MONTREAL — The Administrative Labor Tribunal has just accredited the machinists’ union to represent the approximately 300 workers at the Lion Electric factory in Saint-Jérôme.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), affiliated with the FTQ, will thus represent all workers in the factory, excluding office employees.
The process was laborious, as the employer and union parties could not agree on which workers should or should not be included in the bargaining unit.
When assessing whether the union had achieved majority support, the labor relations officer concluded that the decision would depend on whether or not those workers over whom disagreement persisted were included.
The general rule is that when a union receives more than 50% of the votes, it is certified. When it represents between 35% and 50%, a vote by secret ballot is organized.
In this case, the Court held a secret ballot and the contested employees’ ballots were kept sealed.
At the time of counting, the number of sealed ballots could become decisive. The agent therefore referred everything to the Court so that it could hear the parties.
The parties eventually agreed to include a number of employees, allowing the final counting of votes by the Tribunal.
And the Court finally found that the union obtained the majority, regardless of the dispute which persisted concerning the employees on which the two parties had not yet agreed.
The employer and union parties, for their part, reached an agreement to settle the remaining disputes.
And the Administrative Labour Court found that the machinists’ union had a majority of members and accredited it.
