Test Bank to Accompany McQuarrie/Industrial Relations in Canada, Fourth Edition

CHAPTER 12
CHANGES TO THE UNION OR THE EMPLOYER

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How long is a certification considered to be in effect?

A) Indefinitely
B) Until the company is sold
C) Until the company is merged with another company
D) All of the above
Answer A Page 346 easy

2. In which of the following circumstances can issues of successorship arise?

A) When an employer moves the place of business
B) When a business is sold
C) When a business expands
D) All of the above
Answer D Page 346 intermediate

3. What is the effect of a successful application to a labour relations board for a

declaration of successorship?
A) The certification is rendered inactive
B) The existing certification is maintained
C) The union is decertified and then recertified in its new context
D) The certification is put on hold until an investigation is concluded
Answer B Page 347 difficult

4. Which of the following actions on the part of the employer would have the effect of
weakening the union’s bargaining power and, as such, might be considered to be
motivated by anti-union animus?
A) Hiring additional workers
B) Making changes to its product line
C) Expanding to multiple locations
D) All of the above
Answer C Page 348 difficult

5. Which of the following is a reason why employers are generally reluctant to have a
union in the workplace?
A) They see it as a threat to their ability to operate the company efficiently
B) They fear that a union will inflate labour costs
C) They may oppose them on general principle
D) All of the above
Answer D Page 348 easy

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6. Why might the certification process intensify the employer’s anti-union attitudes?
A) If the employer feels that his or her concerns were not fairly addressed in the
certification process
B) If the union’s expectations were unrealistic
C) If the employer feels the legislation is one-sided
D) All of the above
Answer A Page 348-349 difficult

7. What are labour relations boards generally looking for when determining whether or
not successorship has occurred?
A) Instances of undue employer influence
B) Evidence of continuity between the previous business and the present
business
C) Instances of union misconduct
D) All of the above
Answer B Page 349 easy

8. What is the term used to describe a situation where there are individuals involved in a
business whose knowledge or skills are essential for the operation of the business?
A) Essential services
B) Skills transfer process
C) Key person doctrine
D) Successorship
Answer C Page 352 intermediate

9. What might the labour board consider if the employer has undertaken a transfer of
assets?
A) The price associated with a transfer
B) The location of the transferred entity
C) The loyalty of the employees during the transfer
D) Whether the new management had experience with unions
Answer A Page 351-352 difficult

10. What is the name of the process used to cancel a union’s certification?
A) Decertification
B) Term of cancellation
C) Reverse certification
D) Decreditation
Answer A Page 354 easy

11. Under Canadian labour law, who receives applications for decertification?
A) Labour tribunals
B) Labour relations boards
C) Essential services councils
D) The minister of labour
Answer B Page 359 easy

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12. What is the purpose of a vote among bargaining unit members for decertification?
A) To determine the actual level of support for decertification
B) All jurisdictions in Canada require a vote to be conducted
C) The existing union has the right to demand a vote
D) Employers require it
Answer A Page 359 difficult

13. Which of the following statements holds true when examining the concept of
raiding?
A) Newly certified unions are less likely to be raided
B) There are time bars in place to restrict when applications for certification can be
made for a group of workers already in a certified union
C) Raiding can occur at any time before the expiry of the collective agreement
D) Raiding is illegal in a few Canadian jurisdictions
Answer B Page 359-360 difficult

14. When a raiding union is successful and a new certification order is issued, what is
the only change to the previous certification order?
A) The names of the employer and the union
B) The identification of the bargaining unit
C) The scope of the certification order
D) The name of the union
Answer D Page 360 intermediate

15. Which of the following is not one of the reasons that unions are merging in Canada?
A) A response to the general trend in business toward larger organizations
B) Larger unions have more power than smaller ones
C) Governments are encouraging such mergers
D) They can increase their impact in collective bargaining
Answer C Page 361 difficult

