IN THE MATTER OF:

THE LABOUR RELATIONS CODE

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MISCELLANEOUS EMPLOYEES, TEAMSTERS LOCAL UNION 987 OF ALBERTA

Applicant

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SERCA FOODSERVICE INC., WESTERN DIVISION

Respondent

FILE NO.: GE-03335

BOARD MEMBERS

Gerald A. Lucas, Q.C. - Vice Chair
Irv Anderson - Member
Kay Willekes - Member

APPEARANCES

For the Applicant: Clayton H. Cook (Counsel), David Froelich
For the Respondent: David J. Ross, Q.C. (Counsel), Bob Wuest

REASONS FOR DECISION

 Application and Background

[1] By letter dated March 13, 2000, the Miscellaneous Employees, Teamsters Local Union 987 of Alberta (the "Union"), applied to have its certificate amended, pursuant s. 11(4), so as to include in its bargaining unit certain persons in the employ of SERCA Food Service Inc. ("Serca"), commonly referred to as Billing Clerks. The application was opposed by Serca. For a variety of reasons, the application was not heard by a panel of the Board until April 18th and 19th, 2001 and at the conclusion of the hearing an oral decision was given dismissing the Union's application with reasons to follow. A new Board member, Paul Bokenfor, sat with the panel for training purposes but did not participate in making the Board's decision.

[2] During the processing of the application the parties agreed the Board should conduct a vote of the Billing Clerks to ascertain if they supported the Union's application, which was done on December 18, 2000. We are advised that a majority of the 9 employees who voted were in support the application. Just prior to that vote, Serca filed an unfair labour practice, pursuant to s. 149(f), complaining over the conduct of certain officials of the Union and that complaint also came before this panel of the Board.

[3] At the commencement of the hearing on April 18th, there was some disagreement between counsel as to what matters the Board was to deal with. Counsel for the Union argued that in view of the results of the vote of the Billing Clerks on December 18th, the Union's application must be considered as having succeeded and the only matter in dispute was Serca's unfair labour practice complaint. On the other hand, Counsel for Serca argued that the outcome of the vote did not determine whether a unit encompassing the Billing Clerks would be an appropriate one. He argued the earlier vote which had been conducted by mutual agreement of the parties was merely to establish if the Union had the support of the majority of the employees it wished to have added to its unit, but it remained incumbent on the Union to call evidence to establish that such a combined unit would be an appropriate one. As well, some question arose as to whether the Union's application was properly made under s. 11(4) or whether it should have been brought under s. 11(3).

[4] After hearing the submissions of counsel, the Board gave an oral ruling on the preliminary procedural matter to the following effect:

What the Union seeks is our ruling that the Billing Clerks form part of the "all employees in the warehouse" unit and that they are not excluded by the reference to "office personnel". Part of its argument is the allegation that the Billing Clerks were once considered a part of the all employee group and were included in early collective agreements. At the moment those are allegations and evidence will be needed to establish that this is so.

The Union further alleges it allowed these clerks to be removed from that all employee group because, apparently, it was convinced the clerks had become part of the "office personnel" exclusion. Now, the Union alleges this has changed and the clerks are no longer "office personnel" but have rejoined the group of "all employees in the warehouse".

On the other hand, Serca maintains the clerks remain outside of the bargaining unit because of the "office personnel" exclusion.

At this point, we do not intend to concern ourselves with section of the Code under which the Union brings this application. The issue raised by its application is clear and the parties are, and have been for some considerable time, well aware of what that issue is.

The vote that was held does not answer, or even influence, our decision as to how the Billing Clerks should be treated. Only if they are found to no longer be excluded as "office personnel" would the result of the vote then determine the eventual outcome, subject always to Serca's objection to the vote based on the alleged unfair labour practice.

Accordingly, we intend to first determine the status of the Billing Clerks and only if they are found to be part of the bargaining unit will we pursue the unfair labour practice complaint. We invite the Union to call such evidence in support of its application as it may choose.

Evidence

[5] During the Board's hearing, the Union called as witnesses David Froelich, who is its business agent; David Strebchuk, who is a warehouseman and a Union steward; and, Jackie Bradley, who is one of the Billing Clerks. The witnesses called by Serca were Bob Wuest, a corporate vice president of Sobeys Inc. who has been involved in collective bargaining with the Union for Scott National and, later, for Serca; and, Ian Reckie who is a Billing Clerk and a former receiving clerk.

