For the first time since it was awarded new powers, the Alberta Labour Relations Board has certified a union after an employee was fired while leading an organizing drive.

"We were buoyed and obviously happy by the decision, because it does send a signal in the province of Alberta that we have caught up with the way the law ought to be," said Tom Hesse, with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union local 401.

Last September, Aaron Doncaster, an employee of the Hilton Garden Inn & Homewood Suites in downtown Calgary, claimed he was fired while launching a campaign to form a union.

The Alberta Labour Relations Board ordered Aaron Doncaster get his job back and certified the union at the Calgary hotel where he was leading a union drive. (Aaron Doncaster)

After an investigation, the labour board agreed.

"The employer terminated Mr. Doncaster's employment because of his activity in support of the union," effectively ending the union drive, board vice-chair Gwen Gray said in a 37-page decision.

Gray issued a remedial certification, which is awarded to employees if it's believed an employer disrupted efforts to organize a union.

Normally, 65 per cent of employees must sign union cards or vote in a membership drive before a union can be certified.

The ruling is a breakthrough in Alberta, Hesse said.

"Because Alberta has been a conservative jurisdiction for so many years, with labour laws that were very much behind the times, it is novel in that sense," he said.

The board was awarded the authority to issue certifications last year as part of sweeping changes to labour relations under the Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act.

'Relatively hollow'

It's a power the board lost in 1988.

Until last year, if a union organizer lost his or her job, the board could reinstate them and grant the union limited access to the worksite, but nothing more.

"[It] would have been relatively hollow and not sufficient to send a message to employers they shouldn't be doing this, and not sufficient to remedy the harm done," Hesse said.

Gil McGowan, Alberta Federation of Labour president, says until now employers faced no consequences for intimidating employees for unionizing. (Twitter)

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said even casual observers acknowledge the old labour relations framework in Alberta was designed to "actively discourage Alberta working people from exercising their right to join a union."

Prior to the ruling, there were no meaningful consequences for employers who engaged in intimidation tactics, McGowan said.

"They actually fired people, they made all sorts of threats," he said. "Employers were found guilty multiple times for these kinds of practices but they never faced any consequences."

Doncaster got his job back and was awarded back pay.

In a statement, hotel general manager Robert D'Orazio said while the company disagrees with the decision, "we intend to fully comply with its directives and to co-operate in their implementations, subject to applicable laws."

D'Orazio said negotiations are underway with the new union, and the company looks forward to negotiating the first collective agreement.