First

Session, 47th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2012

BILL 38

AN ACT TO AMEND THE

PUBLIC SERVICE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT NO. 2

Received and Read the First Time ............................................................................ June

18, 2012

Second Reading .......................................................................................................... June

19, 2012

Committee

.............................................................................................

Amendment

June 26, 2102

Third Reading .............................................................................................................. June

26, 2012

Royal Assent ......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE

TERRY FRENCH

Minister of Environment and Conservation and

Minister Responsible for the Labour Relations Agency

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would amend the Public Service Collective Bargaining Act

allow an employer during

collective bargaining to request that a vote of the employees of the bargaining

unit affected be conducted to accept or reject the employers most recent offer;

and

allow parties to collective

bargaining to file unfair labour practice complaints with the board.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE PUBLIC SERVICE

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT NO. 2

Analysis

S.15 Amdt.

Effect of notice to bargain

S.26.1 Added

Vote on offer

Ss.43.1 & 43.2 Added

43.1 Making complaints

43.2 Directives of

the board

re complaints

Commencement

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cP-42

as amended

1. Paragraph 15(

a) of the Public Service Collective Bargaining Act is repealed and the

following substituted:

(

a) the bargaining agent and the government

negotiator shall, without delay, and within 30 days after the notice is given,

or within the further time that the parties may agree, meet and start to

bargain collectively in good faith and make a reasonable effort to conclude a

collective agreement or to renew or revise an existing collective agreement;

2. The Act is amended by adding immediately after

subsection 26 the following:

Vote on offer

26.1

(1) During

collective bargaining, including after the commencement of a strike or lockout,

the employer of the employees in the unit affected may request that a vote of

the employees in the unit affected be taken as to the acceptance or rejection

of the offer last received by the employee organization in respect of all

matters remaining in dispute.

(2) A request under subsection (1) shall be made

in writing to the board.

(3) The board shall take a vote by secret ballot

as soon as practicable after receipt of a request under subsection (1) and

report the results of the vote to the parties.

(4) Where a majority of the employees

participating in the vote accept the offer the parties are bound by that offer

and shall, without delay, enter into a collective agreement that incorporates

the terms of that offer.

(5) Only one vote in respect of the same dispute

may be held under subsection (1).

(6) A request that a vote be taken, or the taking of

a vote, under this

section does not extend any time limits or periods provided

in this Act.

(7) The board shall determine a question that

arises under this section, including a question relating to the taking of a

vote or the determination of its result.

3. The Act is amended by adding immediately after

section 43 the following:

Making complaints

43.1 An

employer, employee organization, bargaining agent, employee or other person may

make a complaint to the board that

(

a) an employer or person acting on behalf of an

employer has contravened subsections 5(1) or (2);

(

b) an employee organization or a person acting on

its behalf has contravened subsections 5(3) or (4); or

(

c) a bargaining agent or an employer or person

acting on behalf of an employer has contravened

section 15.

Directive of

board re complaints

43.2

(1) Where

a complaint is made to the board under

section 43.1 the chief executive officer

of the board may serve a notice of the complaint on the person against whom the

complaint is made, and the chairperson may appoint an officer to inquire into

the complaint and try to effect a settlement.

(2) Where the chairperson does not appoint an

officer under subsection (1) or where the officer is unable to effect a

settlement within the period that the chairperson thinks reasonable in the

circumstances, the board may inquire into the complaint.

(3) The board may refuse to inquire into a

complaint in respect of a matter that, in the opinion of the board, could be

referred by the complainant to an arbitrator, arbitration board or other body

under a collective agreement.

(4) Where, in the opinion of the board, a

complaint is without merit, the board may reject the complaint.

(5) Where the board is satisfied after an inquiry

that an employer, employee organization, employee or other person has failed to

comply with paragraph 43.1(

a) or (b), the board

(

a) shall issue a directive to the employer,

employee organization, employee or other person concerned to do or stop doing

the act in respect of which the complaint was made; and

(

b) may, in the same or a later directive, require

the employer, employee organization, employee or other person concerned, as the

circumstances may require,

(

i) to reinstate an employee suspended or

discharged contrary to those provisions,

(ii) to pay to an employee or former employee

suspended or discharged contrary to those provisions compensation not exceeding

the amount that, in the opinion of the board, would have been paid by the

employer to the employee,

(iii) to rescind a disciplinary action or monetary

or other penalty taken or imposed contrary to those provisions,

(iv) to pay a person compensation not exceeding the

amount that in the opinion of the board is equivalent to the monetary or other

penalty imposed on a person contrary to those provisions, or

(

v) to pay to an employee in respect of a failure

to comply with the provisions referred to in subsection 43.1(

a) compensation

not exceeding the amount that, in the opinion of the board, is equivalent to

the remuneration that would have been paid to the employee by the employer if

the employer had complied with the provision referred to in paragraph 43.1(

a) of that section.

(6) Where the board is satisfied after an inquiry

that an employer, employee organization, employee or other person has failed to

comply with paragraph 43.1(

c) the board

(

a) shall issue a directive to the employer,

employee organization, employee or other person concerned to do or stop doing

the act in respect of which the complaint was made; and

(

b) may, in the same or a later directive, require

the employer, employee organization, employee or other person concerned, as the

circumstances may require, to do any act or thing which the board considers

necessary and which is appropriate in the circumstances.

Commencement

Section 2 of this Act comes into force on a day

to be proclaimed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

William E. Parsons, Queen's Printer