GSU general secretary Hugh Wagner will attend the annual meeting of the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board (SLRB) in Regina on May 25.

The SLRB was first established in 1944 to administer the Trade Union Act of Saskatchewan which was the first comprehensive legislation in Canada recognizing the right of workers to belong to and be represented by the union of their choosing. The SLRB is a quasi-judicial body comprised of a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and twenty part-time board members. Wagner is one of the ten part-time SLRB members representing workers along with another ten part-time board members representing employers.

Currently the SLRB is primarily responsible for administering Part VI of the Saskatchewan Employment Act which replaced the Trade union Act in 2014. Amongst its mandates the SLRB has exclusive jurisdiction to certify unions as the collective bargaining representative of workers whose employment falls under provincial jurisdiction in Saskatchewan.

The annual meeting of the SLRB oversees the board’s role in carrying out its mandates. Wagner was first appointed to the SLRB in 1995.