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McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
e. Yes. Employers are always at liberty to discharge any employee deemed to have behaved
improperly during a strike.
27) Which of the following is LEAST likely to fall under the legal definition of picketing?
a. a single striking employee waiving a placard with the intent to secure a sympathetic
response from an audience of onlookers
b. a group of striking employees waiving placards with the intent to secure a sympathetic
response from an audience of onlookers
c. a group of striking employees posting messages on a company-only discussion board on
the Internet
d. a group of striking employees having a sit-in on the front steps of the workplace,
engaging in discussion about the workplace issues with those who approach
e. blockading the employer’s premises with cement barricades, with signs posted to them
regarding the strike.
28) CoolaCola Inc and the International Federation of Bottlers had been without a contract
for several months when the union walked away from the negotiating table. In order to
show the union that it “meant business,” the employer locked the workers out the next day.
Is CoolaCola justified in locking out its employees?
a. No. An employer may never lock out employees.
b. No, unless it is a temporary measure based on financial reasons during a strike.
c. Yes, so long as the lockout is only intended to force concessions from the union.
d. Yes, but only after the first round of negotiations breaks down.
e. Yes if the negotiation and conciliation procedures have been exhausted and the lockout
decision is not otherwise unlawful.
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
29) Which of the following is an example of secondary picketing?
a. university faculty picketing in front of various university buildings as part of a strike
action
b. striking employees of a large hotel chain picketing at other hotels in the same chain
c. public service workers picketing on Parliament Hill
d. employees of a factory picketing in front of the factory’s biggest supplier
e. anti-poverty activists protesting at a provincial legislature
30) Local 354 has been accused of secondary picketing during a lawful strike. In what
forum will the business experiencing the alleged secondary picketing take legal action
regarding this matter?
a. mandatory mediation
b. grievance arbitration
c. complaint to the labour board
d. voluntary conciliation
e. court of common law
31) The essential requirements for a collective agreement, as explained in the text, include
a. express inclusion of the relevant legislation.
b. a statement of the parties’ good faith.
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
c. approval from a labour relations board.
d. a list of issues that shall be open to grievance.
e. a written agreement signed by both parties, containing provisions relating to the
conditions of employment.
32) In the context of a collective agreement, a “union shop” clause
a. is required by law.
b. signifies that the employer is involved in sales, at either the retail or wholesale level.
c. allows a union to “shop around” for new employees.
d. means that a person must join a union in the early stages of their employment.
e. means management cannot hire anyone who is not already a member of the union.
33) In the context of seniority in a unionized workplace,
a. a non-competitive clause prevents junior employees from competing with senior
employees for new positions regardless of a senior employee’s competence.
b. the law requires seniority to have the same effect on both layoffs and promotions.
c. a junior employee cannot earn more than a senior employee.
d. a competitive clause means that all employees can compete equally on the basis of merit,
regardless of seniority.
e. a person who voluntarily bumped into a lower job usually is entitled to return to the
higher position if that position is reinstated.
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
34) Which of the following statements is TRUE with respect to picketing?
a. Picketing is prohibited unless it is expressly permitted by a collective agreement.
b. Secondary picketing against a party that is not directly involved in a labour grievance is
generally lawful as long as it does not involve tortious or criminal activity.
c. Because of the desire to promote a free exchange of information and ideas, statements
made during picketing are protected from liability in defamation by the defence of absolute
privilege.
d. Because most employment contracts involve private parties, activities performed during
a picket seldom involve criminal law.
e. A picket is defined as an organized effort to persuade consumers to either purchase a
particular product or purchase from a particular business.
35) The employees at Don’s Ice Palace, an ice skating complex, feel that they are not being
treated fairly. They consequently want to become unionized, in the hope of pressuring the
company into providing better pay and working conditions. The International Brotherhood
of Ice Makers (IBIM) and the United Snow and Ice Workers (USIW) are both organizations
interested in representing the employees. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
a. IBIM and USIW are both hoping to become the appropriate bargaining unit .
b. The employer has an absolute right to decide whether IBIM or USIW represents the
employees.
c. Regardless of where these facts take place, the employees must choose their union
through a secret ballot vote.
d. Once the employees have chosen their representative, Don’s Ice Palace will be classified
as a certified bargaining agent.
e. Once the employees have chosen which union they wish to belong to, that union will be
the certified bargaining agent.
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
36) Hardball Inc, a sporting goods manufacturer, has been negotiating for some time with a
union representing the company’s employees. Those negotiations recently came to a halt,
however, when one of the parties accused the other of breaching the duty to bargain in good
faith. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
a. The accusation is pointless because Canadian law does not recognize such a duty.
b. The duty governs the negotiating process but does not require the parties to reach any
particular agreement.
c. Although the duty requires actual negotiations to be conducted in a spirit of cooperation,
it does not require either party to actually negotiate.
d. The duty prevents the parties from concealing information, but it does not require them
to actually provide information.
e. The allegation must have been made by Hardball Inc.
