Guide to the Labour Relations Code
Province of British Columbia

To ensure employees can effectively exercise their right to join a union, the Code prohibits any conduct by employers, unions or other organizations or persons that might interfere with that freedom.  Anyone who engages in conduct prohibited by the Code is said to have committed an unfair labour practice.

Section 6 of the Code prohibits an employer or anyone acting on its behalf from:

·        Participating in or interfering with the formation, selection or administration of a union, or contributing financial or other support to the union;

·        Discharging, suspending, transferring, laying off or otherwise disciplining an employee because that employee seeks to exercise his or her right to be a member of a union;

·        Discharging, suspending, transferring, laying off, or otherwise disciplining an employee except for proper cause during a union certification drive;

·        Imposing any condition in a contract of employment that attempts to restrain an employee from exercising his or her rights under the Code; and,

·        Threatening a penalty or promising a benefit to force an employee to refrain from becoming, or continuing to be, a member of a union.

Unless an employer's actions are intended (even in part) to interfere with an employee's rights under the Code, the employer is not prohibited from:

·        Discharging, suspending, transferring, laying off or otherwise disciplining an employee for proper cause; or,

·        Making any change in the operation of the business that is reasonably necessary for the proper conduct of the business.

As well, Section 8 of the Code gives all persons the freedom to express their views on any matter, including matters relating to an employer, a trade union or the representation of employees by a trade union, as long as they do not use intimidation or coercion.

Under Section 9 of the Code, it is an offence for anyone to use any kind of coercion or intimidation that might have the effect of forcing someone either to join or not to join a union or to quit a union.  The language of this section is broad enough to prohibit any such tactics by employers, unions, employees or anyone else.

A union commits an unfair labour practice if it tries to organize employees at the employer's place of business during working hours without the employer's consent.  This restriction, however, does not prevent employees from discussing the merits of unionization and distributing union literature during the lunch hour or other work breaks.

In dealing with their members, unions are required to apply the normally understood principles of natural justice.  They cannot engage in discriminatory practices respecting union membership or discipline of union members.  Union members cannot be penalized for refusing to participate in an activity prohibited by the Code, such as an illegal strike, for example.

This is only a summary of some of the unfair labour practice provisions contained in the Code.  Other unfair labour practices are discussed in greater detail elsewhere in this guide.

Duty of fair representation

The right of a union to be the exclusive bargaining agent on behalf of the employees it represents carries with it the duty of fair representation.  A union cannot act in bad faith or in an arbitrary or discriminatory fashion in representing an employee in the bargaining unit.  This applies regardless of whether the employee is a member of the union or not.  This duty applies both in the course of negotiations and in the administration of the collective agreement. 

Similarly, an employers' organization cannot act in bad faith or in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner in representing its member employers, and must carry out its functions in a fair and lawful manner.