A late 2023 Alberta Labour Relations Board (the Board) decision highlights the difficulty of applying 20^th century labour laws to evolving 21^st century work models. In Bioware ULC v United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union, Local No. 401, the Board faced this question: where should striking employees picket if their workplace is online?

Alberta’s Labour Relations Code limits strike-related picketing to the striking employees’ “place of employment” (and to any secondary location approved on application to the Board). Bioware is the first case in which the Board considered what constitutes a “place of employment” in a remote work environment.

Background

In this case, Keywords Studios B.C. Inc. employed 20 remote workers who lived in Alberta. Under a service agreement, these workers provided services on Keywords’ behalf exclusively to BioWare ULC , whose offices were in Edmonton, Alberta.

Keywords had no physical offices in Alberta. The workers reported to Keywords managers in Vancouver, but took day-to-day direction from BioWare’s staff in Edmonton. The employees worked remotely, either on personal computers or computers provided by BioWare. The workers used a VPN connected to BioWare’s offices in Edmonton. When they needed special equipment for their work, they obtained that equipment from BioWare’s offices.

In 2022, the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union was certified to represent the workers. In 2023, while negotiating a first collective bargaining...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMieWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm5vcnRvbnJvc2VmdWxi...