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Picket-line Protocols & Problems

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As we have learned from our labour relations studies, when workers represented by a union go on strike, they have a legitimate right to picket the workplace where the strike is taking place. Peaceful picketing is part of every Canadian’s right to freedom of expression, as enshrined in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Section 2). When a union in Canada goes on strike, there is a clear expectation that its workers will ‘walk the line’ in order to ensure that this right is upheld.

Picketing takes place, typically, at designated locations bordering or outside of the employer’s property. Workers may be scheduled in shifts to walk back-and-forth on the boundaries of the property and/or across the entrances. They may carry signs and delay entry, for a reasonable amount of time, to others coming on to the premises or to the employer’s property. They may communicate information about the strike to individuals entering the worksite. These are lawful activities.

At the same time, individuals (including members of the public at large) continue to have the right to enter into the employer’s premises, if they choose to do so, without fear of intimidation, coercion, obstruction, or violence.

Click here for a brief outline of lawful rights for both workers and the public, as provided by the Peel Regional Police force.

What happens when the implementation of the rights of workers and the public collide? Picket-line problems.

Click here for video/news commentary on picket-line altercations at York University.

When individuals perceive that their basic rights are being restricted, we often see a quick escalation of frustrations that can have drastic and unfortunate results for everyone involved. While situations can be difficult to understand, and challenging, especially when tempers flare due to perceived restrictions or inconveniences, we must ensure that the freedoms we all enjoy through our collective rights continue to be upheld — peacefully.

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. In your opinion, who has the ‘greater’ right on a picket-line? The workers/union or the public? Explain your rationale.
  2. As a labour-relations officer for an organization whose employees are on strike, what measures would you put into place to ensure that striking workers are safe on a picket line?
  3. From the perspective of the employer with a union on strike, prepare a script that explains picket-line protocols to members of the public.

Good Faith vs. Bad Faith

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Nothing seems to drive a collective bargaining process into the ground more than the perception that one of the parties is not playing by the rules.  A key principle, that is enshrined in the legal process of collective bargaining, is the concept of bargaining in good faith.

It is, in fact, more than just a concept.

When parties agree to bargain in good faith, they agree to honour the rules that they make with each other before the bargaining process even begins.  These mutually agreed upon rules include items such as how communication will happen to each of the parties’ respective constituencies and, in the case of public sector bargaining, how information will be communicated to the public at large.  The setting of the ground rules between the parties is as serious as the content and the issues that are discussed at the bargaining table.  Setting the ground rules for bargaining is part of the legal environment and processes that enable fair, honest, and open negotiations to take place.

As with all kinds of rule based settings, when one of the parties appears to be breaking the rules or does not seem to be playing by the rules, the other party gets upset.  When this happens, the other party typically reacts in a negative way, which is not a surprise!  Suddenly, the issues at the table take second place, as the negotiations process stalls and hostile allegations of bad faith bargaining start to take hold.

This seems to be the case as the collective bargaining process continues to unfold in the education sector in Ontario.

Click here to read the article.

What makes this particular bargaining process more complex is that there are three parties at bargaining table: the government, the union, and the provincial association representing public school boards.  Resolutions to these types of allegations and bargaining processes are never easy.  Hopefully, all of the parties will be able to see their way through the layers of complexity and conflict in order to find a way to negotiate and to honour the bargaining process between them.

Discussion questions

  1. What was the agreed upon rule that appears to have been broken?
  2. What are the possible implications of filing a claim of bad faith with the Labour Board?
  3. Why is the issue of communication so important to each of the parties in this process?
  4. As a member of one of the bargaining teams, what steps would you take to resolve these allegations?