Breached constitution and walked out of union
Union-man Joe Hill breaks the union’s constitution. Is he liable to every other member of his union?
That important question was recently before Ontario’s top court, in a very dramatic fashion involving Air Canada pilots.
In 1991, Air Canada pilots became part of the 4,000-pilot bargaining unit of the Canadian Airline Pilots Association (CALPA).
CALPA’s constitution permitted the union president to issue a merger declaration, requiring the employees of all the unions merging into CALPA to participate in an integrated seniority list.
That is, when the president took advantage of this option, he was indicating that he wanted to make one seniority list out of what had been lists respecting six different airlines.
Air Canada and Air Ontario could not agree about an integrated list, so, as the constitution stipulated, the dispute went to binding arbitration.
The arbitrator rejected the Air Canada pilots’ argument that they should have seniority over Air Ontario pilots. He ordered that the bottom 15 per cent of the Air Canada pilots were to be “dove-tailed” with all senior pilots on the general list.
CALPA’s president accepted this award, but the Air Canada pilots refused to disclose their seniority list. They voted to reject the arbitral award and left CALPA to form their own union.
Two years later, CALPA members brought a class action suing the Air Canada pilots personally for $300 million in damages.
They claimed that, by refusing to accept the arbitral award, the Air Canada pilots breached the CALPA constitution. But on a pre-trial motion, a judge shut the lawsuit down, ruling that there was no contract between the Air Canada pilots individually and the CALPA members individually.
The Ontario Court of Appeal now has upheld that view. Justice Robert Sharpe has held, for the court, that “since the rights and obligations of individual [union] members exist in relation to all other members as a whole, a direct, one-on-one individual contractual relationship...would be contrary to the essential nature of the union as a group of members...
“It would be a distortion of the very nature of the complex of contracts between each and every member to suggest that members are individually contractually liable to each other.
“Thus, it follows that the contractual right of an individual member to damages lies against the membership as a whole and not against other individual union members.” (The italics are Justice Sharpe’s.)
In 1957, the Supreme Court of Canada endorsed the view that each member of a union has a contract with each of his union colleagues, committing himself to the group on the specific terms in the union constitution.
Here, the court is limiting the extent of such contracts, declaring that damage lie against the union membership as a whole where the claim is based on a breach of the union constitution or “contract.”
For more information:
• Berry v. Pulley, 48 Ontario Reports (3d) 169, Apr. 28/00 (Ont. C.A.).
That important question was recently before Ontario’s top court, in a very dramatic fashion involving Air Canada pilots.
In 1991, Air Canada pilots became part of the 4,000-pilot bargaining unit of the Canadian Airline Pilots Association (CALPA).
CALPA’s constitution permitted the union president to issue a merger declaration, requiring the employees of all the unions merging into CALPA to participate in an integrated seniority list.
That is, when the president took advantage of this option, he was indicating that he wanted to make one seniority list out of what had been lists respecting six different airlines.
Air Canada and Air Ontario could not agree about an integrated list, so, as the constitution stipulated, the dispute went to binding arbitration.
The arbitrator rejected the Air Canada pilots’ argument that they should have seniority over Air Ontario pilots. He ordered that the bottom 15 per cent of the Air Canada pilots were to be “dove-tailed” with all senior pilots on the general list.
CALPA’s president accepted this award, but the Air Canada pilots refused to disclose their seniority list. They voted to reject the arbitral award and left CALPA to form their own union.
Two years later, CALPA members brought a class action suing the Air Canada pilots personally for $300 million in damages.
They claimed that, by refusing to accept the arbitral award, the Air Canada pilots breached the CALPA constitution. But on a pre-trial motion, a judge shut the lawsuit down, ruling that there was no contract between the Air Canada pilots individually and the CALPA members individually.
The Ontario Court of Appeal now has upheld that view. Justice Robert Sharpe has held, for the court, that “since the rights and obligations of individual [union] members exist in relation to all other members as a whole, a direct, one-on-one individual contractual relationship...would be contrary to the essential nature of the union as a group of members...
“It would be a distortion of the very nature of the complex of contracts between each and every member to suggest that members are individually contractually liable to each other.
“Thus, it follows that the contractual right of an individual member to damages lies against the membership as a whole and not against other individual union members.” (The italics are Justice Sharpe’s.)
In 1957, the Supreme Court of Canada endorsed the view that each member of a union has a contract with each of his union colleagues, committing himself to the group on the specific terms in the union constitution.
Here, the court is limiting the extent of such contracts, declaring that damage lie against the union membership as a whole where the claim is based on a breach of the union constitution or “contract.”
For more information:
• Berry v. Pulley, 48 Ontario Reports (3d) 169, Apr. 28/00 (Ont. C.A.).