[6] We are told that Serca is one of five divisions of Sobeys Inc. and is the largest food service business in Canada. It operates about 20 warehouses across Canada from which it supplies dry groceries, meat, produce and frozen food to hotels, restaurants and institutions. Sobeys Inc. operates a similar business out of approximately 30 warehouses across Canada (except British Columbia) from which it supplies retail stores, including the IGA chain.

[7] Serca's warehouse in Edmonton serves about 3,000 customers who are located in that part of Alberta, from Red Deer north; in the north east part of British Columbia; and, a few who are in the Northwest Territories. Some customers are considered as national accounts, such as Tim Hortons, Pizza Hut, and KFC. The other customers are referred to as street accounts. This warehouse is approximately 170,000 square feet and there are about 12,000 different products available to the customers. In general terms, the warehouse operation was described as "a day receiver and a night shipper", meaning most of the business during normal daytime hours is taken up with receiving goods into the warehouse and most of the night hours are spent readying the goods for shipment to customers.

[8] The unit of Serca employees for which the Union is certified is presently described as:

 

All employees when employed at Scott National in the Edmonton warehouse except office and sales personnel.

[9] The evidence indicated that Serca, through a series of corporate transactions, is the successor to Scott National, the employer named in the certificate. In that respect, Serca was seeking to have the Union's certificate amended by having the Board substitute its name in place of Scott National.

[10] Mr. Froelich identified the original certificate for the bargaining unit, issued by the Board on May 13, 1977, in which the unit was described in these terms:

All warehouse employees employed at 14215 - 125th Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta including Truck Drivers, excluding Office Staff, Salesmen, employees exercising managerial functions and those employed in a confidential capacity in matters relating to labour relations.

[11] Although he inferred that the Board must have made a determination in 1977 that the Billing Clerks were part of the warehouse employees unit, no evidence was presented to establish that fact. However, it was clear from collective agreements the Union had entered into with Scott National in 1979 and during the 1985-1987 period, that a Billing Clerk classification was included in the wage schedules, indicating that during those times the parties considered these clerks to be part of the unit. But, there was no reference to Billing Clerks in subsequent collective agreements, including the current agreement in effect from March 29, 1998 to March 31, 2001. It was Mr. Froelich's evidence that the Union had agreed to the classification being deleted because the persons in question were physically moved out of the warehouse and into the general office area sometime in 1987. He went on to say that beginning in late 1989 or 1990 the billing clerks were slowly re-introduced into the warehouse and now there were 8 or 9 in the warehouse and none in the general office area. However, Bob Wuest, who was involved in collective bargaining for Scott National in the 1980s, said the employees had not been moved but, rather, the classification was deleted as a result of him being able to convince the Union in 1989 that it had previously over bargained its certificate and that the Billing Clerks were never properly part of the warehouse unit.

[12] Mr. Froelich testified that he has not been in the office premises, within the warehouse, presently occupied by the Billing Clerks (throughout we refer to this as the "Billing Clerks office") as it is relatively new, but he was familiar with the office they had occupied from about 1995 until the move into the new office. In that respect it was established that during or about 1995 the warehouse operation moved from 14215 - 125th Avenue, being the premises referred to in the 1977 certificate, and is now located at 14404 - 128th Avenue. The evidence also established that when the warehouse operation first moved into the existing premises, the Billing Clerks office was in the location with which Mr. Froelich was familiar, but a recent expansion of the warehouse resulted in this office being moved to its present location. The location of both the old and new offices is on the east side of the warehouse, near the general office area, and to aid in the efficient operation of the warehouse is deliberately located approximately midway between the exterior walls of the warehouse. Consequently, when the warehouse was recently expanded it was necessary to move the Billing Clerks office to its present location and a portion of what had been one of the exterior walls of the warehouse before the expansion, now runs through part of the new Billing Clerks office.

