Reinventing Union-Management Partnerships

Conference held in Toronto on November 28, 29 & 30, 2000
Chairs: Michael B. Millman, R.C. Whitney & Associates Ltd.; Denis W. Ellickson, Caley & Wray; geneviève bich, Bell Canada; and Mac Roberts, Mac Roberts & Associates

Book: over 385 pages of original material
CD-ROM: over 10 hours of video presentations, plus book content

To purchase, please contact Federated Press.

Interest-based bargaining

CASE STUDY – Reinventing the union-management relationship
Tracy O'Meara, Business Representative, Local 636, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; Kimberley Hogan, Vice-President, Human Resources, Christie Digital Systems; and Michael B. Millman, President, R.C. Whitney & Associates Ltd.

• The drivers to change to interest-based negotiations
• Creating mutual gains at the bargaining table
• Outcome of the mutual gains negotiations
• Emerging problems of the 2000 negotiations
• Sustaining momentum achieved in collective bargaining
• Lessons learned from mutual gains bargaining

Video: 45 minutes • Overheads

CASE STUDY – How continuous bargaining improved labour relations at Westroc Inc.
Stephen Williams, Director, Human Resources, Westroc Inc.; Lenox Cooper, President, Local 1256, Canadian Auto Workers; and David W. Clark, Clark Business Solutions & Training Inc.

• History of labour relations at Westroc
• Why a labour relations strategy is important
• A look from a union perspective
• Components of a labour relations strategy
• Dialogue and training requirements
• Methodology for collective bargaining and future plans

Video: 44 minutes • Speakers' paper: 2435 words

CASE STUDY – Hiring contract workers through the union at Hydro One
John Sprackett, Staff Officer, Power Workers' Union; and Myles D'Arcey, Director of Stations and Operations, Hydro One Inc.

• The hiring hall arrangement: making it work
• The role of management in the hiring hall process
• Trade classifications and casual trade staff levels
• Hiring hall process: benefits to union and employers
• Challenges faced in the hiring hall concept
• Lessons learned in this experience

Video: 43 minutes • Speaker's notes: 894 words • Overheads

CASE STUDY – Building and maintaining a co-operative union-management relationship
Walter Coburn, Senior Labour Relations Officer, University of Toronto; Rick Hook, Vice-President, CUPE, Local 926, and Philip H. Wong, Head of Human Resources, Wilfrid Laurier University

• Issues and solutions in the 1999/2000 negotiations
• The bargaining process: building trust
• Partnership initiatives
• The problem solving approach
• Integrating job levels
• Sustaining the co-operative relationship

Video: 24 minutes • Speakers' papers: 3495 words

Trends in collective agreements

CASE STUDY – Alternative dispute resolution: mediation/arbitration techniques
Robert W. Kitchen, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP; Robert J. Herman, R. Herman Arbitration/Mediation Inc.; Ian B. Anderson, General Counsel, Local 1000A, United Food and Commercial Workers; and P. Christopher Lloyd, Director, Labour Relations, Loblaw Companies Limited

• Arbitration vs. mediation and avoiding pitfalls
• When to use mediation and its advantages
• The role of the arbitrator/mediator
• When the mediator acts as arbitrator
• What to look for in a mediator
• Supplying information to the mediator

Video: 53 minutes • Speaker's paper: 2112 words

CASE STUDY – Employer drug & alcohol policies vs. collective agreement obligations
Barbara Butler, Barbara Butler & Associates Inc.; Denis W. Ellickson, Caley & Wray; and W.G. Scarrow, Senior Vice-President, United Transportation Union Canada

• Trends in drug and alcohol use in/out of the workplace
• Legal liabilities and responsibilities for employers
• Developing corporate drug and alcohol testing policies
• The types of testing: objectives and results
• Significant legal decisions on drug and alcohol testing
• Driving the drug and alcohol problem underground

Video: 72 minutes • Speaker's paper: 4045 words • Attachments

The latest in workplace trends and innovations in Canadian collective agreements
Suzanne Payette, Manager, Labour Economics and Publications, Workplace Information Directorate, Human Resources Development Canada

• Drivers of change and information sharing
• Industrial relations at the bargaining table
• Examples of organization of work innovations
• Innovations in pay structures: variable pay and profit sharing
• Labour-management committees: stages of cooperation

Video: 32 minutes • Overheads

Partnering to manage change

CASE STUDY – Union-management partnering at Ontario Power Generation
John D. Murphy, Executive Vice-President, Human Resources, Ontario Power Generation Inc.

