'There is a real and substantial connection between British Columbia, Gate Gourmet, and its impugned conduct'
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has upheld a decision by the B.C. Labour Relations Board that prevents an employer from using employees based outside the province to perform work normally done by striking workers.
In this case, Gate Gourmet Canada questioned the jurisdiction of the Labour Relations Board on the matter.
The Court of Appeal ruling, delivered July 14, affirms the province’s authority to enforce its labour laws even when an employer’s operations span multiple provinces.
"The review panel and the chambers judge both reached the correct legal conclusion in holding that the Board did not exceed the scope of its jurisdiction when it ordered Gate Gourmet to cease and desist from using out-of-province workers to perform “struck work” in response to a strike action by Gate Gourmet employees at YVR,” said Justice W. Paul Riley in the Gate Gourmet Canada Inc. v. Unite Here, Local 40, 2025 BCCA 246 decision.
Canada’s Bill C-58—An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code and the Industrial Relations Board Regulations, 2012—took effect June 20. The legislation received royal assent in June 2024, shortly after it passed through the Senate.
Several Canadian provinces have also introduced their own anti-scab legislation.
Workers reassigned during strike
Gate Gourmet, an airline catering company, reassigned catering duties for Vancouver International Airport (YVR) flights to staff in Calgary, Edmonton, and Toronto during a strike by its unionised B.C. workforce in August 2022, according to the court document.
The union, Unite Here, Local 40, filed a complaint, arguing that this violated B.C.’s Labour Relations Code, which prohibits employers from using replacement workers to perform the work of striking employees.
The Labour Relations Board agreed with the union and ordered Gate Gourmet to stop the practice. The company appealed, arguing that the Board’s order amounted to an unconstitutional application of B.C. law to activities and employees outside the province.
But the Court of Appeal disagreed.
"There is a real and substantial connection between British Columbia, Gate Gourmet, and its impugned conduct. The Board’s assertion of jurisdiction over Gate Gourmet’s extraterritorial use of replacement workers does not offend the principles of order and fairness, bearing in mind the modern reality that collective bargaining relationships based within the province sometimes involve conduct that is manifested in other jurisdictions."
The board's ceast and desist order did not result in any unfairness to Gate Gourmet, said Riley in his decision.
"The company relies on a unionized British Columbia workforce to provide services to customers in British Columbia. It has availed itself of the British Columbia labour market, and is obliged to comply with the “rules of the game” in British Columbia. These rules include a prohibition against the use of replacement workers to perform “struck work”. The Board determined that on a proper interpretation of the Code, Gate Gourmet’s actions in facilitating a customer request to shift “struck work” to employees at its other places of operations contravened the replacement worker prohibition. The fact that the other places of operations where Gate Gourmet sought to re-assign the “struck work” happen to be located outside of British Columbia does not alter the fairness of the outcome."
In 2024, the Labour Relations Board also ruled that Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport Hotel and, in particular, majority owner Sukhminder Rai breached the labour code by intimidating and threatening strikers on the picket line.
Gate Gourmet workers
In June, Gate Gourmet workers at YVR, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, ratified a new contract that will see nearly 450 workers’ wages rise by 14% by July 2028, according to the union.
That marked “one of the most significant gains for any in-flight catering workers in Canada,” the group said.
By the end of the contract, a Gate Gourmet worker will earn an average of $30–$34 per hour.
The new union contract also includes better dental coverage for workers and their families, as well as increased pension contributions.