[13] This office is a two storey affair. The main floor is occupied by those Billing Clerks who are on shift (the number varies depending upon the shift but the maximum number on any shift is four and the minimum is one), by a receiving clerk (sometimes called an inventory clerk) and by a credit clerk. It also contains offices for the Logistics Supervisor and the Logistics Co-ordinator. All of these positions are presently outside the bargaining unit. Three computer terminals are provided for use by the Billing Clerks, although no one of the Clerks is assigned exclusively to any particular computer and each will use whichever of the computers is available. When not actually utilizing one of these computers a Billing Clerk may be making use of one of the computer printers to obtain copies of customers orders he or she has caused to be printed (referred to as "pick slips") which are then given to the warehouse staff, or to obtain invoices and bills of lading from those printers which are given to the truck drivers, or may be making use of a label printer, or be operating a photocopy machine. The receiving clerk and the credit clerk who are in this office have their own computer terminals. The second floor of the Billing Clerks office is occupied by another group of out-of-scope employees called inventory control clerks.

[14] There are presently a total of nine Billing Clerks and a like number of inventory control clerks. Both these groups work a variety of day, afternoon and night shifts on a 24 hour basis for 5 days a week and lesser number of hours on the other 2 days in the week, which are the same hours as are worked by the warehouse employees. In the nearby general office area there are approximately twenty-five non-management employees, including a receptionist, three credit clerks (in addition to the credit clerk located in the Billing Clerks office), ten sales or order clerks, four or five buyers or purchasing clerks, and four accounting or administration clerks. The general office staff work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

[15] Serca obtains orders from its customers either as a result of a district sales representative, of whom there are in excess of thirty, approaching a customer, or as a result of the customer telephoning directly to Serca's order desk. Some customers place orders every day and others about twice a week. On busy days Serca will process about 2,000 orders and about half that number on slow days. An average order is about 30 to 35 cases. The processing of a customer's order begins with the order being entered into that part of Serca's computer system that is accessible to sales representatives or the order desk. After the order has been entered, a Billing Clerk, but no one else, is able to transfer the order to another part of the computer system that allows the order to be processed and billed. The only exception to the Billing Clerk's ability to make the computer system transfer of a customer's order is if the particular customer has previously failed to observe the credit terms extended to it and a credit hold has been placed on that customer's account. In that instance, the Billing Clerk cannot transfer the order without the approval of the credit manager.

[16] Once the transfer of a customer's order within the computer system is accomplished, the Billing Clerk will then prepare pick slips and labels. For security reasons, Serca only wants these designated employees to be able to access the part of the computer system from which it is possible to prepare pick slips. Normally, there will be more than one pick slip for each order as separate pick slips are prepared for dry groceries, for the coolers, and for the freezers. The printed pick slips for dry groceries and for the coolers are placed in trays outside the Billing Clerks office where the appropriate warehouse employees obtain them and begin assembling the customer's order. Pick slips for freezer products are obtained by the warehouse employees from a tray within the Billing Clerks office. The pick slips may not be entirely complete if they contain products sold on other than a standard weight basis. In those instances the actual weight of what are referred to as cash weight items must be entered on the pick slip by the warehouse employee. When the warehouse employee receives the pick slips for a customer's order, the Billing Clerk will also provide the appropriate colour coded labels to place on the items to be shipped. When the customer's order has been picked, the completed pick slips are returned to a tray near the Billing Clerks office. It is up to the Billing Clerks to obtain all the pick slips that relate to a particular customer's order and prepare an invoice and bill of lading for that order. Thereafter, the pick slips are placed in the Billing Clerks file system. Every order that is to be shipped must be invoiced by the Billing Clerk and the invoice and bill of lading is given to the truck driver who is either a contract driver or a driver for a common carrier. As well, Billing Clerks may be involved in preparing load sheets, at least when there are changes to the pre-programmed routes that describe which customers orders are being sent on particular trucks. Occasionally, a customer will want to come to the warehouse to take delivery of an order. In those cases, the Billing Clerks produce the appropriate invoice for the picked order, obtain payment from the customer by cash or cheque, and have the customer sign to acknowledge receipt of the order in a book kept for that purpose.

[17] Since most of the work performed by a Billing Clerk is comprised of data entry and preparation of billing invoices on computers, these employees are expected to be computer literate and much of the training they receive, either in the office or off-site, relates to Serca's computer systems. There is one warehouse employee who was trained as a Billing Clerk but later decided to return to his former warehouseman's job and he is available for backup as a Billing Clerk should the need arise. However, this situation of a warehouseman doing the work of a Billing Clerk is described as an anomaly and otherwise the warehouse employees are not trained to operate, nor are they expected to operate, Serca's computers. Some warehouse employees when temporarily working on light duties due to some injury may be assigned to work in the Billing Clerks office but in that event they only assist with filing duties. Other duties undertaken by the Billing Clerks include occasionally performing the tasks normally undertaken by the receiving clerk and the credit clerk who work with them in the same office, in case of illness or vacation relief. The receiving clerk coordinates inbound freight coming into the warehouse from Serca's suppliers. The credit clerk's main task is to research credit note history. A credit note is issued to a customer, by a driver or, perhaps, by a sales representative, to confirm that items missing from the customer's order will be shipped or that a credit will be provided for an oversupply of items. Also, after Serca's order desk closes at 5:00 p.m., occasionally some customers are able to telephone through to the Billing Clerks office and the Billing Clerks will accept orders from those customers and input them into the computer system.