• Drivers for change in union-management relations
• Goal sharing program: the partnership agreement
• Decontrolling issues: the society collective agreement
• Collective agreement provisions dealing with changing issues
• Union-management relationship during deregulation
• Communicating commitment to the partnership process

Video: 34 minutes • Speaker's paper: 4122 words

CASE STUDY – Closing the technological skills gap: union-management innovation at Chubb Security
Jack L. Hayes, Director, Human Resources, Chubb Security North America

• Conducting an educational audit and skills testing process
• Selecting courses and getting employees to take them
• Educational requirements in the collective agreement
• Dealing with union concerns
• Course completion results and incentive programs
• Recommendations for establishing an educational program

Video: 47 minutes • Speaker's paper: 1861 words

CASE STUDY – Labour issues arising from an M&A in the foodservice industry
Hugh Secord, Director, Human Resources, SERCA Foodservice Inc.

• Labour relations role in the SERCA-Burgess merger
• Turf wars and representation rights between the unions
• Advantages of the negotiated tripartite settlement
• The London settlement vs. the Mississauga situation
• Caveats and lessons learned in negotiated tripartite settlements

Video: 35 minutes • Speaker's paper: 2494 words

CASE STUDY – Impact of airline restructuring on industrial relations
Patrick J. Heinke, Senior Director, Labour Relations, Air Canada

• Creating a labour strategy in a restructured environment
• Negotiating long-term collective contracts
• Establishing mirror collective agreements
• Intermingling priorities: handling employee resistance
• Overcoming work jurisdictional conflicts
• Union representation and seniority integration issues

Video: 41 minutes • Overheads 

Incentives and pay

CASE STUDY – The challenge of variable pay incentives in a unionized workplace
Julian Walker, Industrial Relations Manager, DuPont Canada Inc.

• Performance pay program: purpose and design
• Implementation of the program: the first five years
• Some early lessons and redesigning the program
• Participation in the second five years of the program
• Pay-out results and success factors in the program

Video: 39 minutes • Speaker's paper: 2317 words

CASE STUDY – Union-management efforts to solve overtime-related grievances
Dave Pawson, Human Resources Manager – Manufacturing, 3M Canada Company

• Industrial relations at the company's London plant
• Implementing new overtime guidelines in the collective agreement
• Solutions offered to overtime grievances
• The role of the joint overtime committee
• Using Access database system in handling overtime
• The benefits of working jointly on overtime issues

Video: 24 minutes • Overheads

CASE STUDY – Innovations in employee-directed savings plans and incentives tied to share value at Sunoco
David Mathers, President, Sunoco Employees' Bargaining Association; and Shawn Jamieson, Training Coordinator, Human Resources, Sunoco Inc.

• Implementing salary system with pre-paid overtime
• Employee savings plan: incentives offered
• Rewards in employees recognizing employees program
• Payouts in the performance improvement plan
• The company's recognition award program
• Suncor's long-term incentive plan

Video: 28 minutes • Overheads

CASE STUDY – Performance-based incentive plans in the service industry
Stephen Bogardo, Senior Advisor to the CEO and Director of Human Resources, Richtree Markets Inc.

• Instilling the entrepreneurial spirit in employees
• Financial and other payoffs when empowering employees
• Service value chain: measuring service in non-traditional ways
• The pay for performance system: overcoming union concerns
• Determining service charge distribution to employees
• Fostering team building and acknowledging employee contribution

Video: 65 minutes • Speaker's paper: 1546 words