Masonry Magazine December 1982 Page. 18
MCAA
Information...
ONTARIO LABOUR RELATIONS BOARD
File No. 1880-80-JD:
Between:
TILECHEM LIMITED,
(Complainant).
and
UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS and
JOINERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 1669,
LABOURERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH
AMERICA, ONTARIO PROVINCIAL DISTRICT
COUNCIL and THE LABOURERS' INTERNATIONAL
UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL 607,
(Respondents),
and
ONTARIO MASONRY CONTRACTORS
ASSOCIATION,
(Intervener),
BEFORE: Ian Springate, Vice-Chairman, and Board Members J.
Wilson and H. Kobryn.
APPEARANCES: Ed Marilley for the complainant: Douglas J. Wray
for United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America,
Local 1669, S. B. D. Wahl for Labourers' International Union of
North America, Ontario Provincial District Council, and The La-
bourers' International Union of North America, Local 607; R. D.
Perkins for the intervener.
DECISION OF IAN SPRINGATE, VICE-CHAIRMAN AND BOARD
MEMBER J. WILSON:
This is a complaint under what is now section 91 of the
Labour Relations Act. In April of 1980, Tilechem Limited ("Tile-
chem") assigned the erection and dismantling of tubular metal
scaffolding on a project in Kapuskasing to members of Labourers'
International Union of North America, Local 607 ("the Labourers'
union"). Subsequently, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America, Local 1669 ("the Carpenters' union") made a
demand that the work be reassigned to its members employed as
carpenters. Tilechem is bound to collective agreements with both
unions. It was in response to the demand of the Carpenters' union
that Tilechem filed the instant complaint.
The parties are in agreement that the work in dispute can
be described as follows:
All tubular metal scaffolding erection and dismantling with
respect to unit masonry acid resistant tank of vessel con-
struction at the Spruce Falls Paper Mill, Kapuskasing On-
tario.
The parties are in agreement that the Board's direction should
be binding on the parties for jobs other than the one giving rise
to the instant dispute, as is permitted under section 91(2) of the
Act. The parties are in disagreement, however, as to the proper
geographic scope of the direction. Whereas Tilechem and the La-
bourers' union contend that the order should cover all of Northern
Ontario, the Carpenters' union takes the position that the order
should be limited to the concurrent jurisdictional areas of the two
locals which are before the Board. Having regard to the fact that
other locals of the two unions in Northern Ontario were not on
notice that they might be affected by these proceedings, the Board
is satisfied that any direction in this matter should be limited to
the concurrent jurisdictional areas of the two locals. This area can
be described as follows:
The District of Kenora (including the Patricia portion), the
District of Rainy River, the District of Thunder Bay, that
part of the District of Cochrane which lies north of the 49th
parallel of latitude and west of the North Driftwood, Abitibi
and Moose Rivers to James Bay (including the said rivers)
save and except that area which lies within a radius of 81
kilometers of the Timmins Federal Building.
The erection of tubular metal scaffolding is essentially sim-
ple work which requires no real skill or training to perform. Mem-
bers of trades such as plumbers and pipefitters frequently install
their own scaffolding. On large projects where a number of trades
will be working off the scaffolding, it is quite common for the
general contractor to assign the work to carpenters who are as-
sisted by labourers. The carpenters rely on this general practice
in the instant case. The Labourers' union. Tilechem and the On-
tario Masonry Contractors Association, of which Tilechem is a
member, however, all contend that scaffold erected for the type
of work in dispute is masonry scaffolding, and that it is common
practice for masonry scaffolding to be erected by members of the
Labourers' union who are referred to as "mason tenders".
The work assigned to mason tenders traditionally includes
not only general labouring functions, but also keeping masons
supplied with mortar, brick, tile and block. For at least twenty
years it has also been a general practice to have scaffolding work
on strictly masonry projects performed by mason tenders. From
time to time the Carpenters' union has, on the basis of a 1920
award by the National Board for Jurisdictional Awards, claimed
scaffolding work above the fourteen foot level on strictly masonry
projects, but almost always without success. In the Abe Dick Ma
sonry Limited case, [1971] OLRB Rep. May 432, this Board ruled
that the installation of tubular metal scaffolding on a masonry
project, regardless of height, should be awarded to members of
the Labourers' union. A series of similar rulings have been issued
by the National Labour Relations Board in the United States. See,
for example, Seedorff Masonry, Inc., (1968) 173 NLRB No. 184.
The Nova Scotia Labour Relations Board issued a like decision in
the Miller & Hughes Limited case, 1974. File No. 342c (Sec. 5b).
In the instant proceedings, the Carpenters' union agrees that it
was quite proper to have scaffolding which will be used only by
masons and their tenders erected by mason tenders belonging to the Labourers' union. However, the Carpenters' union
contends that since the scaffolding work in dispute was in fact
used by a number of trades, including carpenters, it should have
been erected by carpenters.
Tilechem is a Montreal based firm which specializes in the
construction and repair of unit masonry acid resistant tanks and
vessels. These tanks and vessels are meant to hold various solu-