On October 15, 2026, the Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered Best Theratronics Ltd., a Kanata manufacturer of cancer treatment equipment, to pay its striking employees the wages and pension contributions they lost over almost eight months of a strike, and to reimburse Unifor for the strike pay and benefit costs it covered in that time. Damages for bad faith bargaining are rare. The Board awards them only when an employer’s disregard of the duty is flagrant, and it found this one was.
Published October 2026
The damages order is the latest of four Board rulings against the company in the same dispute. Two in 2025 found that it had bargained in bad faith with both of its unions, Unifor and the Public Service Alliance of Canada, and a third in February 2026 found it had done so again after the strike, by refusing to sign the agreement it had negotiated. Read together, they are a practical guide to what not to do at the table. This article sets out what the Board found, where the line sits between hard bargaining and bad faith, what employers can say to employees while talks are under way, and what PSAC’s new strike votes for 120,000 federal public servants mean for private-sector employers.
Hard bargaining is lawful. An employer can table a wage freeze, hold firm and take a strike. What it cannot do is plead inability to pay without showing the numbers, send negotiators with no authority, stop bargaining because the owner is unavailable or a strike has started, tell employees things it knows are false, deal with employees around the union, or back out of terms it has already signed. The same duty applies to Ontario employers under the Labour Relations Act, 1995.
What happened at Best Theratronics
Best Theratronics makes radiation therapy equipment, cyclotrons and blood irradiators at its plant in Kanata. It falls under federal labour law, which is why the dispute went to the CIRB rather than the Ontario Labour Relations Board. Its owner lives outside Canada and made every monetary decision himself, but never attended bargaining. Both collective agreements expired on March 31, 2023.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Fall 2023 | After productive sessions on non-monetary items, the company’s negotiators tell both unions they have no monetary mandate from the owner. Bargaining dates are cancelled. |
| January 16, 2024 | The company offers Unifor a two-year deal with no wage increase. It backs the offer with verbal loss figures, and later a short email listing four numbers, but no financial statements. |
| March 21 and 25, 2024 | At conciliation, the company does not respond to the unions’ revised proposals. It asks them to hold off and maintain the status quo until the owner can visit Ottawa in July. |
| April to June 2024 | The owner sends a stream of all-staff emails: announcing benefit and holiday changes, saying production would move to the United States and India, calling striking employees former employees, and inviting them to return to work individually. |
| May 1 and May 10, 2024 | Unifor and PSAC members go on strike. |
| August 15, 2024 | On Unifor’s application, the Board orders the company to stop using coercive or undermining communications and to stop trying to make individual agreements with employees. |
| February 27 and 28, 2025 | The Board finds the company breached the duty to bargain in good faith with both unions, with reasons to follow. |
| February 23 and March 16, 2025 | Unifor and PSAC members ratify new agreements. |
| February 20, 2026 | The Board finds the company breached the duty again by refusing to sign the PSAC agreement. |
| October 15, 2026 | The Board orders damages to Unifor and its members for May 1 to December 27, 2024. |
What the Board found
The reasons in Best Theratronics Ltd., 2025 CIRB 1184 (Unifor, April 10, 2025) and Best Theratronics Ltd., 2025 CIRB 1181 (PSAC, March 17, 2025) cover the same conduct from each union’s side. Five findings matter most for employers.
1. Pleading poverty without showing the numbers
The company’s position was that it was losing money and could not afford raises. The Board did not say a wage freeze was unlawful. It said that once the company relied on its finances, it had to share complete and accurate financial information in time for the union to test that position. A few loss figures given verbally, then repeated in an email, were not enough. Accountants’ letters produced months later, for the hearing, came too late and explained too little. The Board added that if the owner had not given even his own negotiators the financial picture, that was a breach in its own right.
2. No mandate, then no bargaining
An absent owner is not a problem in itself, and the Board accepted that the negotiators had real authority on non-monetary items. The breach came when the owner would not give them a monetary mandate, and from March 2024 sent no one with authority to bargain at all. Asking the unions to pause bargaining and maintain the status quo until the owner could visit was treated as a refusal to bargain, not a reasonable request. So were later messages from the company’s counsel that she had no instructions or authority to negotiate.
