Arbitration: a method of settling a labour-management
dispute by having an impartial arbitrator or arbitration
board render a decision that is binding on both the
trade union and the employer.
Bargaining
agent: a trade union acting on behalf of employees
in collective bargaining or as a party to a collective
agreement with an employer or employers' organization.
Bargaining
rights: the exclusive authority given to a trade
union to represent a group of employees of a particular
employer, or to a registered employers' organization
to represent a group of employers in the construction
industry.
Bargaining
unit: a group of employees appropriate for collective
bargaining.
Cease-and-desist
declaration: a declaration by the Labour Relations
Board directing a party to stop an activity that is
prohibited under the Labour Relations Code.
Certification:
official recognition by the Labour Relations Board
that a trade union is the exclusive bargaining representative
for employees in a particular unit.
Collective
agreement: an agreement in writing between an
employer or employers' organization and a bargaining
agent, containing terms or conditions of employment
that are binding on the employer, the trade union
and the employees covered by the agreement.
Collective
bargaining: a method of determining wages, hours
and other conditions of employment through direct
negotiations between a trade union and an employer.
Construction:
includes construction, alteration, decoration, restoration
or demolition of buildings, structures, roads, sewers,
water or gas mains, pipelines, dams, tunnels, bridges,
railways, canals or other works, but not including
delivery to a construction site or maintenance work.
Dispute:
when an employer and a trade union representing the
employees cannot agree upon the terms and conditions
of a collective agreement.
Disputes
Inquiry Board: a board established by the Minister
of Labour to inquire into and endeavour to settle
a collective bargaining dispute.
Duty
of fair representation: the duty of a trade union
to fairly represent employees in the bargaining unit
with regard to their rights under the collective agreement.
Employers'
organization: an organization of employers acting
on behalf of a number of employers, having as one
of its objectives the regulation of relations between
employers and employees.
Good-faith
bargaining: bargaining in which the two parties
make every reasonable effort to reach a collective
agreement.
Grievance: a disagreement over the interpretation of a provision
in a collective agreement, or an allegation by one
party that the other has violated the terms of the
agreement.
Grievance
procedure: the process contained in a collective
agreement for the settlement of disagreements over
the interpretation of a provision in a collective
agreement, or an allegation by one party that the
other has violated the terms of the agreement.
Group
of trade unions: one or more trade unions grouped
together in an application for a registration certificate
or in a registration certificate.
Interest
arbitration (collective agreement arbitration):
a method of settling a collective bargaining dispute
by having an impartial arbitrator or arbitration board
render a decision about the contents of a collective
agreement that is binding on both the trade union
and the employer.
Labour
Relations Code: the basic statute regulating labour
relations and collective bargaining in Alberta.
Labour
Relations Board: the agency established under the
Labour Relations Code to administer the Labour Relations
Code.
Lockout:
the closing of a place of employment by an employer,
the suspension of work by an employer, or the refusal
by an employer to continue to employ employees for
the purpose of compelling its employees, or to aid
another employer in compelling its employees, to accept
terms or conditions of employment.
Lockout
notice: an announcement of an employer's intention
to lock out employees, given in writing by an employer
to the trade union and the mediator.
Lockout
vote: a vote of an employer or employers' association
to decide if it or the members wish to take lockout
action.
Marshalling: the Board's review process of decisions (concerning employment) made by certain forums including labour relations boards, grievance arbitrators, human rights commissions and employment standards branch, Workers Compensation Board and Appeals Commissino, Occupational Health & Safety, Office of the Privacy Commissioner and School Act Board of Reference.
Mediation:
a method of encouraging and assisting in the settlement
of collective bargaining disputes in which the parties
to a dispute use a third person, called a mediator,
to assist them.
Mediator:
a person appointed by the Director of Mediation Services
or, in some cases, agreed up on by the employer and
the trade union, to mediate.
Notice
to bargain: a notice, served by either the trade
union or employer on the other, to initiate collective
bargaining.
Officer:
a person designated by the Chair of the Labour Relations
Board as an officer of the Board for the purposes
of the Labour Relations Code.
Open
period (also called a "window period"):
the period during which certain applications to the
Labour Relations Board can be made.
Part
of the construction industry: that part of the
construction industry that operates within a particular
trade jurisdiction and a particular sector.
Picketing:
patrolling around but not on an employer's premises
to increase the pressure on the employer to come to
an agreement with the trade union.
Proposal
vote: a vote conducted by the Labour Relations
Board to determine whether or not a party wishes to
accept a collective bargaining offer made by the other
party, a mediator's recommendation or the recommendation
of a Disputes Inquiry Board.
Raiding:
an attempt by one trade union to induce members of
another trade union to support the new trade union.
Registration:
official recognition by the Labour Relations Board
that an employers' organization is the exclusive bargaining
agent for employers in a part of the construction
industry.
Representation
vote: a vote conducted by the Labour Relations
Board to determine whether employees in a bargaining
unit or employers in the construction industry want
to have a particular trade union or employers' organization
represent them as their bargaining agent or want to
revoke those bargaining rights.
Returning
officer: a person in charge of a vote.
Revocation
(decertification): the removal of the exclusive
bargaining rights of a trade union by the Labour Relations
Board.
Rights
arbitration (grievance arbitration): a method
of settling collective agreement interpretation difficulties
or disputes over the discipline or discharge of an
employee by having an impartial arbitrator or arbitration
board render a decision about the meaning of the provisions
of the collective agreement that is binding on both
the trade union and the employer.
Sector:
a division of the construction industry specified
in the regulations as determined by work characteristics
(e.g., roadbuilding, general construction).
Strike:
a cessation of work, a refusal to work, or a refusal
to continue to work, by two or more employees acting
in combination with a common understanding for the
purpose of compelling their employer or an employers'
organization to agree to terms or conditions of employment,
or to aid other employees to compel their employer
or employers' organization to accept terms or conditions
of employment.
Strike
notice: an announcement that the employees will
go out on strike at a certain time, given in writing
to the employer and the mediator by the trade union.
Strike
vote: a vote by employees to decide if they are
prepared to take strike action to settle a dispute.
Successor
employer: an employer who becomes bound to a collective
agreement or a certificate that was binding on another
employer.
Successor
union: a trade union that succeeds and takes over
from another trade union by means of a merger, amalgamation
or transfer of jurisdiction, and acquires the rights
of the previous union under a certificate or a collective
agreement.
Trade
jurisdiction: a trade jurisdiction in the construction
industry is a type of construction work (e.g., electrical
work, carpentry). In establishing trade jurisdictions
for the purposes of labour relations, the Board uses
the various categories used in the apprenticeship
program.
Trade
union: an organization of employees that has a
written constitution, rules or bylaws, and has as
one of its objectives the regulation of relations
between employers and employees.
Unfair
labour practice: a contravention of any provision
of the Labour Relations Code committed by an employer,
employers' organization, trade union or individual.
Union
security clause: a provision in a collective agreement
making trade union membership or payment of union
dues compulsory for all or some of the employees in
a bargaining unit.
Voluntary
recognition: the recognition by an employer of
a trade union as the exclusive bargaining agent for
a group of employees.
Wages:
any salary, pay, overtime pay and any other remuneration
for work or services however computed, but not including
tips and other gratuities.
