Koskie Glavin Gordon represents a full range of trade union and employee groups.
Our work generally brings us into every sector of the economy – from private industry to the public service. We represent employees and trade unions in sectors as diverse as the building and construction trades, brewery and winery, retail food, media, long shoring and grain handling, mining, the arts, education, health care, transportation, motion picture and television, colleges and universities, lumber, pulp and paper, rail, airline, municipal and firefighting. While each sector and industry is distinct, the breadth of our practice gives us a view of the economy as a whole, and the best strategies for our clients regardless of the fields in which they engage.
We work in labour law, pensions and benefits, insolvency, class actions, human rights and employee-side general litigation.
Our labour lawyers combine decades of legal experience in the area of labour law to provide legal, strategic and educational services to a broad spectrum of clients on the full range of labour relations issues. Our lawyers routinely appear before labour arbitrators, labour relations boards, workers compensation tribunals and at all levels of the courts from Provincial to the superior and appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada. We also have experience on behalf of various individuals and union clients in cases before the British Columbia and Canadian Human Rights Tribunals.
The affiliation accesses a pensions and benefits practice which is among the largest in Canada, providing a comprehensive range of pension and benefits advice – from pension compliance, tax and commercial work to litigation concerning pension insolvencies and surpluses, pension benefit and post-retirement benefit entitlements. Our lawyers have worked closely with clients involved with Canada’s leading pension funds in regard to joint sponsorship and pension plan design and funding policies, and are closely involved in all aspects of pension reform, and regularly advise our clients as to emerging trends in legislation and case law.
Koskie Glavin Gordon is also involved in class actions, having recently represented Denny’s workers who came to BC under the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. We also represented two trade unions before the Federal Court of Canada challenging the issuance of TFW permits in BC to non-Canadians, arguing that Canadian workers must first be given the opportunity to take those jobs and be trained if necessary.
The class action practice of our affiliated firm also includes important securities litigation on behalf of pension fund and individual plaintiffs, including the recent $117 million settlement with the defendant Ernst & Young in the Sino-Forest case. It was also recently successful in certifying a class of investment advisors employed by Nesbitt Burns that seeks compensation under employment standards legislation for overtime.
Koskie Glavin Gordon provides representation to trade unions and employees in insolvency proceedings, where they typically conflict with other creditors, including bondholders and hedge funds, over the restructuring of insolvent companies and the distribution of assets on wind-up. We have recently completed two successful restructuring proceedings in BC involving employers in the newspaper and pulp and paper industries. In addition, our affiliated firm has been engaged in many other restructurings involving Air Canada and other unionized and non-unionized employers across Canada. Our insolvency practice seeks compensation for employees with termination and severance pay owed by insolvent employers, and also challenges proposed creditor distributions so that monies are paid into underfunded pension and supplementary retirement plans, and so that health and welfare and other employee benefits are paid or compensated.