16. Which of the following jurisdictions requires that the employer give notice before
making a technological change that will affect workers’ jobs or income?
A) Quebec
B) Federal
C) Ontario
D) Prince Edward Island
Answer B Page 365 easy

17. What is the term used to describe events such as downsizing, work being partially
or completely shifted to other locations or countries, or increased industry competition
leading to changes in working conditions or redesigned work?
A) Contracting out
B) Contraction
C) Workplace restructuring

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D) All of the above

Answer C Page 368 easy

18. Which of the following is not a factor that contributes to a union’s success in their
participation in restructuring the workplace?
A) Their ability to transmit internal and external information
B) Their financial resources
C) Their ability to educate and mobilize the membership in supporting the union’s
vision
D) Their ability to participate in decision-making at multiple points in the process
Answer B Page 589 difficult

19. In January 2012, a historical merger of two unions took place between the Canadian
Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions. Why was
this event important to labour relations in Canada? In 2009, Vancouver’s Handy DART
bus service came under new management with consolidated union representation of its
500 employees. With a 97 percent strike vote during bargaining, what issue was the
major stumbling block?
A) There are very few unions left in Canada
B) The new single union would represent over 300,000 workers across twenty
sectors
C) The new unions was poised to takeover a union in the U.S which had never
before occurred
D) No part of the merger was historical
Answer B Page 344 intermediate

20. Technological change can involve all but which of the following?
A) Altering the content of the job
B) Altering how work is conducted
C) Change in scheduling
D) Computerization or mechanization
Answer C Page 364-365 difficult

21. Why did the 2014 Ontario Labour Relations Board’s chair, Bernard Fishbein’s
decision in favour of the Richtree Market staff make sense for the 50 unionized
workers? ?
A) The bargaining rights did not continue at the non-unionized location in
accordance with Section 96 of the Labour Relations Act
B) The employer had contravened section 96 of the Labour Relations Act which
constituted unfair labour practice
C) There was no basis for any evidence of continuity
D) Richtree was able to make a clear case that successorship did not exist.
Answer B Page 360-361 easy

22. What change in a business is not usually part of a declaration of succesorship?

A) Expansion

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B) Merger
C) Spin-off
D) Move to a larger premises
Answer D Page 346 intermediate

23. What is ‘control’?

A) Direction maintained by management from the old company to the new company
B) Instruction given by management from the old company to the new company
C) How the finances operate from the old company to the new company
D) Who manages the new operation
Answer A Page 349 intermediate

24. There are several criteria other than control and continuity, which are considered
when determining if successorship exists. Which one of the following represents a
criterion not considered?
A) Direct contact
B) Who the shop stewards are
C) Transfer of assets
D) Transfer of logo
Answer B Page 349-354 intermediate

25. What will allow a labour board to declare a decertification on its own initiative?
A) Spoiled ballots
B) Protest by one of the parties
C) Fraud
D) Miscount
Answer C Page 358 easy

26. In most Canadian labour laws, what is the level of support required for a
decertification?
A) The same level that is required for certification
B) Similar to the level required for certification
C) Less than the level required for certification
D) Greater than the level required for certification
Answer A Page 359 easy

27. What is not permitted during a legal decertification vote?

A) Secret ballot
B) Voting outside of working hours
C) Vote conducted in the workplace
D) A simple yes/no question
Answer B Page 359 intermediate

28. How is the frequency of decertifications that occur as a result of abandonment of

bargaining rights characterized?
A) Never frequent

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B) Always frequent
C) Fairly frequently
D) Fairly unusual
Answer D Page 358 easy

29. Why do some jurisdictions have legislation to regulate changes in certified unions?
A) To ensure similarity with successorship legislation
B) To give notice to all affected parties
C) To ensure continuity in representation
D) To make the transition smooth
Answer C Page 363 intermediate

30. What is the purpose of a ‘reopener clause’?

A) To give notice to management that the union wants to make changes
B) To allow the parties on mutual consent to revise any part of the collective
agreement
C) To allow the parties to renegotiate terms of the collective agreement while it is
still in effect
D) To give notice to the union that management wants to make changes
Answer B Page 365 intermediate

