Re International Molders & Allied Workers Union, Local 362, and Findlays Ltd

The grievor, who had been employed as a press operated for four years, broke one forming die on each of two consecutive days. Without warning or reprimand, he received notice from the company that he would not be employed in the future on any job using presses or other machinery. The grievor was given other employment and had earned less money than he would have if he had continued to work as a press operator. The collective agreement provided that the company might take disciplinary action again an employee who destroyed material through carelessness, but only after the foreman had issued a warning. The agreement also provided that a claim of discriminatory demotion might be the subject of a grievance. After finding as matter of fact that the grievor had been careless, the board of arbitration held, unanimously, the grievor had been demoted by the company but because demotion was not a form of discipline, no warning was required to be issued by the employer. The board held, further, the demotion was discriminatory. Other employees who were still operating presses had broken dies, and the concept of non-discrimination involved treating employees who are something less than equal in such a way that the difference in treatment that they receive bears a reasonable relationship to differences in their performance. In the result, the board ordered that the grievor was to be reinstated as a press operator, but that because the company was entitled to take him off machines for some period he was not entitled to receive any back wages