The Labour Relations Board administers three labour relations statutes:

• The Trade Union Act
• The Health Labour Relations Reorganization Act and Regulations
• The Construction Industry Labour Relations Act, 1992

Saskatchewan’s labour relations laws ensure employees have the right to bargain collectively with their employer through a trade union of their own choosing. The legislation describes how a trade union becomes "certified" to represent employees in a workplace and defines the rights and obligations of trade unions, employees and employers in the collective bargaining process.

The Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board is an independent and impartial tribunal established under The Trade Union Act to hear and determine cases under the Act and other related labour relations legislation. It is responsible for processing applications, hearing applications, setting out rules of procedure and determining the interpretation and application of labour relations legislation.

Board activities are largely client driven. The caseload of the Board varies from year to year. It is an imperative of labour relations that matters are dealt with in an expeditious fashion. It is also important to keep Board processes accessible to employees, unions and employers. While lawyers are entitled to appear before the Board, it is not necessary for parties to be represented by lawyers in order to obtain fair hearings.

The Trade Union Act encourages collective bargaining as a method of resolving workplace issues between employees and employers. The Board can assist the parties in developing healthy and productive labour relations by encouraging discussion, sharing of information, and joint problem solving between trade unions and employers.

Our vision:

• A healthy and effective labour relations climate in Saskatchewan.

The mission of the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board is to administer, interpret and enforce Saskatchewan’s labour legislation in an impartial, knowledgeable, efficient, timely and consistent way. It will do this by:

• Hearing and determining labour relations applications in a timely, fair, respectful and economical manner;
• Resolving labour relations problems through appropriate dispute resolution mechanisms;
• Educating the labour relations community and the public of their statutory rights and obligations;
• Maintaining effective Regulations and practices developed through consultation with the labour relations community.

The Board’s core activities are derived from the statutory responsibilities placed on it by the labour legislation it oversees. These activities include:

• the investigation, processing and determining of applications made to the Board by Unions, Employers and individual employees;
• the formal adjudication of issues arising out of the application process;
• the mediation of differences in attempts to limit the need for formal adjudication and to reinforce the ability of the parties to resolve their own disputes;
• the education of Saskatchewan’s labour relations community in the interpretation of Saskatchewan labour relations legislation and the Board’s rules, policies and procedures;
• the development of formal and informal consultative processes with the province’s labour relations community to ensure that Board policies and procedures are beneficial to the community.

Goal 1: To provide timely, effective and efficient services to the Saskatchewan labour relations community.

It is important to ensure that matters brought to the Board for determination are dealt with in a timely manner, both in terms of the scheduling of the hearing and the rendering of the decision.

1. Provide communications that are clear, timely and precise to ensure the parties understand the procedures and the issues involved.
2. Investigate applications in a timely and accurate manner to ensure early resolution of differences.
3. Ensure that all Board publications and communications are current and readily available to Saskatchewan’s labour relation community (Information Bulletins, Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board Reports, annual reports, web-site and other materials).
4. Review the Board’s policies, procedures and regulations on a regular basis and maintain regular consultation with the labour relations community regarding Board policy, procedures and regulations.

The table below sets out the type of application and the percentage of applications that are to be completed within the following guidelines:

Certification and rescission applications:

Scheduling goal: Schedule hearing within 20 calendar days of receipt of application

Render decision: Render decision within 10 calendar days of hearing

Goal 2: Decisions must be timely so the parties can quickly implement the resolution

1. Render all other decisions in a timely manner.

Performance measure: percentage of decisions rendered within 90 calendar days of completion of hearing

Goal 3: The Board promotes the use of alternate dispute mechanisms, in addition to formal adjudication, as a method of resolving labour relations issues.

In many applications, the parties have not discussed the issues at stake prior to filing an application with the Board. The Board can intervene early to offer alternative dispute mechanisms, such as mediation, to encourage the parties to fashion their own resolution. This process assists the parties to build effective collective bargaining relationships.

1. Provide timely and early interventions on applications before the Board.
2. Make the labour relations community aware of alternate methods of resolving disputes through communications with the parties;
3. Increase the exchange of information among parties to disputes through the pre-hearing process.

Performance Measure: Percentage of applications, with Board involvement, settled before reaching a formal hearing. This provides an indication of the successful use of Alternative Disputes methods. **

* The calculation does not involve certification or rescission hearings as they are required to go to hearing.

** This goal is dependent on the hiring of an investigating officer in 2000.