TIME LIMITS AWARD - PART 1

IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION INTERIM ORDER


BETWEEN:

THE CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY COMPANY
(“the Company”)

And

THE UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION
(“the Union”)



RE: ARTICLE 84 – TIME LIMITS




ARBITRATOR: Michel G. Picher


APPEARING FOR CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY:

Andre Giroux – Counsel
Doug Van Cauwenbergh – Director, Labour Relations
Myron W. Becker – Director, Labour Relations, CSXT – Operations
J. Torchia – Senior Manager, Labour Relations
R.A. Bowden – Manager, Labour Relations
Donald Gagne – Manager, Labour Relations
Barry Hogan – Manager, Labour Relations
J. Krawec – Manager, Labour Relations (Retired)

APPEARING FOR UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION:

Michael A. Church – Counsel
Guy Ethier – General Chairperson
Glenn Gower – Vice General Chairperson
Ed Page – Local Chairperson, Local 483
Rex Beatty – Former General Chairperson
James Robbins – Former Vice General Chairperson



A hearing in this matter was held in Toronto on July 17, 2008.
AWARD


This grievance concerns the application of the provisions of article 84 of the collective agreement which govern the timeliness of a submission of a grievance to the Canadian Railway Office of Arbitration and Dispute Resolution. By agreement, the parties decided to have this matter heard and determined by the Arbitrator on an expedited and ad-hoc basis.

A conference call was held in advance of the hearing, in relation to a possible intervention on behalf of the United Transportation Union’s international office. Its counsel, Mr. Brian Shell, expressed concern during the conference call that the dispute not deal with certain events and the actions of representatives appointed by the UTU’s international office after the commencement of a strike by the Union against the Company on February 10, 2007 until such time as General Chairperson Guy Ethier was elected in October of 2007. By agreement between the parties it was undertaken that there would be no evidence or argument concerning the events between those dates. That undertaking was honoured during the course of the hearing and, for the purposes of clarity, nothing in this award touches upon actions of the representatives of the UTU International between the commencement of the strike on February 10, 2007 and the installation into office of Mr. Ethier in October of the same year, or in relation to the timeliness of any grievances within that period.

The time limits in relation to the grievance procedure have been included in the collective agreement since 1929. Those time limits relating to the various steps of the grievance procedure are not here at issue. What is at issue is the time within which a grievance is to be filed for arbitration with the Canadian Railway Office of Arbitration and Dispute Resolution. The provisions of articles 84.3 through 84.5 of the collective agreement bear on this dispute. They read as follows:
84.3 A grievance which is not settled at the Vice-President’s Step of the grievance procedure may be referred by either party to the Canadian Railway Office of Arbitration for final and binding settlement without stoppage of work.

(Refer to Addendum No. 22)

84.4 A request for arbitration shall be made within 60 calendar days from the date decision is rendered in writing by the Vice-President by filing written notice thereof with the Canadian Railway office of Arbitration and on the same date a copy of such filed notice will be transmitted to the other party to the grievance.

NOTE: In the application of this paragraph upon receipt of a request for arbitration, the Company will meet with the General Chairperson, within 30 calendar days from receipt of such request, to finalize the required Joint Statement of Issue. Failure to comply with the provisions of this paragraph will permit either party to the dispute to progress the dispute to the Canadian Railway Office of Arbitration on an “ex parte basis” pursuant to the provisions of the Memorandum of Agreement governing the Canadian Railway Office of Arbitration.

Grievances Not Timely
84.5 Any grievance not progressed by the Union within the prescribed time limits shall be considered settled on the basis of the last decision and shall not be subject to further appeal. The settlement of a grievance on this basis will not constitute a precedent or waiver of the contentions of the Union in that case or in respect of other similar claims