3. Communications the company knew were false
The owner’s emails told staff that work would move to the United States and India and that the Kanata operation could not survive the unions. The company’s own HR manager testified that there was no plan to close or relocate the plant. Because the statements were untrue and sent while bargaining was under way, the Board found they were bad faith bargaining: an attempt to move the unions’ position through fear rather than at the table.
4. Going around the union
Before the strike, the owner emailed bargaining unit employees announcing changes to their benefits and paid holidays that had never been raised at the table. After it began, he wrote that the company would deal with each employee individually rather than through the union, told strikers they were off the payroll by quitting, and invited them to meet management one on one to return to work. The Board found these messages interfered with the union’s representation under section 94(1)(a) of the Canada Labour Code, and were intimidation and coercion under section 96. In the PSAC case it also found a breach of section 94(3)(e), which bars threats aimed at making people give up union membership.
5. A strike does not pause the duty to bargain
The company argued that the unions’ picketing, which it said blocked access to the plant, justified its refusal to meet. The Board rejected that. The company had stopped bargaining months before the picketing became an issue. The duty to bargain continues through a strike, however disruptive. If picketing is unlawful, the remedy is an injunction from the courts, which the company never sought. And an offer to bargain only if the union first changed its picketing protocol did not meet the duty either.
The damages order
The October 15, 2026 decision on Unifor’s complaint found that the company began engaging in bargaining after December 27, 2024. For the period before that, according to Unifor’s October 20, 2026 announcement, the order requires Best Theratronics to:
| Order | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Lost wages | What eligible employees would have earned at their regular weekly hours and the negotiated 2024 wage rates, less deductions such as strike pay and other income. |
| Pension contributions | An amount equal to the employer retirement or pension contributions that would have been made in that period. |
| Strike pay | Reimbursement to Unifor for strike pay and other qualifying payments to bargaining unit members. |
| Benefits | Reimbursement to Unifor for the cost of keeping employees’ health and other benefit coverage in place. |
| Posting | The April 10, 2025 merits decision must be posted at the worksite for 30 days. |
After the deal: refusing to sign is bad faith too
The February 2026 decision, Best Theratronics Ltd., 2026 CIRB 1229, deals with a mistake that has nothing to do with stonewalling, and is easier for an ordinary employer to make. On March 7, 2025, the company and PSAC signed a memorandum of settlement that included a return-to-work protocol. One clause said employees would suffer no loss of paid vacation or sick day credits because of the strike. PSAC members ratified the deal on March 16 and went back to work.
When PSAC sent over the final collective agreement, the company would not sign it unless the union first agreed that vacation and sick credits had not accrued during the strike. It later said the clause had never been agreed at all. The Board rejected that position. It held that:
- a signed and ratified memorandum of settlement is a binding collective agreement under the Code, whether or not the final document is ever signed;
- making the signature conditional on the union accepting the employer’s reading of a clause, or changing it, was reneging on a negotiated term and breached section 50(a) of the Code;
- a disagreement about what a signed clause means belongs at arbitration, through the grievance process, not at the signing table; and
- if the employer did not accept the clause, its option was to refuse it and keep bargaining before signing the memorandum.
The Board declared the memorandum a valid and binding collective agreement, ordered the company to give a copy of the decision to every employee in the unit and post it in the workplace, and left the union’s money claims to the arbitrator. It did not order the company to sign, because the agreement was already in force without a signature.
Where hard bargaining ends and bad faith begins
Under section 50(a) of the Canada Labour Code, once notice to bargain is given, the parties must meet, bargain in good faith and make every reasonable effort to reach a collective agreement. Section 17 of Ontario’s Labour Relations Act, 1995 imposes the same obligation on provincially regulated employers. Under the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Royal Oak Mines Inc. v. Canada (Labour Relations Board), [1996] 1 S.C.R. 369, the duty has two parts: good faith, judged by what the party actually intended, and a reasonable effort to reach agreement, judged objectively against the norms of the industry. A party breaches the section if it fails either one.
