The Grain Services Union has applied to the Canada Industrial Relations Board to be certified as the agent representing more than 120 AgPro Grain employees in Alberta and Manitoba.
“The application goes to the (Canada Industrial Relations Board) along with evidence of union support by the employees and the board will decide if they grant certification,” said GSU general secretary Hugh Wagner.
“If it does, and we think it will, then we begin bargaining a collective agreement covering the employees in Alberta and Manitoba.”
The AgPro employees work at grain elevators in Brandon and Boissevain, Man., as well as six elevators in Alberta: Crossfield, Lethbridge, Vulcan, Killam, Lavoy and Trochu. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, which owns AgPro, built the elevators within the last three years.
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The industrial relations board has forwarded the union’s application to the pool. A pool spokesperson said the application was received Oct. 3 and is under review.
John Taggart, a senior labor relations officer with the industrial relations board, said the pool has 10 days to respond.
“We need to get information from the employer,” Taggart said.
“We then also need to know from the employer what they think of the application. What I mean by that is, principally, what are their views in respect to the group of people the union is applying to represent? Do they think that it’s appropriate or do they believe it’s inappropriate?”
Taggart said if the pool disagrees, information will be gathered to support reasons for the rejection. But for now he said it’s just wait and see.
After the pool replies to the application, it will go back to the relations board in Ottawa for a final decision. The process could take 60 to 90 days.
If accepted, Wagner said the first collective agreement will involve establishing the terms and conditions of employment, which include wage rates, work hours and benefits.
The GSU already represents about 85 employees at AgPro terminals in Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Sask., and St. Boniface, Man.
