1] Parks Canada Agency (PCA) became a separate employer under Part II of Schedule 1 of the Public Service Staff Relations Act (PSSRA) on December 21, 1998. At that time, a number of employees, who had up to then been part of the central administration for which the Treasury Board is the employer, were transferred to the new separate employer, the PCA.
[2] On August 4, 1999, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) proposed, in its application (Board file 140-33-15), pursuant to section 48.1 of the PSSRA, that all bargaining units for which it was the bargaining agent at the time of transfer be lumped into one single bargaining unit for which it would continue to be the bargaining agent.
[3] The PCA filed its application (Board file 140-33-16) under section 48.1 on August 27, 1999. The PCA application proposed that the various bargaining units in existence at the time the new agency was created be reconfigured to establish two new bargaining units.
[4] The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the Social Science Employees Association (SSEA), the Association of Public Service Financial Administrators (APFSA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 2228 (IBEW), all bargaining agents who represented employees of the new employer prior to its creation were notified of both applications under section 48.1 and were given the opportunity to respond.
[5] In Parks Canada Agency and Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, Public Service Alliance of Canada and Association of Public Service Financial Administrators, 2000 PSSRB 109 (140-33-15, 140-33-16), the Board, for reasons stated therein, concluded that all of the employees in the PCA should be included in a single bargaining unit. Accordingly, the Board directed that a representation vote be held by which the employees would be asked to indicate whether they wish the PIPSC or the PSAC to represent them as their bargaining agent.
[6] The vote was conducted between March 5 and April 6, 2001. Gilles Brisson and Dennis Dumoulin, two officers of the Board, were appointed Returning Officer and Deputy Returning Officer, respectively, for purposes of the vote.
[7] The ballots were opened and counted, in the presence of the parties, on April 19, 2001.
[8] The result of the vote was as follows:
Number of employees eligible to vote 4412 Number of ballots cast 2648 Number marked in favour of the PIPSC 901 Number marked in favour of the PSAC 1559 Number of spoiled ballots 16 Number of ballots segregated and not counted 172
[9] The Returning Officer presented to the Board, the Certificate of Result of Vote which indicated the above-mentioned result and bore the signatures of the Board's Returning Officer and of the representatives of the two bargaining agents and the employer.
[10] The Returning Officer also presented to the Board, a Scrutineers' Certificate signed by the representatives of the three parties. The certificate indicates that those representatives had the opportunity to examine the ballot envelopes returned, that they consented to the counting of the ballots and that the vote was conducted in a proper manner.
[11] The Returning Officer also presented to the Board, a Consent and Waiver Certificate, signed by the representatives of the three parties, in which they consented to the Board's disposing of this matter without a hearing, on the basis of the evidence presently before it and the Certificate of Result of Vote.
[12] Having considered all of the above, the Board is satisfied that a majority of the employees at the Parks Canada Agency, who cast a ballot, wish the PSAC to represent them as their bargaining agent. Accordingly, the Board hereby certifies the PSAC as the bargaining agent for the following bargaining unit:
All employees of Parks Canada Agency.
A certificate will issue accordingly.
[13] The Secretary will destroy the ballots in the representation vote taken in this matter following the expiration of 45 days from the date of this decision, unless a statement requesting that the ballots should not be destroyed is received by the Board from one of the parties before the expiration of such 45-day period.
Y. Tarte
Chairperson
OTTAWA, May 1, 2001.