Section 53 — Canada Labour Code: Application for order respecting technological change

Where a bargaining agent alleges that sections 52, 54 and 55 apply to an employer in respect of an alleged technological change and that the employer has failed to comply with section 52, the bargaining agent may, not later than thirty days after the bargaining agent became aware, or in the opinion of the Board ought to have become aware, of the failure of the employer to comply with section 52, apply to the Board for an order determining the matters so alleged. On receipt of an application for an order determining the matters alleged under subsection (1) and after affording an opportunity for the parties to make representations, the Board may, by order, determine that sections 52, 54 and 55 do not apply to the employer in respect of the alleged technological change; or determine that sections 52, 54 and 55 apply to the employer in respect of the alleged technological change and that the employer has failed to comply with section 52 in respect of the technological change. The Board may, in any order made under paragraph (2)(b), or by order made after consultation with the parties pending the making of any order under subsection (2), direct the employer not to proceed with the technological change or alleged technological change for such period, not in excess of one hundred and twenty days, as the Board considers appropriate; require the reinstatement of any employee displaced by the employer as a result of the technological change; and where an employee is reinstated pursuant to paragraph (b), require the employer to reimburse the employee for any loss of pay suffered by the employee as a result of their displacement. An order of the Board made under paragraph (2)(b) in respect of an employer is deemed to be a notice of technological change given by the employer pursuant to section 52, and the Board shall concurrently, by order, grant leave to the bargaining agent to serve on the employer a notice to commence collective bargaining for the purpose referred to in subsection 54(1).