TRUE OR FALSE QUESTIONS

31. If a labour board finds sufficient evidence of continuity or complete abdication of

responsibility by a business owner, a declaration of successorship will be issued.
False Page 349 intermediate

32. In order to assess whether successorship exists, the labour board looks for an
employer’s anti-union animus.
True Page 348 easy

33. A common employer declaration states that all the employer’s businesses are
considered to be a single business for the purposes of certification and the collective
agreement.
True Page 353-354 intermediate

34. Five jurisdictions in Canada require specific notification for any technological
changes.
True Page 365 easy

35. Some jurisdictions in Canada allow employers, as well as employees, to make

applications for decertification.
True Page 358 intermediate

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36. One study that examined workplace restructuring in the Ontario supermarket
industry found that the union’s efforts on behalf of female part-time employees were
particularly successful.
False Page 370-371 difficult

37. Union mergers have been taking place in substantial numbers throughout Canada’s
labour history.
False Page 361 intermediate

38. Any change in business, which involves and expansion, sale or merger requires a
declaration of successorship.
True Page 347 difficult

39. The restructuring of work due to technological change usually causes no

substantive change in the composition of the bargaining unit or the structure of the
employer.
True Page 364 difficult

40. Few collective agreements include language to deal with issues such as layoffs or
terminations.
False Page 367 intermediate

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

41. A certification is considered to be in effect indefinitely and a collective agreement is

negotiated to last for a predetermined period. How does the element of time factor into
these two processes?
Both a certification and a collective agreement reflect the situations that existed at the
time these documents were created. There are often workplace changes that occur
after the agreement is completed. There can also be changes to the status of the
parties named in the certification or the collective agreement while these documents are
still in effect. Therefore, there has to be a process to allow the parties to deal with
significant changes to the union or employer when and where those changes occur.
(Page 346, intermediate)

42. What is meant by the term successorship?

Successorship refers to a situation where there is some material change in a business
or employer after a certification order is in place and there is a question of whether the
certification order should continue to apply.
(Page 346, easy)

43. When can issues of successorship arise?

Successorship issues can arise when an employer moves the place of business (either
through expansion or closure); when a business itself is sold or transferred to a new
owner; when the purpose of the business changes or broadens; or when the employer

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transfers work to other locations or to other workers or organizations through

subcontracting.
(Page 346-347, intermediate)

44. What are some of the challenges faced by labour relations boards in determining
whether or not successorship exists?
The Labour Board has to differentiate between changes which occur in the normal
course of business (changes that would have taken place regardless of whether the
certification existed or not) and those changes that might have been undertaken by the
employer for no other reason than to weaken the power of the union or to avoid the
effects of certification on the organization.
(Page 348, difficult)

45. Timeline restrictions on decertification applications serve two purposes. What are
they?
First, they give newly certified unions a chance to establish themselves as credible
worker representatives. Because newly certified unions may be inexperienced in union
administration or participation, the timeline restriction allows new unions and new union
members to establish themselves and gain experience.

Second, these timelines minimize the possibility that decertification applications will be
made during times when feelings about the union might be particularly heated, such as
during collective bargaining.
(Page 354 & 357, intermediate)

46. Discuss the impact of a failed bid for successorship on a union’s ability to function in
cases where the business has changed substantially.
A failure to declare successorship may substantially impair the union’s ability to function
effectively as the worker’s representative, especially if the union now represents only a
small part of a now expanded business, or if the certification now applies to a business
that has effectively ceased to function because the location has closed or downsized.
(Page 354, difficult)

47. Comment on the importance of the decertification process.

Decertification is an important part of labour relations legislation because it provides a
method by which union members can hold their unions accountable for performance. It
allows employees to remove weak, indifferent, or ineffective unions. They can remove
union representation of any type if they feel that the union no longer serves their
interests. The decertification balances the workers rights to representation in the
workplace by importantly providing them with a way to leave the union, just as they
have a method by which to join a union.
(Page 354, easy)

