02 June 2006

Union ranks swell as arbitrator 'corrects' company's definition of a manager

Schneider Office Employees' Association | TNG Canada Local 30009

A lickety-split arbitration has achieved for the Schneider Office Employees' Association what more than two decades of wrangling could not: inclusion in the bargaining unit of dozens — perhaps scores — of workers the employer claimed were managers.

The ruling in the SOEA's favour in three of five grievances, says president Arthur Lacroix, "confirmed our position that the company was abusing exclusion language and improperly denying the right to quite a number of employees to organize." One of its favourite tactics was to "take a lot of positions and tack the name 'Manager' on the end to get them excluded from the union."

It's a momentous victory for the SOEA, which has battled the employer on this issue since it was certified 23 years ago. A number of grievances over the years were settled before they could reach the arbitration stage. "This is the first time a grievance has actually gone to a decision. The system worked!" says an incredulous Lacroix.

It's no wonder he was skeptical. From the beginning, Schneider Foods was successful at preventing the union from gaining more ground at its head office/manufacturing operation in Kitchener, Ont. In 1983, there were 300 white-collar workers at that location, but only 140 of them were included in the bargaining unit. Even though the number of office workers has since doubled, SOEA membership has never exceeded 170.

"That tells you something's wrong," says Lacroix. "Hopefully, we'll be able to redress that imbalance" and have a greater percentage of office workers in the SOEA now that the employer "has been corrected on what justifies exclusion from the bargaining unit."

The five grievances were akin to a test case in that three of the excluded positions could have multiple incumbents, while two involved single-employee positions.

Arbitrator Russell Goodfellow, who heard the five grievances in an expedited process on a single day last November, found that the single-employee positions of Consumer Affairs Manager and Records Retention Manager/Privacy Officer were properly excluded from the bargaining unit.

However, Manager Application Development, Information Systems Project Manager, and Finance Supervisor - Costing, were determined to be "lead hands" who supervise or co-ordinate, but do not have decision-making authority such as hiring and firing.

"Quite a number of people could be affected," by the ruling, says Lacroix. For instance, the company could have dozens of project or process managers, all of whom will now be included in the bargaining unit. It also has an impact in a number of areas in the operation. "We're now looking at supervisors and co-ordinators in all departments. And we're looking at other positions with similar functions but different job titles."

Lacroix says there are also financial ramifications that he will have to discuss with the company — among them retroactive dues owed the union. Some of the compensation issues could reach back many years, he notes.

The ruling couldn't have come at a more propitious time. The notoriously anti-union Maple Leaf Foods, which took over Schneider two years ago, is in the throes of the merger, shuffling departments and workers between Kitchener and its head office in Mississauga.

"This gives the company a lot less flexibility in what positions they can keep here or move to other locations to avoid the union," says Lacroix. "I'm sure this is making them rethink their plans." He explains that employees covered by 'scope' language in the collective agreement would automatically become members of the SOEA if they were transferred to the Kitchener office.

At least the employees who will now be included in the bargaining unit will be able to fight any attempt by the company to move them out of Kitchener. Members of the SOEA, who had been a year without a contract, voted reluctantly last fall to accept a retrograde agreement just so they would have guaranteed access to a grievance process to fight such transfers.

Lacroix says the exodus of skilled and experienced workers that began in 2005, reducing the SOEA membership to 135, continues.

"Most people are looking elsewhere because they're not sure they'll have a job here in six to 12 months." And, thanks to takebacks and concessions management has imposed on its office workers, other pastures are definitely greener. "A lot of people who've chosen to go elsewhere have wound up with better jobs," observes Lacroix.