Hearings were held yesterday at the Labour Board where the Unfair Labour Practice charges and the merger application were heard before a commissioner. The Guild and the Company agreed to have the commissioner rule on the issue immediately.
The Company was found guilty of Bad Faith with regards to the response to a letter from “anonymous.”

The commissioner has yet to rule on several other charges of bad faith against the company. In particular the letters to RSS members that deal with the “offer of settlement” and “final proposal”. We expect to have the decisions next week. Once we hear from the commissioner we will know the legality of the “final proposal”.
The commissioner also found the Guild guilty of an Unfair Labour Practice because we insisted that RSS, Editorial and Advertising bargain together. “We’re guilty for trying to unite and fight for our membership” Guild President Mona Leroux said.
The Guild had also filed an application to merge RSS, Editorial and Advertising into one bargaining unit. The commissioner ruled against the application so merger at this time is not an option. The commissioner’s reasons for this decision as well as all the others will follow soon.

Now that the legalities are becoming clearer the Guild intends to open discussions with the Company to see where we go from here.