The Saskatchewan Trade Union Act says, in Section 3, that employees have the right to organize in, and to form, join or assist trade unions and to bargain collectively through a trade union of their own choosing. It is illegal for an employer to interfere with efforts by employees to take advantage of this right.

If a group of employees decide that they wish to be represented by a trade union in bargaining with their employer about the terms and conditions of their employment, the way for giving a legal effect to this decision is through an application for certification to the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board. If the Board grants the application, the trade union becomes the exclusive agent of the employees for bargaining with the employer, and the employer has a legal obligation to bargain with the union.

A group of employees interested in trade union representation may contact an established union or form a union of their own. Employees who wish to join an existing union but do not have enough information to decide which one can obtain advice and assistance from the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour or the Canadian Labour Congress. In the case of employees in the construction industry, information can be obtained from the Saskatchewan Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council, or from the Canadian Federation of Labour, Saskatchewan Council.

If the employees decide that they wish to form their own union, they must be careful not to invite or allow their employer to influence the organization of the union, as a trade union must be independent of the employer in order to qualify for certification under The Trade Union Act. Employees who wish to form their own trade union will usually need assistance from someone who is knowledgeable about such matters. The Labour Relations Board cannot provide this assistance.

Almost always, the way that employees join the union and indicate their support for certification is by signing membership cards. Some unions charge a membership fee. The signed membership cards are filed with the Labour Relations Board to show that the employees wish to be represented by the union. The names of the employees who have signed cards are kept strictly confidential by the Board, and the identity of individual employees is not disclosed to the employer or to other employees.

The Board will generally only take into account evidence of support which has been filed on or before the date of the application. If the union or employees try to add to the support or withdraw it after the date the application is filed, this will be disregarded by the Board. The Board requires that evidence of support be in original form, rather than photocopied or faxed.

FILING AN APPLICATION

Once the employees believe that they have gathered enough cards to show that they have the support of the majority of the employees in the group they are asking to represent, the trade union files the cards signed by the employees and an application for certification with the Registrar of the Labour Relations Board.

In some cases the trade union may be unable to present signed membership cards from a majority of employees, but still claims to represent the majority. If the union is able to file evidence of support from at least one quarter of the employees, there is the possibility that the Labour Relations Board will order that a vote be taken by secret ballot among the employees. The application asks the trade union to indicate whether they would be in favour of a vote in these circumstances.

The form of the application is contained in the regulations to The Trade Union Act.  Copies of the form may be obtained from the Registrar of the Labour Relations Board or from trade unions.

The application states the name and address of the contact person for the trade union, and the name and address of the employer. The application also gives a description of the bargaining unit the union is asking to represent. The bargaining unit is the group of employees the union will be representing in bargaining with the employer. The Labour Relations Board is responsible for seeing that the bargaining unit is "appropriate"  in other words, that the unit makes sense and that the union will be able to bargain effectively for the group of employees described.

There are several points which should be remembered when a description of a bargaining unit is being drawn up for a certification application:

  ·        The Labour Relations Board prefers to have a bargaining unit which includes as many employees of the same employer as possible. Over the years, a number of common groupings have been used. Anyone with experience of the certification process can explain them. If the application is for an unusual group, the trade union should be prepared to explain the reasons for this to the Board.

·        Except in the construction industry, most certification orders issued by the Board refer to particular municipalities as the geographical location of the bargaining unit. This means that if an employer who operates a plant in Regina moves to another location in Regina, the same certification order still covers the plant.

  ·        Most bargaining unit descriptions specify those people who will not be included in the bargaining unit. The definition of an "employee" in The Trade Union Act does not include persons who are actually managers or who are involved in confidential work related to industrial relations. Sometimes the trade union and the employer will be able to agree on who should be excluded; in other cases, the Labour Relations Board will have to decide whether someone should be in or out of the bargaining unit.

  ·        The bargaining unit description should be as precise as possible and should not contain vague references like "other connected activities” or "related enterprises”.

