SESSION 4

Course: COMM 4BC3

Professor: Sean O’Brady
Source: iheartradio https://www.iheartradio.ca/newstalk-1010/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-
the-ontario-high-school-strike-on-wednesday-1.10334226

*Instructive material from Emond Montgomery Publications was incorporated into this deck
Topics to be addressed in this session

1. The process of negotiating a collective agreement

2. The sub-processes of negotiation

3. Bargaining Structures

4. Power and the bargaining environment

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The process of negotiating a collective agreement

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Initiating collective bargaining

§ After the written notice to bargain is provided by one party to the other, the negotiation
process is initiated
§ Generally 2-4 months prior to expiration

§ Both sides select a chief negotiator

§ Union side: professional negotiator (business or staff representative), sometimes the local union president
§ Employer: manager (e.g. of labour relations) or lawyer

§ The parties agree to a bargaining protocol

§ Non-monetary issues usually addressed before monetary
§ Negotiating clauses one-by-one or collectively

§ Protocols for approval

§ By workers or senior executives/board of directors
§ Ontario law requires majority support from workers to ratify

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Legal basis of negotiations: Key points

Statutory freeze provisions

§ Certification freeze
§ Collective bargaining freeze

The Procedural Duty to bargain in “good faith”

§ Stipulations on how to bargain
§ Meet and be prepared to negotiate
§ Provide information
§ Honesty about firm plans

§ Stipulations on what can be bargained

§ Illegal terms
§ Terms that cannot be “bargained to impasse” Source: https://hbr.org/2016/07/how-to-negotiate-with-a-liar
§ Surface vs. hard bargaining

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Three stages of negotiation

1. Pre-negotiation
§ Preparation
§ Begins as early as possible
§ Book example = at least 1.5 years ahead

§ Compilation of proposals
§ Commences with the submission of laundry list (by union, but not always)
§ Union integrates various constituents into process
§ Employer prepares and submits counter-proposals

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Three stages of negotiation

2. Negotiation 3. Settlement
§ Serious consideration of proposals § Bottom-lines are revealed

§ Involves many meanings and exchanges § Agreement (or industrial action) is near
§ Parties search for “zone of agreement”

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The subprocesses of negotiation

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Sub-process #1: Distributive bargaining

§ A zero-sum game

§ Involves cutting the pie

§ One’s loss is another’s gain
§ Types of issues: wages, fringe benefits, etc.

§ Issues are resolved through the exercise of

bargaining power
§ Example: Strike and lock-out threats

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Sub-process #2: Integrative bargaining

§ A positive-sum game § Integrative bargaining is difficult to maintain

§ Difficulties in dividing mutual gains
§ Difficult to get employers to think about long-term goals
§ Involves expanding the pie § Trust (between and within organizations)
§ Joint gains are possible
§ Example: Introducing changes that augment
organizational performance

§ Issues are resolved through information

sharing and joint problem solving
§ Example: Formation of committees dedicated to
improving work practices

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Comparing Tactics: Distributive vs. Integrative

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Sub-process #3: Intra-Organizational bargaining

§ Addresses negotiations within teams

§ Intra-organizational conflict is common in some circumstances

§ Poor unity in one team can lead to shadow boxing (or surface bargaining)
§ When a negotiator does not have sufficient authority to negotiate

Source: CUPE,
https://cupe.ca/collective-
bargaining

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Sub-process #4: Attitudinal structuring

§ Addresses the perceptions each side generates vis-à-vis the other over time
§ More collaborative and trusting relationship = integrative bargaining
§ More hostile actions, and distrust = distributive bargaining

Source:
http://www.washingtonlaborandemployment
blog.com/category/public-sector-collective-
bargaining-rights/duty-to-bargain/bad-
faith-bargaining/page/2/

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Bargaining Structures

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Bargaining Structures Defined

