Certification Process

The first step in certification is to collect signatures from those who wish to certify. The Labour Board requires evidence that at least 40% of eligible employees have signed. Once signatures have been collected from 40% of the eligible group (see below) the cards are submitted with an application to the Labour Board. Signature are confidential and the University does not know who has signed; only how many signatures have been collected. The Board then holds a vote where employees indicate whether or not they wish to certify. If a simple majority of those voting support certification, the Board will recognize the employee group as the certified bargaining agent.

What is the eligible group? That is, who would be included in the bargaining group? This is not entirely straightforward. Clearly, all probationary and tenured faculty and continuing-appointment librarians would be inside the “group”. The status of contractually-limited faculty, Professional/Managerial Staff of the Animal Health Laboratory, among others, is less clear. The Labour Relations Board would have to rule on the appropriateness of the proposed bargaining group. One would anticipate that UGFA would argue that the “group” should include all employees who have duties consistent with those of faculty members and librarians.