First contract negotiations between the United Food and Commercial Works (UFCW) Local 1400 and Wal-Mart Canada regarding their Weyburn location have been ongoing.
First contract negotiations between the United Food and Commercial Works (UFCW) Local 1400 and Wal-Mart Canada regarding their Weyburn location have been ongoing. A Labour Relations Office was appointed by the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board in February to report on the negotiations between the two parties.
The bargaining process will continue for at least 60 days.
"We were contacted by an agent of the Labour Board to begin the process, and we are elated that members of the Weyburn Wal-Mart are finally entitled an opportunity to negotiate a collective agreement," said Norm Neault, president of the UFCW Local 1400.
"We have had seven bargaining sessions to date with the union. We were requested by the Labour Board to bargain, and have done so in good faith," said Andrew Pelletier, director of corporate affairs for Wal-Mart Canada.
A certification application was filed by the UFCW union on April 19, 2004, and a panel of the Labour Relations Board concluded that the union had the support of the majority of employees in 2008.
That same year, the Trade Union Act was amended to require a representative vote by secret ballot before a certification order could be granted.
Wal-Mart Canada filed an application for reconsideration of certification in 2008, alleging the panel erred in certifying the union. The parties met for the purpose of collective bargaining twice in 2009, during February and March.
The Labour Relations Board rejected the application of reconsideration in March, 2009, and Wal-Mart Canada applied to the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench seeking judicial review of that decision.
The Court of Queen's Bench concluded that the Labour Relations Board erred in relying on membership cards for purposes of certification. However, the UFCW union filed an application with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal to overturn that decision in July, 2009.
The Court of Appeal re-instated the certification order of the UFCW in the Weyburn Wal-Mart location on October 14, 2010. The union applied for first collective agreement assistance with the Labour Relations Board on October 15, 2010.
The parties appeared before the Labour Relations Board on January 11 and 24, 2011 in Regina, at which time the board heard argument on its authority and the appropriateness of appointing an agent to meet with the parties and to report to the board on the statute of collective bargaining between the parties.
An application for decertification from the UFCW union was made by the Weyburn Wal-Mart employees in late October, 2010. The Labour Relations Board conducted a secret ballot in the Weyburn location, and those votes are currently kept within a sealed ballot box.
Those votes will remain in that sealed ballot box, until a time when the Labour Relations Board deems it is necessary to open and count the votes.
"We look forward to having these results read and seeing the results," noted Pelletier.