Formal bargaining structure

§ The bargaining unit
§ Workers and employers bound to a collective agreement

Informal bargaining structure

§ Those affected by agreements negotiated in a bargaining unit
§ Due to pattern bargaining or some other non-binding process

Multi-level bargaining
§ Bargaining can take place at multiple levels
§ Example: Setting broader standards at across sectors, leaving room for negotiations within sectors and
establishment-(Quebec’s public sector)

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Centralization of Bargaining Structures

§ Centralized structures (multi-employer)

§ Regional (e.g. QC daycares), industry or sectoral (e.g. ON construction)

§ De-centralized structures (single employer or establishment)

§ Most decentralized = single-employer-single plant (e.g. security at McMaster)
§ Still decentralized, but less so = single-employer multi-plant (Loblaws)

§ De-centralization occurs when:

§ The proportion of the overall workforce in a region, industry, or sector covered by the master
agreement* diminishes
§ When the scope of issues addressed in the master agreement diminishes
§ When bargaining coverage declines

*Master agreement = An agreement covering multiple employers at the sectoral, regional, or company levels. It imposes
common standards for all workers covered under the agreement.
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Employer perceptions of centralized bargaining

§ Sometimes employers prefer centralized models

§ Unionized employers fear low-cost competition
§ High-skilled workers have less power to pit employers against each other
§ More efficient to negotiate a single agreement

§ But Canadian employers are generally opposed

§ Big businesses are conglomerates (at least partially non-union)
§ Fear of empowering the labour movement
§ Addicted to low-cost HR strategies
§ Small businesses perceive it as unfair (economies of scale issue)

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Union perceptions of centralized bargaining

§ Many in the labour movement would like a shift towards centralized bargaining
§ Perceive decentralized structures as a barrier to improving working conditions for many
§ A path to a more solidaristic labour movement (reduces union competition)
§ Distances bargaining from local management
§ More efficient to negotiate a single agreement

§ But remains controversial in the labour movement

§ Effects on current membership levels
§ Who will be responsible for negotiation?
§ Effects on shop-floor democracy
§ Contradicts other initiatives (e.g. Fight for $15)

Canadian and US labour experts discuss this using the term broader-based bargaining
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Bargaining centralization and low-wage work

§ OECD data shows the

connection between LOW-WAGE WORK AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
bargaining coverage and COVERAGE, 2017
low-wage work 30

LOW-WAGE WORK (PERCENT), 2017

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USA
§ Canadian industrial relations 20 CAN
is among the most UK DEU
decentralized in the OECD 15
AUS AUT
§ With a high rate of low-wage 10
work
DNK
ITA
5 FIN
BEL
0 SWE
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING (PERCENT), 2017

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Pattern Bargaining

§ Pattern bargaining
§ When terms applied to one bargaining unit are used to gain the same in another
§ Key example of an informal bargaining structure

§ North America - refers to patterns negotiated across companies or establishments

§ Example: The big three automobile manufacturers (General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler) in
Ontario and the U.S.

§ Aims to achieve similar goals to centralization, through coordination

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Power and the bargaining environment

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The Concept of Power

Three aspects of bargaining power

§ Total power
§ The total capacity for labour and management to share gains and set working conditions

§ Relative power
§ The relative power of either side to acquire gains and set working conditions

§ Political power
§ Labour or management’s capacity to influence government policies

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 Environmental Factors that Impact Power

Factors in the economic environment

Total Power Relative Power Political Power

Management Workers

- Competition - Production effects of - Alternative sources of - Labour and

strikes income management’s influence
- State of the economy over economic policies
- Sales effects of strikes - Wage employment trade- differs across countries
off
- Profit effects of strikes
-Replaceability of workers
- Business cycle
- Availability of jobs

- Business cycle
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Environmental Factors that Impact Power

Demography and relative power

§ The supply of labour
§ Birth rates
§ Rural-urban migration
§ Education
§ Child labour

Other sources

§ Technology?
§ Solidarity?

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Thank you for your participation!

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