Canadian Labour Reporter

LABOUR BRIEFS 2 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 FORMERLY CLV REPORTS Serving labour relations professionals since 1956 www.labour-reporter.com Published weekly by omson Reuters Canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $595 per year Customer Service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 Email: carswell.customerrelations@ thomsonreuters.com Website: www.carswell.com Director, Carswell Media Karen Lorimer Publisher John Hobel (on leave) Acting Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Todd Humber Editor/Supervisor Sarah Dobson | (416) 649-7896 sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com News Editor Sabrina Nanji | (416) 649-9348 sabrina.nanji@thomsonreuters.com News Editor Liz Foster | (416) 298-5129 liz.foster@thomsonreuters.com Marketing Co-ordinator Keith Fulford | (416) 649-9585 keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com © 2016 Carswell, a division of omson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher. e publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional advice. If legal or other expert assistanceis required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. e analysis contained herein represents the opinion of the authors and should in no way be construed as being either offi cial or unoffi cial policy of any governmental body. ISSN 0045-5113 Publications Registration 2089 Canadian Labour Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications. Visit www.hrreporter.com for more information. Labour Reporter Canadian www.labourreporter.com CMG begins union drive at Vice Canada TORONTO — The Canadian Media Guild (CMG) began the union process at Vice Canada in December. According to a statement on the CMG's website posted on Dec. 15, the union will be meet- ing with employees to discuss certification at the digital media outlet. "Like our editorial colleagues in the New York office, a number of us at Vice Canada from sev- eral departments have decided to begin the process of unioniz- ing," the statement said. "We are working with the Canadian Me- dia Guild, and many people have signed cards pledging their sup- port over the past few weeks." Should Vice Canada work- ers decide to join the union, they would follow their U.S. counterparts as well as staff at Gawker Media, the Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, Salon and the Guardian. Of concern for Vice Canada employees is that contract workers are included in benefits options, better and consistent salaries, protection around contract work, improved com- munication and clear journalis- tic standards. "We fully appreciate the steps management has taken to make this a great place to work, but we have some key concerns that we believe can only be addressed by all of us working together. Some of these differ for employees in different departments, while some affect us all," the statement said. Workplace violence not for federal employers to decide: Court OTTAWA — Public service em- ployers can't arbitrarily decide what constitutes workplace vio- lence, the Federal Court of Ap- peal decided late last year. In what is being touted as a "groundbreaking" ruling by the union that represents workers in the federal public service, the court ruled that employers can- not arbitrarily decide what is or isn't workplace harassment. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) had filed an ap- plication for judicial review after complaints of harassment and humiliation from Abel Akon (a poultry inspector at the Cana- dian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Saskatoon) were dis- missed by the employer and, later, a tribunal. Akon alleged his supervisor had humiliated and belittled him. He took his case to the Oc- cupational Health and Safety Tribunal, which sided with the CFIA. PSAC appealed that rul- ing and won on Nov. 30, when the federal court overturned the tribunal's decision. "It establishes that psycho- logical harassment can amount to workplace violence and is one of the worst forms of harm that can be inflicted over time," Bob Kingston, president of PSAC's agriculture union, said in a state- ment. According to PSAC's 2014 public service employee sur- vey, about one in five workers reported being harassed on the job. Many of those workers did not make formal complaints or grievances, and when asked why not, they responded that they feared reprisals or did not be- lieve it would make a difference. In its Nov. 30 decision, the Federal Court of Appeal also said employers should not be allowed to conduct their own investigations, as that "would make a mockery of the regula- tory scheme and effectively nul- lify the employees' right to an impartial investigation of their complaints." LABOUR LENS Seattle City Council unanimously approved a law last month that allows Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize. The move could set a precedent for the ride-share service industry, which is fraught with regulatory issues. Photo: Matt Mills McKnight (Reuters)

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