[18] Serca's operations in Edmonton are managed by a Regional General Manager and all other managers report to him. Among these other managers is the Distribution Manager (sometimes called the Warehouse Manager) to whom the Logistics Supervisor, the Night Manager, the Warehouse Supervisor and other foremen report. To the extent the Billing Clerks require direct supervision it is provided, during regular day shift hours by the Logistics Supervisor and, in his absence by the Logistics Co-ordinator who remains at work until either 6:30 p.m. or 8:00 p.m., depending on the volume of work to be performed. In the absence of those persons the Billing Clerks report to the Night Manager or, failing him, to the Warehouse Supervisor. The evidence indicated that Billing Clerks did not require any significant amount of direct supervision in carrying out their assigned duties.

[19] Not unexpectedly, there is regular interaction at the workplace between Billing Clerks and other employees. That which occurs with the warehouse employees is particularly critical as they cannot pick customers orders until the Billing Clerks have produced the pick sheets and labels. Other interaction with the stock pickers may occur if it is necessary to clarify the contents of the pick sheets, or to bring to the attention of the Billing Clerks that items are missing from warehouse inventory, or to have the warehouse employees verify the actual weight of the cash weight items they have entered on a pick sheet. Apart from this work related interaction, the employees working in the Billing Clerks office share a common lunch room with the warehouse employees where they take coffee and meal breaks. However, the timing of these breaks is apparently dependent upon the volume of work being performed by the Billing Clerks and by the warehouse employees so the two groups may not necessarily have breaks at the same time.

[20] Billing Clerks also have regular contact with employees in the general office, especially with staff at the order desk who want to know the progress being made in completing specific orders so they might respond to customers queries. As well, contact with the credit manager is a regular occurrence if there is a credit hold on a customer's order. They also have contact with the inventory control clerks, especially when a picker advises that items on a customer's order are out of stock even though the computer system indicated to the Billing Clerk that the items were in inventory. It is up to the inventory control clerks to monitor the physical inventory in the warehouse through a perpetual computer inventory, supplemented with physical counts. Shrinkage or variation in inventory occurs either as a result of shipping the wrong product or due to theft. Inventory control clerks will on occasion come into the office area occupied by the Billing Clerks to review the records there for research purposes, or to use the printers or photocopiers, and sometimes will use the computer terminals even though they have their own terminals in their upstairs office.

Decision

[20] In support of its application to have the Billing Clerks included within the bargaining unit, the Union alleged there were a number of significant factual matters that should be taken into account:

• the Billing Clerks were treated as part of the unit originally certified in 1977 so the Board must have determined they were in;
• the parties included them in their collective agreements until 1987;
• they were removed from the collective agreements only because they were physically relocated in 1987 into the general office area;
• alternatively, they share a community of interest with the warehouse employees as evidenced by their functional relationship, similar skill sets, physical location, and reporting relationships.

[21] We have not been convinced that all of these factual matters have been established or that they have the significance the Union suggests. There was no evidence the Board gave any consideration in 1977 to whether Billing Clerks were in the unit or were part of the office staff exclusion. Unquestionably the parties did include Billing Clerks in their collective agreements prior to 1987 but it was not established that their subsequent removal was related to any physical relocation of them into the general office area. Nor was there any evidence of some later move of them back into the warehouse. The Company's evidence, that the initial inclusion of Billing Clerks in the collective agreements resulted from an overbargaining of the Union's certificate, a position with which the Union apparently agreed with in 1987 when the Company bargained them out of the unit, struck us as being a more plausible explanation of what had occurred in the past. This accords with the fact there was no suggestion of the Union making any attempts after 1987, and for the next 13 years, to have the Billing Clerks put back under the collective agreement, as one might expect if it was merely a physical relocation of the Billing Clerks that had originally resulted in their removal from the collective agreement in 1987.

