Sask. bingo hall 'overtly' tried to undermine newly-formed union: Labour Board

A Saskatoon bingo hall “completely and overtly disregarded” its obligations when negotiating with a recently-formed union, the provincial labour board has found.

According to a Dec. 14 decision from the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board, employees at City Centre Bingo unionized with SEIU-West in December 2019 over concerns the company “was showing favoritism to certain employees.”

Over the next several years, amid a pandemic shutdown and staffing churn, labour board vice-chair Barbara Mysko says the company refused to provide representatives from SEIU with detailed information about job duties and classifications, and even employee contact information.

“The employer’s conduct had the effect of frustrating bargaining,” said Mysko.

“Given the state of bargaining and the limited contact, it is not surprising that the employees were concluding that ‘nothing was happening.’”

Managers at City Centre Bingo repeatedly delayed bargaining and hurt the union’s credibility by implementing pay increases during an active contract negotiation.

“By unilaterally increasing wages, the employer undermined the union and communicated to the employees that they would be better off without it.”

The conflict came to a head in March after one employee applied to decertify the union. The labour board considered her application alongside the union’s complaint of unfair labour practices.

Employee Mary-Anne Beardy, who was also on the employee bargaining team, told the board she applied to decertify the union because “nothing was happening.”

Beardy showed up at the hearings with her own legal counsel, but oddly, she testified she didn’t seek him out and did not know why he contacted her.

Mysko says this claim hurt her credibility as a witness.

“It is simply not believable that, after making no efforts to find a lawyer (or any support person), she received a text or call from a lawyer who she didn’t know, and didn’t ask why, but then decided to retain him without having any additional information to explain how that came about. The board was left with the impression that Beardy was choosing to hold information back,” she wrote.

“Her willingness and ability to do this taints the rest of her evidence.”

Beardy also testified she didn’t know about the wage increases when she applied to decertify the union, and was later told by a colleague.

According to Mysko, the board rarely rules on such clear examples of bad faith bargaining.

“At times the employer seemed to skate on the surface of its obligations and at other times it completely and overtly disregarded some of its obligations but continued to engage in discussions with the union,” she wrote.

“Ironically, when an employer, instead, commits blatant and total violations of its duty to bargain in good faith, its conduct is easier to identify and address. Such cases are rare, especially with sophisticated parties. More commonly, anti-union animus is more skillfully concealed.”

Given the labour board’s finding against City Centre Bingo, Mysko says the decertification vote has to be tossed until City Centre Bingo and SEIU-West have had the opportunity to bargain in good faith.

In a unanimous decision, the board found City Centre Bingo had committed unfair labour practices and ordered the company to post a notice of the decision in a place accessible to its employees for at least 60 days.