Boards look at the whole course of bargaining, not single proposals. In practice, the distinction tends to look like this:
| Usually lawful hard bargaining | Conduct that can amount to bad faith |
|---|---|
| Tabling a wage freeze and holding to it | Pleading inability to pay without disclosing the financial information behind it |
| Seeking concessions the union dislikes | Sending negotiators who have no mandate on the issues that matter |
| Saying no and explaining why | Asking the union to pause bargaining until a decision-maker is available |
| Taking a strike rather than accept a term | Refusing to meet because a strike or picketing has started |
| Telling employees the employer’s position accurately | Telling employees things the employer knows are false, or dealing with them around the union |
| Rejecting a term before signing | Reneging on a signed deal, or making the signature conditional on new concessions |
The first column matters as much as the second. Nothing in the Best Theratronics decisions requires an employer to offer more than it can afford, or to settle on the union’s terms. The company’s wage freeze was not the problem. The problems were the missing disclosure behind it, the refusal to engage, the way the company communicated, and its attempt to reopen a signed deal.
What you can say to employees during bargaining
Employers do not have to stay silent while talks are under way. Under section 94(2)(c) of the Canada Labour Code, an employer may express a personal point of view, as long as it does not use coercion, intimidation, threats, promises or undue influence. Ontario’s Labour Relations Act, 1995 takes the same approach. The CIRB weighs three things together: the labour relations context, the content of the communication, and its effect on the union’s authority.
The Best Theratronics decisions show both sides of that test. During bargaining and the strike, the owner’s messages crossed the line: they announced changes that belonged at the table, predicted closures that were not planned, attacked the union and invited strikers to deal with management directly. In 2026, by contrast, the Board dismissed PSAC’s complaint about comments made at a grievance meeting after ratification, where managers suggested the union had inserted language that was never agreed. The Board said the suggestion was not supported by the evidence, but it was made to union officials, in a grievance meeting where frank exchanges are normal, and there was no evidence it undermined the union.
A short, accurate update to employees on the employer’s offer is generally fine. The risk starts when a message predicts consequences that are not true, announces changes to terms that have not been bargained, invites employees to deal with management instead of the union, or comes from an owner writing off the cuff. Route every employee communication about bargaining through the bargaining team and review it before it goes out. If something inaccurate does go out, correct it officially and quickly.
Why this matters more for federal employers now
Two changes raise the cost of getting bargaining wrong in the federal sector. Since June 20, 2025, the ban on replacement workers in Bill C-58 has stopped most federally regulated employers from keeping operations going with replacement staff during a strike, so strikes tend to last longer and cost more. And Bill C-39, now before a House of Commons committee, would add a special mediator whose report on each side’s positions and how fully the parties took part could be made public, along with binding first contract arbitration after nine months. A bad faith record would be hard to keep out of that report.
Put those together with the Best Theratronics remedy, and the exposure from stonewalling is no longer just an order to return to the table. It can include the wages employees lost while they were out.
The PSAC strike votes: what private-sector employers should know
On October 21, 2026, PSAC announced strike votes for about 120,000 federal public servants in the Program and Administrative Services, Technical Services, and Education and Library Science groups. Voting runs from November 16, 2026 to January 22, 2027. PSAC says the Treasury Board has offered 2 per cent for 2025 and 0.5 per cent in each of 2026, 2027 and 2028, and is seeking concessions, while PSAC wants to bargain on job security, remote work and artificial intelligence. PSAC says a successful vote would put members in a legal strike position for 60 days, and that a strike is a last resort.
The federal public service bargains under the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Act, not Part I of the Canada Labour Code, so neither Bill C-39 nor the Best Theratronics decisions apply directly. For private employers, the practical issue is service delays. The last PSAC strike, in April 2023, lasted about two weeks. Essential services designations keep some work going, but a strike could still slow federal services employers rely on, such as EI processing and immigration applications. If a strike looks likely early in 2027, plan ahead on work permit renewals and any other federal approvals with deadlines.
Job cuts are running alongside the bargaining. In the same week, Parks Canada told 2,917 employees their positions were affected by workforce adjustment. Our article on the Parks Canada layoffs explains what an affected letter means and how federal workforce adjustment differs from a mass layoff at a private Ontario employer.
Before your next round of bargaining
- Give your bargaining team a real mandate on monetary and non-monetary issues, and document it. If the decision-maker will not be at the table, make sure the team can reach them quickly.
- If your position depends on inability to pay, be ready to disclose detailed financial information early, not a handful of loss figures.
- Keep a full bargaining record: dates, proposals, responses and the reasons for your positions.
- Respond to every union proposal, even when the answer is no, and explain why. Do not ask the union to pause bargaining while you wait for someone.
- Keep bargaining during a strike. If picketing is unlawful, go to court; do not make bargaining conditional on how the union pickets.
