Late next month a series of important labour negotiations will begin in downtown Toronto, and while most Canadian HR departments will have absolutely no influence on what transpires, the results will affect a great many of them.
Both the CAW and the Big Three automakers are getting ready for their traditional triennial contract talks, the results of which set important precedents for many areas of the Canadian economy, say labour experts.
Essentially the CAW-Big Three negotiations sets the benchmark for wages for just about all hourly workers in Canada, said Mitchell Fields, professor of HR and labour relations at the University of Windsor’s Centre for Executive Education. “I don’t think anyone gets better pay or benefits than the auto industry.”
In fact, in some ways the contracts (the current agreements expire Sept. 14) set the wage rate standard in the non-unionized sector as well because employers are going to adjust wages accordingly, he said. This is true even for professionals. If the CAW wins some innovative benefit, it’s likely that will filter through the rest of the economy and other employees will be looking for it too in the months following the agreements, said Fields.
“This is a very, very important set of negotiations,” agreed Buzz Hargrove, president of the CAW. “They set the standards, not only for our union but for the whole labour movement.”
Last month, about 1,000 CAW members gathered to discuss what the union should be aiming for.
The “main thrust” will focus on the Big Three’s attempts to downsize, said Hargrove. He singled out Ford and said the union will try to stop the company from closing its Oakville, Ont. assembly plant. He said the workers there have done everything the company has asked of them and yet the company is moving the work to a U.S. site. “We are going to reverse it,” he said.
The union will also be looking for improvements in job and income security, working hours and inflation protection (see box). As well, the union will be looking for better provisions to encourage early retirement, said Hargrove. “This is not a pension year but we are going to deal with incentive programs to get people to retire early.”
However, the tough talk is tempered slightly in the paper outlining the bargaining program that came out of the convention. The paper dedicates a chapter to the challenges of bargaining in tough times.
“This convention takes place in one of the most challenging economic times for our union since the CAW was founded in 1985,” it states. “Our union’s bargaining agenda in the next three years will inevitably feel the effects of an economic environment that is more difficult than we have faced in a long time.”
It goes onto say that “a top priority for a union during tough times, must be to hang onto its past victories.”
If the union is reminding employees about how tough things have been, they may be trying to make sure workers don’t expect the same kinds of gains they got in 1999, said Mark Thompson, professor of industrial relations at the University of British Columbia.
The auto unions have been pioneers in seeking and winning innovative gains for their workers, said Thompson. “Look at the demands (this year) and there will be something there you haven’t seen before,” said Thompson — environmental activism.
In this year’s program, the CAW said it “will work to ensure that our products are mercury free so this neurotoxin is not released into the environment. Alternatives are quite possible. In this case we know light switches in vehicles can be made with copper ball bearings in place of mercury. Our goal is to eliminate mercury from vehicles.”
Just by the sheer size of the players involved, the settlements will affect the economy to some degree. Everyone is interested to see what the numbers will be but the results typically mean less to British Columbia than to heavily industrialized central Canada. “If I was an HR manager in Ontario, I’d make sure I know what comes out of those negotiations,” Thompson said.
The CAW negotiations will also get more attention than in the past because, unlike in other years, their American cousins won’t be negotiating this year, said Hargrove. In 1999, the UAW signed four-year contracts so the CAW will serve as trailblazers this year.
“You better believe that a year from now the first thing (the Americans) will do is look at the CAW settlements,” said Fields.
Although Hargrove said the union plans to stop Ford’s Oakville plant closure, the CAW will not choose a target company with which it will hammer out its first contract, upon which the other contracts are patterned, until just after Labour Day.
But don’t expect the final agreements to look anything like the opening offers, he said.
“It’s a poker game,” said Fields. Each side comes up with a wish list and each of the items on the list have different levels of importance. Then when initial offers are put on the table there is a great deal of feigned indignation and dire predictions about strikes and lockouts.
What’s on the table
Job security: Tightening up contract provisions regarding layoff notice, severance and plant closures is top priority at workplaces facing potential trouble down the road. Retirement incentives can help to reduce the involuntary layoffs resulting from plant closures or restructurings.
Income security: The demands on income security programs, have been heavy over the past couple of years. Negotiating improvements to those programs will be an important priority.
Working hours: Downsizing and layoffs can help to change the attitudes of union members toward working-time issues such as overtime, utilization of vacation and worksharing. It’s one thing to work heavy overtime when a plant is bursting at the seams and no members are laid-off. It is quite another matter when union brothers and sisters are out of work. This is the time for local unions to move forward with proposals aimed at limiting overtime, requiring full utilization of vacation, and where possible developing worksharing arrangements to prevent layoffs.
Inflation protection: It may seem ironic, but a recession can be an excellent time to negotiate or improve cost-of-living allowances (COLA) protection for wages. Consumer prices in Canada declined during 2001, resulting in negative COLA adjustments. This deflationary trend will not last, and consumer prices are already growing again - but COLA adjustments will remain modest for the next year or two. This means that the upfront costs to an employer of a new COLA clause are quite modest, even though for workers the long-run benefits of COLA protection remain huge.
