Secret Ballot Votes

The Labour Board will schedule a secret ballot vote open to all the workers in a group if at least 40% of the workers have signed a union application card, but not enough have signed for a majority (50% + 1).

Unions will usually work very hard to make sure that a majority (50% + 1) of workers have signed union application cards to begin with, so they can qualify for automatic certification without a second step of a secret ballot vote.

When a secret ballot vote is required, the vote will normally be scheduled within 10 days of the union applying, and the workers’ employer will be notified before the vote. (Again, the employer never sees the signed union cards or a list of who signed them – the employer is simply notified that enough cards have been submitted to trigger a secret ballot vote).

And it’s the Labour Board — not the union or the employer — who will carry out the vote. No one will ever know how you voted.

The choice to form a union is up to the workers alone. Manitoba law (The Labour Relations Act) prohibits employers from doing certain things which will interfere with the rights of employees to freely choose whether to form a union. These actions are called unfair labour practices.

· make it a condition of employment that you do not join a union

· fire you if you are a member of a union or trying to organize a union

· contribute financial or other support to a union

· participate in or interfere with the formation of a union, it is up to the employees to decide whether or not to form a union

· use coercion, intimidation, threats, promises or undue influence to interfere with employees unionizing

Some examples of other things employers cannot do are:

· promise employees a pay increase, better working conditions, additional benefits or special favours if they stay out of the union

· threaten to fire or reduce the wages of people who support the union

· threaten to close or move the company or drastically change operations if the union is voted in

· spy on workers attending union meetings

· tell employees that the company will refuse to bargain with a union if it is certified

· intentionally assign the worst jobs to union supporters

· threaten or discipline workers for talking to other employees or getting them to sign union cards during non-working times, including breaks

· transfer employees who support the union to other worksites to disrupt the union drive

· ask workers how they intend to vote in a union certification vote

· ask employees about union meetings or who they know have signed union cards

· urge loyal employees to persuade other employees not to support the union

· allow the production of anti-union literature using company equipment

· require employees to attend a meeting for the employer to express their views about unions

Likewise, there are rules governing what a union can and cannot do. A union cannot:

· organize on the employer’s premises during an employee’s working hours without the consent of the employer

· use coercion, intimidation, threats, promises or undue influence to encourage trade union membership

· interfere with the performance of work because certain employees are not members of a particular trade union

In addition, once a union applies for certification, the conditions of employment are frozen. This is done by the Board because employers will often try to make conditions better at a workplace, by raising wages for example, in an attempt to convince employees to vote against forming a union.