The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has won a labour battle with the Saskatoon Public Library (SPL).
The Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board (LRB) dismissed an application by SPL to remove employees with supervisory duties from the union.
READ MORE: Labour board could set precedent for Saskatchewan employers and unions
The LRB ruled that a provision of the Saskatchewan Employment Act to not include those employees only applies when a union seeks to represent newly organized workers.
The board also found it had no jurisdiction to hear an employer’s application to remove supervisors from an existing bargaining unit.
“This decision illustrates what CUPE has been saying for a long time: working people have the right to belong to the union of their choosing,” Tom Graham, president of CUPE Saskatchewan, said in a statement.
“We are pleased that the LRB has recognized this right.”
“They also reinforced our constitutional right, and workers constitutional rights in Saskatchewan to belong to the union of their choice,” CUPE national servicing representative Rhonda Heisler added.
“We do believe and hope anyway that this decision will have a widespread impact throughout Saskatchewan so that employers that already have made applications to the Labour Relations Board will withdraw their applications based on this decision, and those thinking about applying will refrain from doing so.”
READ MORE: Saskatoon library supervisors being removed from union
SPL had sought to remove 28 supervisory positions from the bargaining unit.
The City of Moose Jaw, the Regina Public Library and the Cypress Hills Abilities Centre also applied to have workers with supervisory duties removed from bargaining units.
The SPL application is considered a test case, meaning the decision will apply to all supervisors in certified bargaining units in the province.
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