Kanata nuclear facility owner broke law during strike, labour board rules

A federal labour board has found the owner of a west Ottawa nuclear facility broke the law by failing to negotiate with employees in good faith during a protracted strike.

About 40 Best Theratronics Ltd. (BTL) workers represented by Unifor returned to work late last month after securing an 11 per cent wage increase and a new collective agreement, more than nine months after walking off the job.

About a dozen workers represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) are still on strike. 

Last week, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) upheld unfair labour practice complaints against the owner of the medical manufacturing company. 

In separate complaints lodged last year, Unifor and PSAC accused the owner of BTL, Krishnan Suthanthiran, of breaching the Canada Labour Code.

CIRB heard the complaints as BTL is federally regulated as a licensed nuclear facility.

In a decision dated Feb. 27, the independent administrative tribunal found that BTL had failed to bargain in good faith, a breach of the code. 

BTL also failed to give representatives authority to bargain on its behalf and had bargained in bad faith by disseminating false and misleading communications designed to influence the bargaining process, CIRB found.

Reasons for decision to come later

CIRB also found that BTL issued explicit anti-union statements, which undermined the unions in the eyes of bargaining unit employees. BTL's communications amounted to an attempt to interfere with the representation of PSAC's members, the board found. 

Finally, CIRB concluded that BTL disseminated misinformation as a means of threatening, intimidating and coercing unionized workers so that they would not continue their affiliation with the complainants and exercise their collective bargaining rights.

The board said it would provide its reasoning at a later date.

CIRB also said that before exercising "its remedial powers" it had appointed an industrial relations officer to assist the parties in resolving the dispute, asking him to report back before March 31. 

One union disappointed

In a statement, PSAC regional executive vice-president Ruth Lau MacDonald said they were happy CIRB recognized that BTL had violated the code.

But the union is "disappointed that the decision only entails a CIRB staff resource to be assigned and report back by March 31," she added. 

"This means that the board is not making use of its remedial powers to fix the situation, while our workers have been on the picket line for almost 300 days now."

While the two sides are still trying to reach an agreement, BTL has not responded to PSAC since last Thursday, she said. 

CBC has also asked Unifor, Suthanthiran and CIRB for comment.