Alberta employer’s changes split single bargaining unit into two
A corporate restructuring designed purely for accounting convenience inadvertently opened the door to a rival union certification bid, the Alberta Labour Relations Board ruled on Jan. 21, 2026.
Vice Chair William J. Armstrong, K.C. dismissed efforts by Bee-Clean Building Maintenance and the incumbent Construction and General Workers' Union, Local No. 92 to block the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local No. 1999 from certifying Edmonton transit cleaners, finding that the employer's own 2023 restructuring had split what was originally a single province-wide bargaining unit into two separate units.
The decision carries significant implications for employers managing unionized workforces across multiple corporate entities, particularly when making changes they consider merely administrative.
When accounting convenience meets labour law
Bee-Clean had operated transit cleaning contracts in both Edmonton and Calgary since 2017, with all employees under one employer, Bee-Clean Northern Alberta Ltd., represented by Local No. 92 in a single certified bargaining unit. The parties bargained together at one table and maintained a single collective agreement, though it contained separate wage schedules for each city.
In 2020, Bee-Clean's counsel suggested creating two separate collective agreement “books” to prevent wage comparisons between cities. The lawyer told the union the arrangement would be “still one bargaining unit” with separate books because the contracts and negotiations with each city were distinct. Local No. 92 agreed to this approach.
The structure worked smoothly until 2023, when Bee-Clean transferred all Calgary employees from BCNA to its sister company, Bee-Clean Building Maintenance Inc. The reason was purely administrative: BCBMI held the Calgary contract but BCNA employed the workers, requiring regular inter-company fund transfers for payroll. The transfer was meant to align revenue with payroll costs, with both parties treating it as an accounting adjustment rather than a labour relations change.
Two employers, two agreements, two units
Following the 2023 transfer, two collective agreements emerged with different named employers: BCBMI for Calgary's approximately 225 workers and BCNA for Edmonton's roughly 75 employees. The Calgary agreement now contained five job classifications compared to two in Edmonton, and each city had unique letters of understanding. Despite these differences, Bee-Clean and Local No. 92 continued bargaining at a single table and considered the arrangement unchanged.
When Local No. 1999 filed for certification covering only Edmonton employees in July 2025, both the employer and Local No. 92 objected, arguing the application represented an improper partial raid of a single province-wide unit. They sought a common employer declaration under the Labour Relations Code to merge BCNA and BCBMI, which would mathematically prevent Local No. 1999 from achieving the required 40 percent support across the combined workforce.
The Board found that regardless of the parties' intentions, the legal reality after 2023 was different. Armstrong wrote: "The actual situation after 2023 was that there were now two bargaining units as reflected by two collective agreements."
Timing undermines response to union
The Board rejected the common employer application, noting its suspicious timing. Armstrong observed: “Until Local 1999 applied to certify the Edmonton group, Local 92 and Bee-Clean saw no reason to invoke section 47.” The parties had treated the 2023 changes as purely administrative, making no applications under successorship or common employer provisions for over two years.
The Board found “the Board is not persuaded that any valid labour relations purpose would be served by exercising its discretion to issue a section 47 declaration.” The decision emphasized that while Bee-Clean and Local No. 92 may have viewed the situation as unchanged, "they cannot automatically impose their view of the world on third parties such as Local 1999."
The ruling allows ballot counting to proceed, potentially enabling Edmonton workers to choose new representation despite the long-standing bargaining relationship across both cities.
