Deck 12: Changes to the Union or the Employer

Question 1

Under Canadian labour law, who receives applications for decertification?

A) Labour tribunals
B) Labour relations boards
C) Essential services councils
D) The minister of labour

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What is the term used to describe a situation where there are individuals involved in a business whose knowledge or skills are essential for the operation of the business?

A) Essential services
B) Skills transfer process
C) Key person doctrine
D) Successorship

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What is the purpose of a vote among bargaining unit members for decertification?

A) To determine the actual level of support for decertification
B) All jurisdictions in Canada require a vote to be conducted
C) The existing union has the right to demand a vote
D) Employers require it

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following statements holds

A) Newly certified unions are less likely to be raided
B) There are time bars in place to restrict when applications for certification can be made for a group of workers already in a certified union
C) Raiding can occur at any time before the expiry of the collective agreement
D) Raiding is illegal in a few Canadian jurisdictions

Question 5

In which of the following circumstances can issues of successorship arise?

A) When an employer moves the place of business
B) When a business is sold
C) When a business expands
D) All of the above

Question 6

What are labour relations boards generally looking for when determining whether or not successorship has occurred?

A) Instances of undue employer influence
B) Evidence of continuity between the previous business and the present business
C) Instances of union misconduct
D) All of the above

Question 7

Which of the following is not one of the reasons that unions are merging in Canada?

A) A response to the general trend in business toward larger organizations
B) Larger unions have more power than smaller ones
C) Governments are encouraging such mergers
D) They can increase their impact in collective bargaining

Question 8

What is the effect of a successful application to a labour relations board for a declaration of successorship?

A) The certification is rendered inactive
B) The existing certification is maintained
C) The union is decertified and then recertified in its new context
D) The certification is put on hold until an investigation is concluded

Question 9

What might the labour board consider if the employer has undertaken a transfer of assets?

A) The price associated with a transfer
B) The location of the transferred entity
C) The loyalty of the employees during the transfer
D) Whether the new management had experience with unions

Question 10

Which of the following is not a factor that contributes to a union's success in their participation in restructuring the workplace?

A) Their ability to transmit internal and external information
B) Their financial resources
C) Their ability to educate and mobilize the membership in supporting the union's vision
D) Their ability to participate in decision-making at multiple points in the process

Question 11

What is the name of the process used to cancel a union's certification?

A) Decertification
B) Term of cancellation
C) Reverse certification
D) Decreditation

Question 12

Which of the following actions on the part of the employer would have the effect of weakening the union's bargaining power and, as such, might be considered to be motivated by anti-union animus?

A) Hiring additional workers
B) Making changes to its product line
C) Expanding to multiple locations
D) All of the above

Question 13

Which of the following is a reason why employers are generally reluctant to have a union in the workplace?

A) They see it as a threat to their ability to operate the company efficiently
B) They fear that a union will inflate labour costs
C) They may oppose them on general principle
D) All of the above

Question 14

Technological change can involve all but which of the following?

A) Altering the content of the job
B) Altering how work is conducted
C) Change in scheduling
D) Computerization or mechanization

Question 15

Why might the certification process intensify the employer's anti-union attitudes?

A) If the employer feels that his or her concerns were not fairly addressed in the certification process
B) If the union's expectations were unrealistic
C) If the employer feels the legislation is one-sided
D) All of the above

Question 16

Which of the following jurisdictions requires that the employer give notice before making a technological change that will affect workers' jobs or income?

A) Quebec
B) Federal
C) Ontario
D) Prince Edward Island

Question 17

How long is a certification considered to be in effect?

A) Indefinitely
B) Until the company is sold
C) Until the company is merged with another company
D) All of the above

Question 18

What is the term used to describe events such as downsizing, work being partially or completely shifted to other locations or countries, or increased industry competition leading to changes in working conditions or redesigned work?

A) Contracting out
B) Contraction
C) Workplace restructuring
D) All of the above

Question 19

When a raiding union is successful and a new certification order is issued, what is the only change to the previous certification order?

A) The names of the employer and the union
B) The identification of the bargaining unit
C) The scope of the certification order
D) The name of the union

Question 20

In January 2012, a historical merger of two unions took place between the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions. Why was this event important to labour relations in Canada? In 2009, Vancouver's Handy DART bus service came under new management with consolidated union representation of its 500 employees. With a 97 percent strike vote during bargaining, what issue was the major stumbling block?

A) There are very few unions left in Canada
B) The new single union would represent over 300,000 workers across twenty sectors
C) The new unions was poised to takeover a union in the U.S which had never before occurred
D) No part of the merger was historical

Question 21

Some jurisdictions in Canada allow employers, as well as employees, to make applications for decertification.

