Question

Please brief the case of the Royal Oak Mines vs that Canada (labour relation board) case

1. Party ID

2. Nature of the Case

3. Facts

4. Issue

5. Holding and Decision

6. Importance of Case

Answer 1

1. Case number : 24169

2. Labour law

3 . Facts : The unionised workers of Royal Oak Mines voted to reject a tentative agreement put forward by the employer. It was followed with 18 month strike and 9 deaths from a bomb explosion.

4. Issue : The canadC Labour Relation Board allowed a union complaint, holding that the employer failed to bargain in good faith as required by section 50 of the Canada Labour Code. The board ordered the employer to submit the previously rejected tentative agreement, imposing strict time limits on negotiations subject to binding arbitrations in the event of failure. The board introduced a term and a back to work protocol, including binding arbitrations for employees dismissed during the strike. The employer applied for judicial review.

5. Court observed that grievance arbitration for the dismissed employees was a nearly universal characteristic of collective agreements in canada.

6. Importance of the case : Justice Peter Cory formulated a distinction between subjective and the objective aspects of the duty to bargain. A 'good faith' requirement forms a subjective aspect of this duty and requirement to 'make every reasonable effort' to conclude a collective agreement injects an objective standard into the analysis. The Royal Oak Mines was compelled to return to the bargaining table on the basis that it's refusal to discuss greivance arbitrations with the Canadian association of Smelter and Allied workers constituted an unreasonable limitation on the bargaining process and thereby represented as a lack of good faith.