A food distribution company has been ordered by the British Columbia Labour Relations Board to reinstate terminated employees and allow the local union access to its Penticton and Vernon sites.

According to a recently published decision, Gordon Food Service (GFS) was granted a stay on an order to display a copy of the decision until the full reasons are available. 

The company had also asked for a stay against all of the other orders in the decision until the reasons were published, but that was rejected. 

According to the remedial orders, the BCLRB ordered a declaration that GFS had breached the Labour Relations Code for unfair labour practices by terminating the employment of three employees. 

The sections that the company breached cover regulations regarding terminating, suspending or otherwise disciplining employees except for proper cause when a trade union is in the process of conducting a certification campaign. 

The company also breached a different section of the code related to the use of coercion or intimidation to compel or induce a person to refrain from joining a union or staying a member of the union. 

The BCLRB ordered that the three terminated employees be reinstated immediately and be compensated for any lost wages and benefits and that GFS allow the union 60-minute meetings with the employees at the transfer yards in Penticton and Vernon. 

In an Aug. 9 ruling, BCLRB Chair Jennifer Glougie rejected an application to stay the remedial orders except for one which would have required GFS to display a copy of the board's decision in a prominent location. 

As the reasons haven't been made available yet, all that could be posted is a "bottom-line decision", which simply states that GFS breached the Code without explanation or context.

"I find that, if a reconsideration application is ultimately successful and that remedy overturned, the employer would not be able to undo the prejudice caused by having to publish the decision in the circumstances," reads the Aug. 9 ruling. 

The full reasons for the decision are stated to be issued "shortly", though no date is specified.