Canadian Labour Reporter

Religious freedom a right too: Gingrich lawyer Gingrich, who explained that the Bible required him to "live peace- ably with all men." He said his Mennonite beliefs and religious creed prevented him from em- ploying a unionized workforce. In a notice to employees on that same day, Gingrich ex- plained the reason behind the closure. "Each of you that work here were made aware in the hiring process that as an employer, we strive to operate with behaviour based on biblical principles," he said in the letter. "As Christian business owners, our personal beliefs will not allow our conscience the freedom to work with a labour union, as we are required by scripture to 'live peaceably with all men,' and not to use force to gain what we want for what is required to succeed," he explained. But labour laws dictate that employees have the right to join a union, and Gingrich's employees are protected under the Ontario Labour Relations Act. Shutting down constituted an illegal lock- out and demonstrated unfair la- bour practices, which prompted the union to launch a complaint with the Ontario Labour Rela- tions Board (OLRB). "Unifor was very surprised by the decision of Gingrich Wood- craft to close its business and il- legally lock out its employees. It is not often that employers will demonstrate such a blatant and public disregard for labour laws and workers' rights," said Sarah Lesniewski, a spokesperson for the union. "The law in Ontario is very clear — workers are free to join a union and cannot be dismissed, intimidated or discriminated against for doing so." Farah Baloo, Unifor's lawyer on the file, said the religious argu- ment is not relevant to the case, which should be open-and-shut. "It has nothing to do with free- dom of religions and it is com- pletely to do with the right of employees to be represented by a trade union. I think it's a post fac- to justification for illegal conduct — it's not relevant," Baloo said. The union is seeking 52 weeks' pay for employees as well as back pay for any lost wages. Unifor is also seeking damages of $10,000 for organizational and bargaining expenses. Whose right is it anyway? But Dan Matson, counsel for Leon Gingrich, said the owners are entitled to religious rights un- der the law as well. "Based on Bible principles, their faith states that they must live peaceably amongst all men and it is their belief that this cannot be accomplished with the adversarial processes that come with a labour union," Mat- son said, adding that the right to unionize doesn't necessarily trump the right to live according to individual faith. "Gingrich Woodcraft recog- nizes the freedom of association and the right to unionize that comes with that freedom, but also takes the position that they have the freedom to live accord- ing to their faith and therefore have the right to choose whether or not to operate." The Christian Labour Asso- ciation of Canada (CLAC) union said the situation is an unfortu- nate one overall. "As a trade union that em- braces the teachings that we read about in the Bible, I don't know if our approach would have sal- vaged the relationship given the statements that the employer has made, saying that any trade union is incompatible with their beliefs," said Andrew Regnerus, CLAC's construction co-ordinator for Ontario. "CLAC comes from a Chris- tian point of view and does col- lective bargaining, and we believe that certainly is defensible from a faith-based or Bible-based view- point." While it is unlikely the OLRB will force Gingrich to reopen its doors, one possible outcome is the employees and union will be compensated for the closure, Regnerus said. Employers whose religion dic- tates the terms of employment are rare in Canada, even rarer when a union is involved, said Baloo. While the labour relations act has protections in place for employees wishing to opt out of a union shop, there aren't such pro- visions for employers. The labour board hearings are scheduled for Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. 7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER NEWS < from pg. 1 The Ontario Labour Relations Board will determine later this month whether a northern Ontario furniture maker broke the law when it stopped production days after workers voted to join a union. Photo: Lester Balajadia (Shutterstock)

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