SHP - 64

CANADA

PROVINCE OF QUEBEC

DISTRICT OF MONTREAL

 

IN THE MATTER OF THE CANADA LABOUR CODE (PART V - INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS) AND A DISPUTE BETWEEN:

 

CANADIAN RAILWAYS SIGNATORY TO AGREEMENTS PROVIDING FOR AN ADDITIONAL GENERAL HOLIDAY IN THE YEAR 1980

(the "Railways")

AND

ASSOCIATED NON-OPERATING RAILWAY UNIONS, DIVISION NO. 4, RAILWAY EMPLOYEES' DEPARTMENT AFL-CIO (SHOPCRAFTS), BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS, UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION

(the "Unions")

RE: DISPUTE ON ONE ADDITIONAL GENERAL HOLIDAY

 

A.B. Gold, Chief Judge - Provincial Court

 

 

AWARD OF THE ARBITRATOR

The question I am called upon to decide appears from the Joint Statement of Issue which reads as follows:

The Master Agreements and Memoranda of Agreement ... [contain] the following general holiday provision:

1. Effective January 1, 1980, one additional general holiday is to be added to the existing ten. This additional general holiday, which may not be the same in all geographical areas, is to be designated by negotiation between the parties. Such determination is to be made not later than December 1, 1979.

2. If the Government of Canada designates Heritage Day or such other day as a General Holiday, the day so designated by the Government shall be substituted for the additional general holiday negotiated pursuant to Item (1) above.'

The parties cannot agree on the day to be designated as the additional General Holiday.

It is the contention of the Unions that the third Monday in February (the day proposed as "Heritage Day") should be designated as the eleventh general holiday in all provinces.

It is the contention of the Railways that the eleventh general holiday to be designated should be

In the Province of Quebec: The first Monday in August.

In the other provinces: The day after that on which New Year's Day is observed, except, when New Year's Day falls on a Friday, this holiday will be observed on the following Monday.

II

I think the Railways are right for these reasons.

To state the obvious, a general holiday is intended to be a day of rest - not of work - for as many members of the work force as possible, considering the nature of the employer's operations.

It is no accident, therefore, that the parties to collective agreements usually pick days that are by tradition, custom, law or decree, general holidays throughout the country or in one or more of its specified regions.

The parties here are no exception. These are the days that they have chosen for their ten general holidays:

All provinces:

New Year's Day

Good Friday

Victoria Day

Dominion Day

Labour Day

Thanksgiving Day

Christmas Day

Boxing Day

Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island:

Easter Monday

Remembrance Day

Quebec:

St. Jean Baptiste Day (in substitution for Remembrance Day)

The day after that on which New Year's Day is observed, except when New Year's Day falls on a Friday this holiday will be observed on the following Monday.

Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta & British Columbia:

Civic Holiday (the first Monday in August)

Remembrance Day"

This, in my respectful view, also explains why the Honourable Emmett Hall in his award of January 16th, 1974, (under the provisions of the Maintenance of Railway Operations Act, 1973) found it "easy" to award Heritage Day as an additional holiday. Here are his precise words on the subject:

The request for one additional general holiday is going to be easy to meet. Parliament is establishing a February holiday to be known as `Heritage Holiday', on the third Monday of February in each year. When this becomes law, Heritage Holiday will be added to the list of general holidays now provided for under the Master Agreements. (Emphasis added)

Unfortunately, things did not quite work out as intended. Heritage Day was never created a legal holiday by legislative enactment or otherwise and it does not fall to me to decide or even to speculate as to when, if ever, it will be.

One thing is certain however: it is not a general holiday now. It is just the third Monday of February, a day like any other and, in fact, just another working day for most of the members of the Canadian work force.

In the circumstances, it seems to me most inappropriate to designate Heritage Day as the eleventh general holiday under the collective agreements between the parties.

I am confirmed in my view of the matter by the way the parties themselves see it. In agreeing that Heritage Day (if enacted) be substituted for the eleventh general holiday (whether agreed to or awarded) they have, by implication at least, acknowledged that it is only suitable when made a general holiday throughout the land.

On the whole, therefore, and considering all the circumstances, I am satisfied that the third Monday of February, the day proposed as Heritage Day, is not an appropriate day for the eleventh general holiday under the collective agreements between the parties herein.

On the contrary, I am of the opinion that the day, or days (to be precise) designated by the Railways, as herein above set out, are appropriate in the circumstances and I so find and declare.

 

FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS I hereby designate the eleventh general holiday under the collective agreements between the parties to be as follows:

In the Province of Quebec: The first Monday in August.

In other provinces: The day after that on which New Year's Day is observed, except, when New Year's Day falls on a Friday, this holiday will be observed on the following Monday.

MONTREAL, December 17th, 1979.

(signed) CHIEF JUDGE ALAN B. GOLD,

ARBITRATOR.