Certification requirement in posting was wrong
A worker with years of experience at a B.C. sawmill abruptly had his job title changed and his position shifted to a lesser one.
Prem Dhaliwal had been working for Canadian Forest Products at the Isle Pierre sawmill in Prince George since 1971. He had been working as a head saw filer (HSF) since 1994.
In March 2009, the company said it needed to cut back on its shift contingent and switched Dhaliwal to working rotating shifts as a circular saw filer (CSF).
Dhaliwal was no longer classified as HSF, which meant he no longer worked steady day shifts in his own office earning one hour per day of overtime pay, as well as a $0.20 per hour premium. In his new position, he earned $1.03 per hour less than before.
The HSF position also included various supervisory duties and troubleshooting issues with other company locations.
In September 2010, Dhaliwal saw a company job listing for an HSF and asked Matt Franks, human resources manager, why it was being posted and if he knew about his history as a former HSF. Franks said he did not but told Dhaliwal he was free to apply for the position if he wished.
Dhaliwal did so and in January 2011 he was advised by Kerry McDonald, Canadian Forest Products maintenance superintendent, that he did not win the posting. It instead went to a worker identified as Beaulieu.
The posting called for a certified benchman certificate that Beaulieu didn’t possess and Dhaliwal did, so he asked McDonald why Beaulieu won the position.
McDonald said he didn’t know because the posting was created before he arrived at Isle Pierre (a month before). Dhaliwal testified that when Beaulieu was first hired, it was Dhaliwal who trained him for his first two weeks on the job.
United Steelworkers grieved the decision, arguing Dhaliwal should have automatically been moved back into the HSF position that he had previously occupied.
The company argued the 2010 change of job titles was not grieved by the union, so in effect the new reality was deemed acceptable by the union.
The company wanted to make the HSF title no longer in effect and instead refer to it as a chargehand. It admitted it used a template from another location that included a requirement for a benchman’s certificate.
The company said the requirement was a mistake and the new chargehand position did not need to hold such a designation.
It also said the title of HSF should be considered colloquial and it was not included in the collective agreement. Dhaliwal produced various company documents including business cards from 1995 that identified him as HSF.
The union said a new position of HSF should be written into the agreement in recognition of the years of service given by Dhaliwal, and it should not be known as the lesser position of chargehand.
Arbitrator Wayne Moore disagreed with the union’s contention that Dhaliwal should be recalled to the position of HSF.
“While some of the factors relied upon by the union deserve consideration and some weight in the cumulative analysis, it is my conclusion that they are simply not enough to warrant a separate classification,” said Moore.
Because the location no longer used a band saw, the requirement for a benchman’s certificate was moot, said Moore.
“It is also noteworthy that since the 2009 layoffs associated with the reduction in shifts, the grievor was retained, but as a CSF. This too supports the conclusion that the employer’s requirement for a certified benchman ceased as part of the shift reduction and layoffs.”
The posting process was simply an error by the company and it should not be considered prejudiced against Dhaliwal.
“I do not find the mistaken inclusion of the unnecessary qualification to have resulted in an unfairness to the grievor.
"Any concerns in that regard were more than adequately addressed by the offer to re-run the process which was quite appropriately declined by the union. It follows that I have found no breach of the collective agreement with respect to this alternate ground,” said Moore.
Reference: Canadian Forest Products and United Steelworkers, Local 1-424. Kim Bernhardt — arbitrator. Michael Wagner for the employer. Sarbjit Deepak for the employee. Aug. 2, 2016.