[22] Most of the evidence and argument related to the issue of whether or not the two groups of employees shared a community of interest, such that the Billing Clerks should be a part of the warehouse employee group. In that respect, even though the Union conceded that much of the work undertaken by the Billing Clerks was clerical in nature, it still argued they had such a strong connection to the rest of the warehouse unit that it made sense to include them as part of that unit. Among the decisions relied upon by the Union was UFCW Local 373A v. Lucerne Foods Ltd. [1997] Alta.L.R.B.R LD-044, which dealt with whether certain shipping clerks were included in an all employee meat plant unit. Although the decision contains little in the way of a description of the work performed by these persons, the Union referred to the following comments of Vice Chair Wallace:

...First, although we heard evidence and argument directed to community of interest considerations, we approach this case on the basis that community of interest is not an important consideration on an application to determine that certain employees are in an existing bargaining unit. Community of interest is only useful in such cases where the Board is choosing between competing ambiguous unit descriptions.

We see no ambiguity in this unit description. In our view these six employees are not caught by the "office and clerical" exclusion in the certificate.

We take a purposive view of this bargaining unit description. Historically, this bargaining unit language has been used to create a "plant" or "production" unit. Such a unit reflects the common division between "white collar" and "blue collar" employees. Plant or production bargaining units were established with the intention to separate the employees engaged directly in production of goods from those engaged in administrative support functions, for whom "office and clerical" became the accepted designation.

"Blue collar" production units have typically included those involved in the initial distribution of product; that is, warehouse staff and shipper-receivers who are integrated with the production facility.

It follows that these six employees are "plant" or "production" employees notwithstanding that they perform much of their duties with paper, computer and telephone, just like true "office and clerical" employees. But because of their connections to the rest of the production unit, they are part of that production unit, not part of the administrative support group. This conclusion is supported and underscored by the evidence we heard that these employees interact almost exclusively with other production and warehouse employees and are integral to the successful performance of the warehouse work.

[23] This Lucerne Foods decision was subsequently set aside as the result of a reconsideration application, reported at [1997] Alta.L.R.B.R 623. The reconsideration panel reached its conclusion on the basis of a factor not considered by the original panel, which was that as the union had not bargained on behalf of the shipping clerks for 24 years the scope of the original unit had been established and it could not now be argued those employees should be considered a part of it. However, the reconsideration panel did allow the union to proceed with an alternative application for certification of the shipping clerks as a separate unit. As for the original panel's conclusion that shipping clerks were not within the office and clerical exclusion, the reconsideration panel said the following at 624:

We had no difficulty with the reasoning by which the original panel found that shipping clerks were not covered by the "office and clerical" exclusion. And, although the facts of every workplace cannot be presumed to be the same and merit their own special consideration, the general notion that shipping clerks are not caught by such an exclusion is one which accords with our industrial relations experience.

[24] Serca argued that there is a distinction between the nature of work performed by shipping clerks and the work done by the Billing Clerks and, on that basis, the Lucerne Foods decisions are not helpful. Instead, it relied upon the Board's decision in Uni-Select Western Ltd. v. Miscellaneous Employees, Local 987 [1991] Alta.L.R.B.R. 539, in which it was held that order desk employees in an auto parts warehouse company fell within the "office and clerical" exclusion of an all employee unit. We were referred to the following comments of the Board, beginning at 543:

Uni-select in Calgary sells auto parts to automotive wholesalers and retailers. The Calgary warehouse shelves and ships these parts to orders which the order desk persons receive. Order desk personnel work in an office area which coincidentally is adjacent to the warehouse.

They receive orders by both telephone and fax and enter them in the computer. These entries produce orders which become pick slips for the warehouse to assemble the individual orders. Order desk personnel confirm stock availability and enter any special instructions. They edit the orders if there is insufficient inventory to fill them and sort them numerically for subsequent checking. In addition, they prepare various order summaries and reports.

Later, the Board said, at 545:

Here, we have an all-employee unit subject to certain exclusions. Office and clerical personnel are excluded employees under the bargaining unit description. From the evidence, we find that the work of the persons at issue is predominantly clerical in nature and different from warehouse functions. We thus determine that the disputed persons are not included in the Union's bargaining unit...

