Our client was a unionized employee in the federally-regulated grain industry. He filed a complaint with the Canada Industrial Relations Board alleging that the union failed to fairly represent him in his grievance proceedings against the employer.
After a three-day hearing, the Board found that the union had acted arbitrarily and in a bad faith manner in breach of its duty of fair representation of our client. The Board ordered that the complainant’s grievance proceed to arbitration, that he be permitted to hire his own lawyer, that the union pay for reasonable legal fees and, if the grievance is successful, that the union pay the complainant’s damages up to the time of this decision.
