Is a collective agreement binding an employee to arbitrate differences between the parties?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Bennett v. British Columbia, 2007 BCCA 5 (CanLII):
In this conclusion, I am supported by the comments of McLachlin J., now C.J.C., in Weber v. Ontario Hydro, 1995 CanLII 108 (SCC), [1995] 2 S.C.R. 929. In discussing the commitment to arbitrate “differences”, she stated in para. 45: “[t]he word ‘differences’ denotes the dispute between the parties, not the legal actions which one may be entitled to bring against the other”. She added in para. 49: “. . . one must look not to the legal characterization of the wrong, but to the facts giving rise to the dispute”. The question is whether, “. . . the difference between the parties arises from the collective agreement. . .” (para. 50). That is, there may be differences that arise in an employment relationship that do not arise from a collective agreement.
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