37) After years of failure, the employees at the Cherryville branch of MegaStore, an
international chain of discount stores, finally succeeded in becoming unionized. They are
very anxious to ensure that the collective agreement, which is currently being negotiated,
does everything possible to solidify their position and to prevent the company from
undermining their recent success. Which of the following statements is TRUE with respect
to a union security clause?
a. An approach sometimes referred to as an “agency shop” will ensure that the store
contains only unionized employees.
b. Under a closed shop clause, MegaStore will be required to allow an employee at another
one of its branches join the Cherryville store without having to join the union.
c. The collective agreement will not necessarily include such a clause which would make
this a union shop.
d. It would be unlawful for a collective agreement to prohibit a non-union person from
being an employee at the Cherryville branch.
e. Such a clause is relevant only in the event of a grievance.
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
38) Aziz Hairdressing Emporium is a unionized business with over 100 employees. Ten of
those employees have filed a grievance against their employer. The majority of the
employees who are not involved with that grievance disagree with the grievance. Which of
the following statements is TRUE?
a. The grievance cannot succeed unless it is supported by a majority of the employees.
b. The grievance probably will be resolved through the internal method of arbitration.
c. If the dispute comes before a labour relations board, the 10 employees probably are
alleging that there has been a breach of labour relations legislation.
d. Arbitral jurisprudence constitutes precedent that is binding on an arbitrator.
e. If the dispute requires an arbitration panel, then, unless the collective agreement says
otherwise, the expense falls upon management.
39) A union recently won a grievance against the University of Edmonton. The underlying
dispute was concerned with the forced removal of several professors. In terms of a remedy,
the panel
a. cannot award monetary damages because that function is properly filled by a court.
b. cannot reinstate the professors against the university’s wishes, but the panel can compel
the university to pay an amount equal in value to a maximum of two years’ salary.
c. cannot rectify a collective agreement unless the agreement expressly allows for such an
order.
d. may grant a compliance order, which would require the university to reach a compromise
solution with the professors.
e. can award damages, but only in accordance with a tariff that appears in employment
standards legislation.
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
40) The workers at the Great Grain Company are unhappy with their working conditions.
By adopting a “work to rule” philosophy, they hoped to persuade management to offer a
better deal. Management refused to be moved, however, and pointed to the fact that the
collective agreement still had three weeks left to run. The workers therefore began to plan
their next move. As the head of the union, you want to put as much pressure as possible on
your employer, but you are also anxious to avoid breaking the law. Which of the following
strategies would you adopt?
a. While it would be unlawful to go on strike while the collective agreement is still in force,
you are allowed to immediately commence a secondary picket against the company’s
suppliers or buyers.
b. You should wait until the collective agreement has expired, and then call a lockout.
c. Call a strike as soon as possible, because as a matter of law, management must
eventually allow the workers to return to their jobs.
d. While there are legal hazards with other strategies, the right to strike is protected by the
Charter.
e. Poll the members of the union to obtain a vote in favour of going on strike if necessary at
the end of the collective agreement.
Essay Questions
1) Why is it important to distinguish between employees and managers? What factors will
be considered when determining whether someone is an employee or a manager in the
collective bargaining context? Using the factors for consideration that you have outlined,
analyze an example of a position that would be seen as an employee and one that would be
seen as a manager in an organization with which you are familiar.
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
2) Describe the steps in the process by which a workplace becomes unionized.
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
3) Compare and contrast collective agreements with private contracts.
4) The International Sisterhood of Drum-Makers is trying to decide how to achieve
financial security. Describe, and provide examples of, approaches that it might take to
remuneration as well as the requirements that it might set for workers.
5) What should an arbitrator do when asked by the parties to interpret an ambiguous clause
in a collective agreement?
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
6) Explain the difference between disciplinary and non-disciplinary action by an employer.
Provide examples of each. In what context does this distinction arise?
7) What is rectification and when can it occur?
8) Lawyer Albert represents a small union that is in the midst of negotiating its very first
collective agreement. The main issues are ironed out but the union leader wishes to know
what the minimum requirements are to make the deal enforceable. How should Albert
advise his client?
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
9) Lawyer Albert represents a small union that is in the midst of negotiating its very first
collective agreement. After explaining the minimum requirements to ensure that the
agreement is enforceable, Albert is asked to provide some basic information on key terms,
such as those dealing with strikes and lockouts, grievance procedures, and union security.
What will Albert say?
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
10) What are the necessary elements of a strike? Using the elements you have listed,
provide and analyze one example of employee actions that would be seen as a strike and
one example of an employee action that would not be seen as a strike.
11) Distinguish between lawful and unlawful strikes.
12) At best, picketing can be an important form of social expression; at worst it can be
coercive, violent, and interfere with commercial activity and property rights. Discuss some
of the pros and cons of picketing in the broader context of industrial relations.
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
13) Many people hold the opinion that unions cause more problems than they solve.
Identify three criticisms of unions and three reasons why unions continue to be relevant in
today’s business world. Your answer need not stem from assigned readings.
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
14) From where do arbitrators obtain authority to award remedies? Identify and describe
three important remedies that arbitrators can award in labour disputes.
15) A provincial ministry of education stipulated that secondary school teachers would
have to spend more hours each day teaching in the classroom. As a result, teachers had to
prepare for classes on their own time. In protest, certain teachers’ union locals refused to
participate in extracurricular activities such as athletic teams and student clubs. Teachers
had traditionally led these activities on a voluntary basis. A board of education wishes to
grieve that the union is engaged in an illegal strike. Analyze this issue and determine
whether the board of education’s position will be adopted.
McInnes/Kerr/VanDuzer: Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Fourth Edition
Chapter 27: Organized Labour