Source: 2002 CAW Convention: Bargaining Program
Both the CAW and the Big Three automakers are getting ready for their traditional triennial contract talks, the results of which set important precedents for many areas of the Canadian economy, say labour experts.
Essentially the CAW-Big Three negotiations sets the benchmark for wages for just about all hourly workers in Canada, said Mitchell Fields, professor of HR and labour relations at the University of Windsor’s Centre for Executive Education. “I don’t think anyone gets better pay or benefits than the auto industry.”
In fact, in some ways the contracts (the current agreements expire Sept. 14) set the wage rate standard in the non-unionized sector as well because employers are going to adjust wages accordingly, he said. This is true even for professionals. If the CAW wins some innovative benefit, it’s likely that will filter through the rest of the economy and other employees will be looking for it too in the months following the agreements, said Fields.
“This is a very, very important set of negotiations,” agreed Buzz Hargrove, president of the CAW. “They set the standards, not only for our union but for the whole labour movement.”
Last month, about 1,000 CAW members gathered to discuss what the union should be aiming for.
The “main thrust” will focus on the Big Three’s attempts to downsize, said Hargrove. He singled out Ford and said the union will try to stop the company from closing its Oakville, Ont. assembly plant. He said the workers there have done everything the company has asked of them and yet the company is moving the work to a U.S. site. “We are going to reverse it,” he said.
The union will also be looking for improvements in job and income security, working hours and inflation protection (see box). As well, the union will be looking for better provisions to encourage early retirement, said Hargrove. “This is not a pension year but we are going to deal with incentive programs to get people to retire early.”
However, the tough talk is tempered slightly in the paper outlining the bargaining program that came out of the convention. The paper dedicates a chapter to the challenges of bargaining in tough times.
“This convention takes place in one of the most challenging economic times for our union since the CAW was founded in 1985,” it states. “Our union’s bargaining agenda in the next three years will inevitably feel the effects of an economic environment that is more difficult than we have faced in a long time.”
It goes onto say that “a top priority for a union during tough times, must be to hang onto its past victories.”
If the union is reminding employees about how tough things have been, they may be trying to make sure workers don’t expect the same kinds of gains they got in 1999, said Mark Thompson, professor of industrial relations at the University of British Columbia.
The auto unions have been pioneers in seeking and winning innovative gains for their workers, said Thompson. “Look at the demands (this year) and there will be something there you haven’t seen before,” said Thompson — environmental activism.
In this year’s program, the CAW said it “will work to ensure that our products are mercury free so this neurotoxin is not released into the environment. Alternatives are quite possible. In this case we know light switches in vehicles can be made with copper ball bearings in place of mercury. Our goal is to eliminate mercury from vehicles.”
Just by the sheer size of the players involved, the settlements will affect the economy to some degree. Everyone is interested to see what the numbers will be but the results typically mean less to British Columbia than to heavily industrialized central Canada. “If I was an HR manager in Ontario, I’d make sure I know what comes out of those negotiations,” Thompson said.
The CAW negotiations will also get more attention than in the past because, unlike in other years, their American cousins won’t be negotiating this year, said Hargrove. In 1999, the UAW signed four-year contracts so the CAW will serve as trailblazers this year.
“You better believe that a year from now the first thing (the Americans) will do is look at the CAW settlements,” said Fields.
Although Hargrove said the union plans to stop Ford’s Oakville plant closure, the CAW will not choose a target company with which it will hammer out its first contract, upon which the other contracts are patterned, until just after Labour Day.
But don’t expect the final agreements to look anything like the opening offers, he said.
“It’s a poker game,” said Fields. Each side comes up with a wish list and each of the items on the list have different levels of importance. Then when initial offers are put on the table there is a great deal of feigned indignation and dire predictions about strikes and lockouts.
What’s on the table
Job security: Tightening up contract provisions regarding layoff notice, severance and plant closures is top priority at workplaces facing potential trouble down the road. Retirement incentives can help to reduce the involuntary layoffs resulting from plant closures or restructurings.
Income security: The demands on income security programs, have been heavy over the past couple of years. Negotiating improvements to those programs will be an important priority.
Working hours: Downsizing and layoffs can help to change the attitudes of union members toward working-time issues such as overtime, utilization of vacation and worksharing. It’s one thing to work heavy overtime when a plant is bursting at the seams and no members are laid-off. It is quite another matter when union brothers and sisters are out of work. This is the time for local unions to move forward with proposals aimed at limiting overtime, requiring full utilization of vacation, and where possible developing worksharing arrangements to prevent layoffs.
Inflation protection: It may seem ironic, but a recession can be an excellent time to negotiate or improve cost-of-living allowances (COLA) protection for wages. Consumer prices in Canada declined during 2001, resulting in negative COLA adjustments. This deflationary trend will not last, and consumer prices are already growing again - but COLA adjustments will remain modest for the next year or two. This means that the upfront costs to an employer of a new COLA clause are quite modest, even though for workers the long-run benefits of COLA protection remain huge.
Source: 2002 CAW Convention: Bargaining Program
