British Columbia’s Labour Relations Board has rejected a bid by e-commerce giant Amazon to overturn an earlier decision that awarded union certification to workers at a facility in Delta, B.C.
A Labour Relations Board panel ruled in a decision dated Tuesday that it agrees with the board’s original decision in July that ordered remedial certification due to Amazon ramping up hiring “in order to thwart the union’s certification application.”
The panel says evidence presented by Unifor showed “a deliberate decision by the employer” to increase its employee roster to dilute union support during its membership drive.
The decision also says Amazon’s move to intentionally pad its employee list and then use it to argue that the union does not meet the threshold for certification “is manipulating the employee list in order to avoid certification.”
Amazon workers in Delta, B.C., were certified to unionize on Friday, in a ruling from the B.C. Labour Relations Board. Gavin McGarrigle, the western regional director of Unifor, says he’s optimistic the legislation will force Amazon to the bargaining table.
In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards says the company plans to appeal the decision again and “will determine the right next steps” once there’s a final decision on the appeal.
Amazon had applied to the Labour Relations Board to reconsider its original July decision, and the latest ruling says the company argued the last board panel made an error in applying labour laws to the case, as well as in awarding remedial certification to the union.
The company had argued evidence showed “there was an operational need for additional staff,” while what was described as a “pervasive anti-union campaign” was protected by employer free-speech rights.
The panel disagreed.
“In our view, the original decision adopts the correct approach, which is to consider the employer’s conduct as a whole,” the decision says.
Citing precedent, the panel writes, “We note that the kinds of activities in which the employer engaged in the present case are the classical hallmarks of an interference in the formation or selection of a trade union.”
The panel says that Amazon’s move to “knowingly and improperly” pad the employee list is “sufficiently egregious” to justify its original decision to order the union’s certification.
“From our perspective, the intentional padding of an employee list for the purpose of undermining an organizing drive is an even more fundamental attack on its employees’ associational rights,” the latest decision says.
In a statement, Unifor National president Lana Payne says the decision is a “message” to B.C. employers not to interfere in unionization “or to suffer the consequences.”
Unifor western regional director Gavin McGarrigle told CBC News the ruling demonstrated that no matter how big the workplace, employees had a right under the Charter to unionize.
“Clearly, Amazon grossly interfered with that right. And therefore it has to get into collective bargaining,” he said.
“Put an end to the charade and let’s get a collective agreement for these workers.”
McGarrigle said the union was now talking to workers about what they’d like to see in a contract.
Hards, the Amazon spokesperson, says the decision is “wrong on the facts and the law” and deprives workers of their “right to make an informed decision.”