Their work is of an administrative or clerical nature in entering the order information, issuing the resulting pick slips, checking pick slips for quantities and adjusting the order quantities where there are inventory shortages. We do not view these tasks as being of a warehousing nature involving the customary shelving or storage of goods and assembling or picking them to fill individual orders. It is these warehousing employees who fall within the all-employee unit.

The order desk people do have customer contacts which are not clerical in nature. These contacts essentially involve information exchanges with order desk employees. As such, they do not alter the fundamental, clerical nature of the work which these persons perform.

They generate orders on paper and edit them. They prepare reports and summaries. These tasks involve office and clerical work...

[25] In our case the evidence established that most of the work of Billing Clerks is comprised of data entry on a computer, the results of which include pick slips for use by the warehouse employees and invoices for payment by the customers. Other related tasks they perform are of a similar clerical nature. Undoubtedly, it was that evidence that led to the Union conceding that the work of Billing Clerks is substantially of a clerical nature. In light of that concession the inevitable result would seem to be that these employees are caught by the "office" exclusion mentioned in the Union's certificate. But to overcome that result the Union suggested the connection of the Billing Clerks with the rest of the warehouse employees was so strong and that the interaction of the two groups was so extensive that these Clerks have become integral to the successful performance of the work of the warehouse employees.

[26] In our view there are three difficulties with what the Union argues. First, the interaction between the two groups is not such that, of necessity, they must be considered to be part of one complete group. The evidence established that each of the group of Billing Clerks and warehouse employees interact with the employees working in the general office area on some regular or consistent basis. The skills regularly used by the Billing Clerks and the warehouse employees are quite different. The reporting relationships each of the groups have are intended to be different although during some portions of some night shifts there may be some overlap. The Clerks work in an office area that is physically separated from the warehouse and in which other employees who seemingly fall within the same "office" exclusion are also employed. Of course, the two groups do interact to the extent the Billing Clerks produce the written directions that are followed by the warehouse employees in assembling customers orders and, in some cases, questions may arise as to what those written directions entail. As well, both groups work on the same 24 hour basis but so, apparently, do the inventory control clerks. And, they all share a common lunch room, but the flow of work is such that the two groups do not normally take their breaks together. In our view, the evidence has failed to establish that the Billing Clerks are not caught by the "office" exclusion and therefore we do not consider them to be part of the all employee warehouse unit.

[27] The second difficulty with the Union's argument is that 13 years have elapsed since the parties last included the two groups in a collective agreement. We believe the removal of the Billing Clerks from the collective agreement, in 1987, was the result of the Union being convinced by Serca that these Clerks were not properly part of the certified unit. The only explanation we were given for the delay in bringing this present application was that the Billing Clerks did not request the Union to seek to have them added to the unit until just prior to the application being filed. Since we have concluded the Billing Clerks are not part of the warehouse employee unit, this lengthy delay in requesting a reconsideration of the certificate, in order to now include them under that certificate, precludes us from exercising our discretion to reconsider that certificate.

[28] The third difficulty with the Union's argument is that even if we were inclined to include the Billing Clerks within the warehouse unit, the result of doing so would exclude the receiving clerk, the credit clerk and the inventory control clerks, all of whom work in the same office as the Billing Clerks. The Board has previously determined that in exercising its power to amend a union's certificate, by enlarging the unit, it needs to be satisfied the amended unit would be appropriate for collective bargaining (see: Town of Claresholm v. C.U.P.E. Local 3023 (1983) 4 CLRBR (NS) 385 at 400). To omit these other employees in the Billing Clerks office is to give rise to a tag end unit and, as stated in Information Bulletin #9:

Some certification applications, if successful, would leave only a few small portions of an employer's workforce unorganized. In such cases, the Board may consider a proposed bargaining unit inappropriate if it would exclude these "tag-end" positions.

In this instance, we have not been convinced it would be appropriate to leave out these other employees and for that reason would have considered the unit that would result from the amendment sought by the Union to be inappropriate.

[29] In summary, the Union's request to have its certificate amended to include the Billing Clerks is dismissed.

[30] The request by Serca to amend the Union's certificate is granted. We direct the employer be described as "SERCA Foodservice Inc." and the unit description be amended by deleting the words, "Scott National".

ISSUED and DATED at the City of Edmonton, in the Province of Alberta, this 20th day of September the Labour Relations Board and signed by its Vice Chair

Gerald A. Lucas, Q.C., Vice-Chair