Update: Coburg Coffee baristas push to unionize, by Tony Tracy

Coburg Coffee could become the third coffee shop in Halifax to unionize after Monday's vote. Photo by Stephanie Taylor

Since last week's union certification vote at Coburg Coffee (which was conducted by the Nova Scotia Labour Board) for workers to become members of the Baristas Rise Up movement and SEIU Local 2 Branch Nova Scotia, I've been asked many times by people from across the country about the outcome of the vote. 

While I am more than optimistic about the final outcome, the ballot boxes for this vote remained sealed at the labour board offices in Halifax, and will likely remain sealed for some weeks (and perhaps even months) due to Nova Scotia's regulatory difficulties in getting a union certification vote ballot box opened and counted in a timely fashion.

In Nova Scotia, the regulations associated with the Trade Union Act put obstacles in the way of a timely count of ballots following a certification vote. Rather than issues of "inclusions" and "exclusions" being dealt with prior to a union certification vote, as is common in some other provinces, an oftentimes lengthy process of labour board hearings is conducted in the weeks (and sometimes months) following such a vote. These hearings determine the scope of the proposed bargaining unit, the inclusion (or exclusion) of specific positions from the proposed unit, as well as several other issues.

I would certainly hope to see future regulatory reform to eradicate such red tape and delay. After many years as a union organizer and several years since in other capacities within the labour movement, it seems inconceivable to me that we can conduct municipal, provincial and federal elections and be certain of the outcome within hours of any vote in any jurisdiction in the country. Yet, a ballot box with the votes of a dozen workers indicating their desire to join a union remains sealed for months before being counted.

In this specific case, there has been some speculation on various social media platforms about the number of people who actually voted in Coburg's union certification vote. There have been widespread reports of the employer bringing in various family members and casual employees who have not had shifts at the café in months to vote, as well as an attempt to enfranchise one former worker by flying them back to Halifax from their British Columbia home. 

Rest assured, the one advantage of the process in Nova Scotia is that these votes by former workers, family members or friends of the employer bear little chance of being opened. The provinical union certification process calls for each vote to be first put into a blank envelope, and then that envelope be put into an outer envelope with the worker's name ( known as the "double-envelope system"). Only after an arduous and lengthy process by the labour board to determine who is actually a regular employe as defined under the Trade Union Act, and who is eligible to have their vote count as part of a proposed bargaining unit, will the votes be tallied. In the end, only the envelopes of actual employees entitled to vote will be opened, and the remainder will simply be thrown away. 

There are great articles on this union drive by young baristas posted on rabble.ca and The Coast. 

 I encourage everyone to read and share these articles. Please continue to drop by Coburg Coffee, pick up a coffee and wish these workers well. Let them know they have ongoing support from progressives and trade unionists while they suffer the absurd and lengthy delays of having their ballots counted, and have their wishes recognized by government and their employer.

Tony Tracy is a long time trade unionist and social justice activist who lives in Halifax. 

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