·        In some cases, the trade union has some doubt as to exactly how the employer should be correctly designated. The employer should be named as precisely as possible. If there is an error in the name of the employer, but it is otherwise clear who employs the employees the trade union is applying to represent, the Board will generally allow the application to be amended to show the correct name.

In the application form, the trade union is asked to estimate the number of employees who are included in the bargaining unit which is proposed. The Board recognizes that the trade union may not be in a position to give an accurate number, particularly if the group of employees is large. The number given in the application does, however, give the Board and the employer a starting point for determining the constituency in which majority support will be determined.

The application form also requires the trade union to indicate whether there is any other trade union which might claim to represent the same group of employees. If it is difficult to resolve the question of which trade union does represent the majority of employees, the Labour Relations Board may order a vote in this situation as well.

The final questions on the certification application are about the trade union itself.   In order to be certified as a bargaining representative for employees, a trade union has to be accepted by the Labour Relations Board as a legitimate trade union. This means that it must be independent of the employer, that it must have a proper constitution, and that its executive members or representatives must be chosen in accordance with proper procedure. Many trade unions in Saskatchewan are affiliated with parent national or international unions, and with labour organizations. The certification application asks a trade union to specify if this is the case.

The application for certification takes the form of a statutory declaration, which means that it must be signed by the person representing the trade union before a Commissioner for Oaths who is licensed to authorize such documents. The Registrar of the Labour Relations Board can tell applicants how to contact a Commissioner for Oaths if they do not know.  

THE STATEMENT OF EMPLOYMENT AND REPLY

Once the application has been filed, the Registrar of the Board will send a copy of the application to the employer, along with a letter instructing the employer to prepare a statement of employment. The statement of employment is a list of employees and their positions. The list should include only employees who were employed in the proposed bargaining unit on the day when the certification application was filed with the Board. Each employee is asked to sign the statement of employment so that his or her signature can be compared with the signatures on the membership cards filed to support the application. The trade union is entitled to have a representative present when the signatures are obtained. In the case of large workplaces, rather than obtaining new signatures from every employee, the employer may be allowed to send the TD1 forms signed by employees to authorize the deduction of income tax along with the list of employees.

If the employer disputes the application for certification, they must file a reply in which they give their reasons for objecting. The most common issues raised by employers are whether the bargaining unit which has been proposed is appropriate, whether certain employees should be

excluded from the bargaining unit for some reason, and whether certain employees were employed on the date the certification application was filed. 

THE HEARING

If no reply or statement of employment is received from the employer within the time specified by the Board Registrar, the application for certification will be treated as uncontested and considered by the Board without a hearing.  Likewise, if the reply and statement of employment filed by the employer do not disclose any dispute with the application, it will be treated as uncontested and considered by the Board without a hearing.

If a hearing is necessary, it will take place within twenty (20) days after the filing of the application for certification.  The hearing date is specified in correspondence forwarded to both the union and the employer immediately after the application is filed.  Hearings of the Board usually take place in either Regina or Saskatoon.  Each case is heard by a panel which consists of either the Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson of the Board, who are both neutral persons trained as lawyers, along with one representative of employers and one representative of employees.

After the hearing, if the Board does not have to make any decisions about such questions as whether the bargaining unit is appropriate, or whether certain persons should be excluded from representation by the trade union, a certification order will be issued, usually within one or two weeks. If the Board does have to make decisions about issues related to the application, the order will take longer. The length of time will depend on the complexity of the issues and the schedule of the Board, but the Board does make an effort to issue these orders as quickly as possible.

The order issued by the Board will describe the bargaining unit which has been approved as appropriate, name the trade union which is to represent the employees, and direct the employer to engage in collective bargaining with representatives of the trade union. This order has the legal effect of making the trade union the exclusive representative of all of the employees in the bargaining unit, even those who did not support the certification application. Once the certification order is issued, the employer is required to bargain only with the trade union about the terms and conditions of employment of all of the employees, and about any grievance or dispute the employees may have with that employer.

This leaflet is meant to provide informal guidance and information only.  It does not have legal status and is not a formal interpretation of The Trade Union Act.  For inquiries, detailed information, or additional copies of this leaflet, telephone the Registrar of the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board at (306)787-2406.