Unions acted in good faith in accepting employers’ vaccine mandates, a labour board has ruled. The judgment came in the case of unvaccinated Albertans who complained their Natural Gas Employees Association failed to adequately represent them, according to Blacklock's Reporter..“Nothing in the material before the Board indicates the union acted arbitrarily, with serious negligence or in bad faith,” wrote William Armstrong, vice-chair of the Alberta Labour Board. The tribunal dismissed complaints by four union members employed by ATCO Inc..“Both the Association and another union representing some ATCO subsidiary employees, the Canadian Energy Workers’ Association, filed policy grievances,” wrote Armstrong. “Canadian Energy Workers sought an injunction from an arbitrator to prevent the policy from going into effect, but was not successful.”.“There should be finality to litigation before this Board as there is in other judicial and quasi-judicial settings,” wrote Armstrong. “The Board does not have infinite resources to address the many matters coming before it. It would be inefficient to repeatedly canvas the same facts.”.ATCO on January 1, 2022 began enforcement of a Covid-19 Workplace Vaccination Policy that required employees to show proof of immunization. A total 59 of 1,198 union members declined and were suspended. Twenty-one were later fired with severance pay. Union complaints were rejected in mediation and the Gas Employees Association concluded it had “minimal chance of success” in challenging the mandate, said the Board..The union was under some pressure from the 95% of members who complied with the vaccine mandate, the Board noted. “The vast majority of the bargaining unit members had complied with the ATCO vaccine mandate,” it said..“Some of these members were vocal in opposing Association efforts to challenge the ATCO vaccine mandate and seek a testing option via the grievance,” wrote the Board. “The members accused the Association of not respecting their right to a safe workplace.”.The ruling echoed a 2022 statement by the largest federal public service union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, that it never challenged vaccine mandates in court since it had “little chance of success.” Most of the Alliance’s 230,000 members were also required to show proof of vaccination under threat of suspension without pay..“The Public Service Alliance stated it made a detailed in-depth review of the policy and that it took account of the case law and applicable legal principles,” wrote the Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board in a 2022 ruling. “It carried out an in-depth review of several available options to challenge the policy.”.“All those efforts led it to conclude that challenging the policy through a grievance or other legal mechanism stood little chance of success,” wrote the Board. “It was decided the best approach would be to handle files case by case.”.The comments came in a dispute in which a Public Service Alliance member who refused to show proof of vaccination claimed lack of representation by her union. The claim was dismissed.
Unions acted in good faith in accepting employers’ vaccine mandates, a labour board has ruled. The judgment came in the case of unvaccinated Albertans who complained their Natural Gas Employees Association failed to adequately represent them, according to Blacklock's Reporter..“Nothing in the material before the Board indicates the union acted arbitrarily, with serious negligence or in bad faith,” wrote William Armstrong, vice-chair of the Alberta Labour Board. The tribunal dismissed complaints by four union members employed by ATCO Inc..“Both the Association and another union representing some ATCO subsidiary employees, the Canadian Energy Workers’ Association, filed policy grievances,” wrote Armstrong. “Canadian Energy Workers sought an injunction from an arbitrator to prevent the policy from going into effect, but was not successful.”.“There should be finality to litigation before this Board as there is in other judicial and quasi-judicial settings,” wrote Armstrong. “The Board does not have infinite resources to address the many matters coming before it. It would be inefficient to repeatedly canvas the same facts.”.ATCO on January 1, 2022 began enforcement of a Covid-19 Workplace Vaccination Policy that required employees to show proof of immunization. A total 59 of 1,198 union members declined and were suspended. Twenty-one were later fired with severance pay. Union complaints were rejected in mediation and the Gas Employees Association concluded it had “minimal chance of success” in challenging the mandate, said the Board..The union was under some pressure from the 95% of members who complied with the vaccine mandate, the Board noted. “The vast majority of the bargaining unit members had complied with the ATCO vaccine mandate,” it said..“Some of these members were vocal in opposing Association efforts to challenge the ATCO vaccine mandate and seek a testing option via the grievance,” wrote the Board. “The members accused the Association of not respecting their right to a safe workplace.”.The ruling echoed a 2022 statement by the largest federal public service union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, that it never challenged vaccine mandates in court since it had “little chance of success.” Most of the Alliance’s 230,000 members were also required to show proof of vaccination under threat of suspension without pay..“The Public Service Alliance stated it made a detailed in-depth review of the policy and that it took account of the case law and applicable legal principles,” wrote the Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board in a 2022 ruling. “It carried out an in-depth review of several available options to challenge the policy.”.“All those efforts led it to conclude that challenging the policy through a grievance or other legal mechanism stood little chance of success,” wrote the Board. “It was decided the best approach would be to handle files case by case.”.The comments came in a dispute in which a Public Service Alliance member who refused to show proof of vaccination claimed lack of representation by her union. The claim was dismissed.