Third

Session, 45th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2006

BILL 68

AN ACT TO AMEND THE

PUBLIC SERVICE

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT

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

Second Reading .................................................................................................................................

Committee ............................................................................................................................................

Third Reading .....................................................................................................................................

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

HONOURABLE

PAUL SHELLEY

Minister

of Human Resources, Labour and Employment

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would amend the Public Service Collective Bargaining Act.

Clauses 1 and 2 of the Bill would

amend the Act to provide that the Labour Relations Board has discretion whether

or not to hold a hearing in circumstances where the board is currently required

to hold a hearing.

Clause 3 of the Bill would amend the

Act to strengthen the board's jurisdiction with respect to complaints that may

be made to it that a trade union or representative of a trade union has been

acting in a manner that is arbitrary or discriminatory or in bad faith towards

an employee in a bargaining unit that it represents.

Clause 4 of the Bill would amend the

Act to allow a bargaining agent, an employee organization or an employer to

apply to the board for the determination of a matter referred to in

section 45

of the Act.

Clause 5 of the Bill would amend the

Act to permit the Labour Relations Board to consider a matter presented to the

board on an application by a party under the proposed

section 44.1. At present the board's authority to consider

a matter requires that there be a pre-existing proceeding before the board.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE PUBLIC SERVICE

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT

Analysis

S.10 Amdt.

Essential employees

S.11 Amdt.

Revocation or termination of rights of bargaining agent

S.43 R&S

Complaints of employees to board

4. S.44.1 Added

Application to the board

S.45 Amdt.

Decisions of board

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cP-42

as amended

1. Subsection 10(3) of the Public Service Collective Bargaining Act is repealed and the following

substituted:

(3) Where an objection to the statement referred

to in subsection (1) is filed with the board by the bargaining agent within the

time after the receipt of the statement by the bargaining agent that the board

may prescribe, the board, after considering the objection and giving the bargaining

agent and the employer an opportunity to make representations, and to be heard,

where it believes it is appropriate for them to be heard, shall determine the

number of employees in each classification specified in the statement who are

essential employees for the purpose of this Act, but the number of employees

determined to be essential by the board shall not exceed the number contained

in the statement referred to in subsection (1).

2. Subsection 11(1) of the Act is repealed and the

following substituted:

Revocation or

termination of rights of bargaining agent

(1) Where,

following investigation, and after a hearing, if one is requested by a party

having an interest, and the board considers it appropriate to hold one, the

board is of the opinion that a bargaining agent no longer represents a majority

of the employees in the unit, or for which it acts as bargaining agent, it may,

on its own motion, or upon application by a party having an interest

(

a) revoke the certification of the bargaining

agent; or

(

b) if the bargaining agent was voluntarily

recognized by the employer, terminate the bargaining rights of the bargaining

agent,

and the employer shall not be required to

bargain collectively with the employee organization whose certification is

revoked or bargaining rights are terminated, but nothing in this subsection

shall prevent the employee organization from making an application under

section 6 at any time after the revocation or termination.

Section 43 of the Act is repealed and the

following substituted:

Complaints of

employees to board

(1) An

employee in a bargaining unit, who claims to be aggrieved because his or her

bargaining agent has acted in a manner that is arbitrary or discriminatory or

in bad faith in the handling of a grievance that he or she has filed or attempted

to file with that bargaining agent in accordance with a procedure that has been

established by the bargaining agent may make a written complaint to the board.

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

made within 90 days from the date on which the complainant knew or, in the opinion

of the board, ought to have known, of the action or circumstances, giving rise

to the complaint.

(3) The board shall investigate a complaint made

to it under subsection (1) and determine whether the bargaining agent acted in

a manner that was arbitrary or discriminatory or in bad faith.

(4) A provision in this Act or a collective

agreement that limits the time in which a grievance or arbitration proceeding

shall begin or a decision made does not apply where a matter is referred to the

board under this section.

(5) Where, on investigation of a complaint in

accordance with subsection (3), the board finds that the bargaining agent acted

in a manner that was arbitrary or discriminatory or in bad faith, the board

shall direct that bargaining agent to take those steps that the board thinks

appropriate in the circumstances.

(6) Where a collective agreement expires before a

complaint is made to the board under subsection (1), or where a collective agreement

expires before the board completes its investigation, the board may order the

bargaining agent to compensate the employee to a reasonable extent that the

board may prescribe.

4. The Act is amended by adding immediately after

section 44 the following:

Application to

the board

44.1 A

bargaining agent, an employee organization or an employer may apply to the

board for a determination of a matter referred to in subsection 45(1).

5. Subsection 45(1) of the Act is amended by

adding immediately after the words and commas "Where, in a proceeding

before the board," the words and comma "or under an application made

to it, ".

Earl G. Tucker, Queen's Printer