Reference no: EM133095348

United Steelworkers of America v Hay Lake Manufacturing (2011)

The Hay Lake Manufacturing Company located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, manufactures high pressure cylinders for the storage of propane. The original company was established in 1990, and in 1996, the plant's production workers were recognized by the United Steelworkers of America. There are 300 full time production workers in the bargaining unit. The following is a summary of some of the terms of the current collective agreement between the company and the union.

Article 2: Recognition provide that the union is recognized as the bargaining agent for all employees of the company in Winnipeg Manitoba, save and except quality control technicians supervisors, persons above the rank of supervisor, office, clerical and sales staff.

Article 4: Bargaining Unit Workers provides that no work shall be performed by persons outside the bargaining unit when qualified employees are available or on layoff.

Article 20 Seniority: provides that in the event of a job vacancy, the employer shall promote or transfer employees based upon skill, ability and job knowledge required, and when in the company's opinion skill, ability, and job knowledge are equal, seniority shall be the deciding factor.

Article 21: Job Postings: provides that the job openings shall be posted for three days and applications for open position will be accepted for three additional days.

In 2005, Hay Lake purchased the company. After the purchase, there was an increase in business and the company needed additional warehouse space. In 2010, the company leased a warehouse in Winnipeg three kilometres from the plant. Subsequently the company hired two new part-time employees, Singh and Olson, as warehouse coordinators. They work four hours per day, five days per week. The new warehouse included a computerized system that allows the company to keep track of all materials and inventory. The inventory system at the plant is still based on manual or paper system. The warehouse coordinators receive materials and parts, tag them, inspect them for damage, enter items into the system, and move them into their designated area. Singh does lots of the paper work and computer entry, while Olson does most of the moving and unloading of materials, using a forklift truck. Olsen takes day to day direction from Singh. The warehouse coordinator position is not listed in Schedule A of the collective agreement, which sets out the positions in the bargaining unit and their wage rate.

The union approached the company shortly after the jobs in the warehouse were filled and claimed that the jobs were in the bargaining unit and should have been posted. The employer disagreed and took the position that the jobs were not covered by the agreement. The union filed a grievance, which alleged that the warehouse coordinator position was bargaining unit work and the company was in beach of the CA. At a grievance meeting, the plant manager noted that the collective agreement was signed prior to the times that Hay Lake owned the business, and furthermore denied that the two employees were performing bargaining unit work, and also claimed that at least one of the jobs was a management position.

This matter has gone through the grievance process and will now be heard by an arbitrator.