The right to strike

Labour Disputes: Understanding Competing Pressures of Collective Bargaining

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Collective bargaining (CB) is the process of establishing or reviewing the conditions of employment between an employer and its unionized workforce.

On the face of it that seems to be a very simple concept. In fact, nothing is further from the truth. It is very difficult to understand and learn how to manage the collective bargaining process until you have actually experienced the process several times.

A good place to start when examining the CB process is with what happens when there is a conflict during negotiations and a new Collective Agreement (CA) between the parties cannot be reached. The resolution model for a contract dispute typically involves a union going on strike, or the employer locking out the union members. In both scenarios production stops and little or no unionized work gets done. This is exactly what happened in the GM Cami plant.

The last strike that occurred at the plant, located in Ingersoll, Ontario, was in 1992, and it lasted 5 weeks. It was what we in the labour-relations world would call a bread and butter strike. The union went on strike for better workplace relationships, wages, and benefits.

Click here for more details about the 1992 Cami GM Strike.

Let’s move forward 25 years to this current strike. Today’s Cami plant strike is not about wages, it is about saving jobs and improving job security. In 2015 the Cami Plant lost 400 jobs to Mexico.

The union is looking for GM to guarantee that the Cami Plant becomes the lead production facility of the Equinox, which would essentially mean a commitment to maintaining union jobs in Ontario. The union workers are committed to taking this stance as 99.8 percent of Cami plant workers voted to support the strike.

Click here to read more about the current Cami Strike.

This Cami plant strike is dealing with much bigger concerns than the typical bread and butter issues of employment conditions. It is really trying to address what is happening in today’s global economy, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and keeping manufacturing jobs in Canada. These are big issues that all HR professionals have to think about, whether they are working in a unionized or non-unionized industry.

 

Discussion Questions:

Discuss and critically support your position on the following statement. Does a union have a right to ask for an employer to provide job security?

Identify and discuss the concept of the triangle of pressure during collective bargaining negotiations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting Agreements

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Vintage poster for Workers Rights
Source: Tribalium/Shutterstock

Recently in Ontario, the provincial government and the public sector union representing correctional workers came to a historic negotiated agreement.  This agreement categorizes and recognizes the work of the bargaining unit members as essential services, on par with police and first responders.

It also means that the union gave up, through the negotiation process, the right to strike.  This guarantees that wages and financial benefits will be determined by a neutral, third-party arbitrator in the future.

Click here to read the Article

Click here to read OPSEU’s announcement of this historic agreement.

As we have learned through our labour relations studies, the right to strike is a basic principle for unionized workers.  Further, it is a powerful leveraging tool during the collective bargaining process.  A strike threat applies legitimate pressure on the employer in order to come to a negotiated agreement.  If there is no successful conclusion through a negotiated agreement, the parties will be faced with a service shutdown through strike action by the union or a lockout by the employer.

Why would any union give up what appears to be a fundamental right?  What would tie the parties together to work toward a successful conclusion in this case?

Common interests.

While we are not privy to the details of what was a very lengthy and difficult negotiation process, as noted in the embedded articles, both parties wanted safety and security.  It appears that it was not in the interest of the government to have to deal with strikes where the public may be put at risk.  It appears that it was not in the interest of the union to put themselves at continued risk if reasonable wage and security increases were not achievable through the traditional process of negotiation.

This may be a case where the common interests of both parties outweighed the positional, combative approach, which may not have led to a successful conclusion for anyone.  Both parties, in this case, had to compromise future bargaining power in order to ensure they would get what they most valued.

Both parties wanted and were able to achieve, by recognizing common interests, a successful conclusion that appears to serve their best interests now and into the foreseeable future.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Identify three common interests shared by the union and the employer (the government) as they are presented in the embedded articles.
  2. What is the main message to the union members in the OPSEU announcement?
  3. Do you agree that giving up the right to strike was the right thing to do in this case? Why or why not?
  4. What benefits are in place for the employer (the government) as a result of this agreement?

 

Doctors on Strike!

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For the first time in 40 years Doctors in the UK are going on strike!

Click Here to Read the Article

The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union certified for all Doctors and Dentists covered by the British National Health Service.

Click Here to Read More About the British Medical Association

Contract negotiations are heating up in the United Kingdom (UK) and they are not going well for any of the parties. The Government is threatening to impose employment terms and conditions and, in response, the BMA is withdrawing their labour, in the form of services to the public and holding one day strikes.

This situation brings up many issues that are relevant to collective barraging in the public sector. The primary concern that is always discussed is, whether certain groups for reason of public safety should not be allowed to strike. Let’s leave that topic of discussion for another day!

What’s of greater interest, that gets little attention in the public sector, is whether or not negative labour relations affects future recruitment in the public sector?

Click Here to Read Some Statistics from the Guardian Newspaper in the UK

  • Physicians applying to be trained as specialists has dropped 9.2%
  • The number of General Physician applications has dropped close to 25%

These sobering statistics are worth pondering, in relation to the future of medical care in the UK. The UK is becoming one of the most populated countries in all of Europe; With the decline in physician training and recruitment, will it also become unhealthier?

Discussion Questions:

  1.  How does negative labour relations affect an employer’s ability to recruit and retain highly specialized employees?
  2. Do public sector employers have to be worried about their public image with employees?