- Route every employee communication about bargaining through one reviewed channel. Owners and senior leaders should not send their own messages, and changes to terms belong at the table.
- Do not mention closure, relocation or outsourcing unless it is accurate and you are prepared to stand behind it. Correct anything inaccurate officially.
- Read every clause of a memorandum of settlement and return-to-work protocol before signing. Once a deal is ratified, sign the collective agreement and take any disagreement about its meaning to arbitration.
- For federal employers, rebuild strike plans on the assumption that replacement workers are not available and that government intervention may not come quickly.
Frequently asked questions
What is bad faith bargaining?
Bad faith bargaining is conduct that shows a party is not genuinely trying to reach a collective agreement. Examples include refusing to meet, sending negotiators with no authority, withholding information the other side needs to assess a position, reneging on agreed items, dealing directly with employees around the union, and using false or threatening communications to influence the outcome. Labour boards look at the whole course of bargaining rather than a single proposal.
Can an employer offer a zero per cent wage increase?
Yes. A wage freeze is not bad faith on its own. But if the employer justifies it by saying it cannot afford more, it must give the union enough financial information to test that claim. In Best Theratronics Ltd., 2025 CIRB 1184, the failure to make that disclosure was one of the reasons the Canada Industrial Relations Board found bad faith.
Does a strike suspend the duty to bargain in good faith?
No. The duty continues until a collective agreement is reached, including during a strike or lockout. In the Best Theratronics decisions, the Board rejected the employer’s argument that picketing justified its refusal to meet, and said that if picketing is unlawful, the employer’s remedy is to seek an injunction in court.
Can an employer refuse to sign a collective agreement if it disagrees with what a clause means?
Generally no. In Best Theratronics Ltd., 2026 CIRB 1229, the Canada Industrial Relations Board held that a signed and ratified memorandum of settlement is a binding collective agreement even without a final signature, and that making the signature conditional on the union accepting the employer’s interpretation breached the duty to bargain in good faith. Disputes about the meaning of an agreed clause go to arbitration.
Can an employer talk to employees during bargaining?
Yes, within limits. Under the Canada Labour Code and Ontario’s Labour Relations Act, 1995, an employer can express its views as long as it does not use coercion, intimidation, threats, promises or undue influence. Accurate updates on the employer’s position are generally fine. Announcing changes that have not been bargained, false predictions about closure or relocation, and invitations to deal with management directly are not.
Can a labour board order an employer to pay damages for bad faith bargaining?
Yes, although it is rare. The usual remedies are declarations and orders to return to bargaining. In the Best Theratronics case, the Canada Industrial Relations Board found the breach so flagrant that it ordered the company to pay striking employees’ lost wages and pension contributions for May 1 to December 27, 2024, and to reimburse the union’s strike pay and benefit costs.
Does the duty to bargain in good faith apply to Ontario employers?
Yes. Section 17 of Ontario’s Labour Relations Act, 1995 requires the parties to bargain in good faith and make every reasonable effort to make a collective agreement. Complaints go to the Ontario Labour Relations Board. Federally regulated employers are covered by section 50 of the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
Will a PSAC strike affect private-sector employers?
Possibly, through delays in federal services. PSAC’s strike votes run from November 16, 2026 to January 22, 2027, and no strike can begin before the results. Essential services keep some work going, but employers waiting on federal processing, such as work permits, should plan for possible delays in early 2027.
How Achkar Law helps employers
Achkar Law advises federally regulated and Ontario employers on collective bargaining strategy, financial disclosure, employee communications during bargaining, and unfair labour practice complaints before the Canada Industrial Relations Board and the Ontario Labour Relations Board. We help set bargaining mandates, review memoranda of settlement and communications before they go out, and plan for strikes in a world without replacement workers. Learn more about our labour law services for employers, or contact our Ottawa employment lawyers.
This article is general information about the duty to bargain in good faith and is not legal advice. It is based on Best Theratronics Ltd., 2025 CIRB 1181, Best Theratronics Ltd., 2025 CIRB 1184, Best Theratronics Ltd., 2026 CIRB 1229, Unifor’s October 20, 2026 announcement of the Board’s October 15, 2026 remedy decision, and PSAC’s announcement of October 21, 2026. Current as of October 23, 2026. A labour lawyer can advise on your specific situation.
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