Court rescinds Weyburn Wal-Mart workers' union certification

A certification order issued last year to unionize workers at the Weyburn Wal-Mart store has been voided by a Court of Queen's Bench justice.

The ruling, by Justice Peter Foley, is the latest development in an epic battle that began when an application to represent workers at the Weyburn store was made in April 2004 by the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

The UFCW applied for the certification based on the contention that a majority of the workers in the proposed bargaining unit at the Weyburn store, 110 kilometres southeast of Regina, had signed union cards. A secret ballot was not held and was not required under the labour laws in effect at that time.

But changes to provincial labour law, implemented in May 2008, stipulate that a vote by secret ballot is now required to certify a union.

The Weyburn Wal-Mart union was finally certified in December 2008, based on the old card-signing process.

Wal-Mart appealed. But, in a ruling issued earlier this year, the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board said it was justified in certifying the union based on the card-signing system that was valid at the time the original application to certify the union was made.

Wal-Mart further appealed to the Court of Queen's Bench.

Foley ruled Tuesday that the labour relations board erred, in certifying the union based on a certification procedure that has now been rescinded.


Court rescinds Weyburn Wal-Mart workers' union certification

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