Question 22

The restructuring of work due to technological change usually causes no substantive change in the composition of the bargaining unit or the structure of the employer.

Question 23

If a labour board finds sufficient evidence of continuity or complete abdication of responsibility by a business owner, a declaration of successorship will be issued.

Question 24

Union mergers have been taking place in substantial numbers throughout Canada's labour history.

Question 25

There are several criteria other than control and continuity, which are considered when determining if successorship exists. Which one of the following represents a criterion not considered?

A) Direct contact
B) Who the shop stewards are
C) Transfer of assets
D) Transfer of logo

Question 26

Five jurisdictions in Canada require specific notification for any technological changes.

Question 27

What is not permitted during a legal decertification vote?

A) Secret ballot
B) Voting outside of working hours
C) Vote conducted in the workplace
D) A simple yes/no question

Question 28

A common employer declaration states that all the employer's businesses are considered to be a single business for the purposes of certification and the collective agreement.

Question 29

What change in a business is not usually part of a declaration of succesorship?

A) Expansion
B) Merger
C) Spin-off
D) Move to a larger premises

Question 30

Why do some jurisdictions have legislation to regulate changes in certified unions?

A) To ensure similarity with successorship legislation
B) To give notice to all affected parties
C) To ensure continuity in representation
D) To make the transition smooth

Question 31

Few collective agreements include language to deal with issues such as layoffs or terminations.

Question 32

What is 'control'?

A) Direction maintained by management from the old company to the new company
B) Instruction given by management from the old company to the new company
C) How the finances operate from the old company to the new company
D) Who manages the new operation

Question 33

In most Canadian labour laws, what is the level of support required for a decertification?

A) The same level that is required for certification
B) Similar to the level required for certification
C) Less than the level required for certification
D) Greater than the level required for certification

Question 34

In order to assess whether successorship exists, the labour board looks for an employer's anti-union animus.

Question 35

Any change in business, which involves and expansion, sale or merger requires a declaration of successorship.

Question 36

Why did the 2014 Ontario Labour Relations Board's chair, Bernard Fishbein's decision in favour of the Richtree Market staff make sense for the 50 unionized workers? ?

A) The bargaining rights did not continue at the non-unionized location in accordance with Section 96 of the Labour Relations Act
B) The employer had contravened section 96 of the Labour Relations Act which constituted unfair labour practice
C) There was no basis for any evidence of continuity
D) Richtree was able to make a clear case that successorship did not exist.

Question 37

One study that examined workplace restructuring in the Ontario supermarket industry found that the union's efforts on behalf of female part-time employees were particularly successful.

Question 38

What will allow a labour board to declare a decertification on its own initiative?

A) Spoiled ballots
B) Protest by one of the parties
C) Fraud
D) Miscount

Question 39

What is the purpose of a 'reopener clause'?

A) To give notice to management that the union wants to make changes
B) To allow the parties on mutual consent to revise any part of the collective agreement
C) To allow the parties to renegotiate terms of the collective agreement while it is still in effect
D) To give notice to the union that management wants to make changes

Question 40

How is the frequency of decertifications that occur as a result of abandonment of bargaining rights characterized?

A) Never frequent
B) Always frequent
C) Fairly frequently
D) Fairly unusual

Question 41

Discuss the impact of a failed bid for successorship on a union's ability to function in cases where the business has changed substantially.

Question 42

Explain the term 'abandonment of bargaining rights'. What does this concept have to do with decertification?

Question 43

Comment on the importance of the decertification process.

Question 44

Does a union have an inherent right to negotiate workplace changes with management even when there is no such right specified in the collective agreement? Discuss both points of view.

Question 45

Discuss the impact of workplace restructuring on unions and discuss some union responses to restructuring. (Pages 368-371)

Question 46

Some Canadian jurisdictions require that employers give notice before making a technological change that will affect workers. What is the intent of this requirement?

Question 47

What is meant by the term successorship?

Question 48

A certification is considered to be in effect indefinitely and a collective agreement is negotiated to last for a predetermined period. How does the element of time factor into these two processes?

Question 49

Discuss some types of situations where business changes occur for anti-union reasons and some situations where these changes occur for legitimate business reasons. (page 348)

Question 50

Discuss the trend of union mergers in Canada. What are the advantages of these mergers? (Pages 361-364)

Question 51

What are some of the challenges faced by labour relations boards in determining whether or not successorship exists?

Question 52

When can issues of successorship arise?

Question 53

What criteria might labour relations boards use when assessing whether continuity exists and successorship should be approved? (Pages 351-354)

Question 54

Timeline restrictions on decertification applications serve two purposes. What are they?

Question 55

What is technological change and of what significance is it to an existing collective agreement? (Pages 364-365)