48. Explain the term ‘abandonment of bargaining rights’. What does this concept have
to do with decertification?

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Most Canadian labour codes allow for an employer to make an application for
decertification or for a labour board to issue decertification on its own initiative if there is
an abandonment of bargaining rights by the union. Once a certification order is issued
collective bargaining must commence. If a union has not issued a notice to bargain to
the employer or has not commenced bargaining, it may be considered to have
abandoned its bargaining rights. If the union has not engaged in these processes, it
may be that it is no longer fulfilling its obligation to represent the employees as their
bargaining agent and may be decertified.
(Page 358 - 359, difficult)

49. Some Canadian jurisdictions require that employers give notice before making a
technological change that will affect workers. What is the intent of this requirement?
This requirement does not necessarily protect employees against substantive changes
in working conditions due to technological change, but it does at least provide advance
notice of such changes so that employees and unions can make adjustments and
perhaps attempt to negotiate ways to alleviate the negative impact of the technological
change.
(Page 365-366 & Table 12-4, intermediate)

50. Does a union have an inherent right to negotiate workplace changes with
management even when there is no such right specified in the collective agreement?
Discuss both points of view.
Most collective agreements give management the right to manage the workplace,
including areas not addressed in the agreement. This view implies that management
has the unchallenged right to decide on whatever workplace changes it deems
appropriate. On the other hand, it could be argued that the union should be involved in
the planning of workplace restructuring because of any possible impact on employees.
The union’s involvement might facilitate acceptance of these changes that might
otherwise be perceived as a unilateral or insensitive management action.
(Page 368-369, intermediate)

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS

51. What criteria might labour relations boards use when assessing whether continuity
exists and successorship should be approved? (Pages 351-354)
 Direct contact
 Transfer of assets
 Identification
 Transfer of cusomters lists
 Transfer of accounts receivable, contracts, inventory 

 Non­ competition pledges 

 Key­ person doctrine 

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52. Discuss the trend of union mergers in Canada. What are the advantages of these
mergers? (Pages 361-364)

Suggested answer:
i. These mergers are becoming more prevalent for a number of reasons.
ii. They are a means to ensure the continued viability of unions, particularly smaller
unions.
iii. The larger the membership, the more impact the union can have in the workplace
and the more economic pain a union can inflict on the employer.
iv. Larger unions may see their historical membership base decreasing and perceive a
merger with other unions as a way to maintain their continued existence.
v. They are a response to the general business trend toward larger organizations.
vi. Globalization and increased ease of communications have made it more viable for
organizations to merge.
vii. Unions may need to be larger to match the bargaining power of larger organizations.
viii.Larger unions have greater financial resources.

53. Discuss the impact of workplace restructuring on unions and discuss some
union responses to restructuring. (Pages 368-371)

Suggested answer:
Workplace restructuring encompasses such events as downsizing, work being
shifted to other locations or countries, and increased industry competition leading to
changes in working conditions or redesigned work. These events put a great deal of
pressure on unions to defend their members in the face of these changes. In addition,
unions are affected directly since job losses related to these events lead to declines in
membership.
Unions are attempting to negotiate clauses in collective agreements or improve
their working relationships with the employer to limit management’s ability to execute
unilateral changes in the workplace, and to at least require discussion with the union
before the changes are made. This also forces unions to be creative in finding ways to
reduce the negative impact changes in the workplace can have on employees. They
may also have to be more cooperative in working with employers to strengthen the
businesses and avoid the need for drastic workplace restructuring.

Union involvement during restructuring has not been widely addressed by the Canadian
labour relations boards and while there is a role the union could effectively play to assist
with navigating any layoffs or terminations that result, union involvement cannot be seen
to tread on management rights normally explicitly contained in the collective agreement.

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