CRA’S PSAC / UTE Bullies Lose Court Battle :CRA SOTW
Alan Baggett
This week’s story is the finale of last weeks Tax Tale which can be
reread via:
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Court won't enforce fines for crossing picket lines
Appeal also rules union penalties were excessive
Dec 04, 2008 04:30 AM
Louise Brown, Staff Reporter
The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that unions cannot ask
courts to enforce the fines they slap on members who cross a picket
line.
In a two-to-one ruling yesterday, the court agreed with a lower court
finding that the Union of Taxation Employees Local 70030 could not use
the courts to force two members to pay a penalty of $476 each – three
days gross wages – for working three days during a 2004 strike at the
Canada Revenue Agency.
The court's decision stated that a fine is "unconscionable" when one
party, such as a union, has an unfair advantage over a member by
virtue of its constitution. The Court also agreed with the lower court
finding that the fine was excessive.
"This is very good news, and follows a path of decisions in other
provinces that these kinds of picket line disputes should be dealt
with internally, not by making the courts responsible," said labour
lawyer John Craig of Heenan Blaikie, who represented the two Ottawa
workers in their fight against the fines.
Canada Revenue Agency employees Jeffrey Birch and April Luberti chose
to cross the picket line during a strike in 2004, but refused to pay
the union fines, partly because union members have the right to work
during a strike, and also because the fines were too steep, based on
gross wages rather than the net wages they take home.
When the union, a division of the Public Service Alliance of Canada,
tried taking them to small claims court to collect the fines, the two
workers took the union to court, charging it had no right to use the
courts to enforce a labour fine.
"We believe the internal organization of a trade union should be
independent of interference," said Craig yesterday, "but the court
ruled that the fine was `unconscionable' – very unfair – because of
the imbalance of power that exists between a union and its members."
While Justice Robert Armstrong and Justice Paul Rouleau upheld the
decision of Superior Court Justice Robert Smith, that unions cannot
enforce fines in court, Justice Russell Juriansz disagreed. He said
the union did not strong-arm its members because they could have opted
out of the union and not been subject to picket line duty.
"They could choose not to enjoy the benefits of membership without the
obligations of membership," Juriansz wrote in his dissent, and so "as
long as they were members, they were bound by the union's
constitutions and bylaws."
Consultant John Mortimer of LabourWatch, a non-profit group that
educates workers on their rights within unions, hailed the ruling,
which he said echoes findings in Manitoba and Newfoundland.
"The right of a worker to cross a picket line is the one power tool
workers have to hold union leaders accountable; there is no other way
of self-expression," he said.
"Workers have the right to do their jobs, they have the freedom to
work, and if that violates the union constitution then the union can
throw them out," he said, "but they can't turn to the courts to
extract fines from those workers."
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Alan Baggett
> CRA’S PSAC / UTE Bullies Lose Court Battle :CRA SOTW
>
> This week’s story is the finale of last weeks Tax Tale which can be
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Alan Baggett – Tax Collector’s Bible
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