Larry O’Brien at the table: better for CUPE?
CBC Ottawa is reporting (love that headline – are they being sarcastic?) that Larry O’Brien is going to handle bargaining between the city and CUPE 503. For a minute there, I was very discouraged. But you know, it might be for the best.
I hasten to add that I consider “the best” to be that the city continues to function with well-paid, respected staff who add value and bring dedication to their jobs in an environment where there’s enough trust between them and management that they continue to work with the city to find efficiencies and other ways of doing things better.
I don’t think O’Brien has ever had to bargain with a union before. He said during the campaign he wanted to put the right to strike and lock out back into the Ottawa-CUPE 503 collective agreement (presumably because he wants more concessions than arbitrators typically award in binding arbitration). So he’s posing like he’s going to go for the gusto.
What will happen when he actually sits down? No doubt the career negotiators on both sides will be appalled. Bargaining is an odd combination of subtlety, silent messaging, nuances and pressure. Will he “get” it? Or will he act like a CEO giving a pep talk to powerless employees who must cheer along or face unemployment? Maybe he’ll learn a lesson or two? Stop laughing.
An unskilled negotiator can put their side into all kinds of difficulty. They can miss opportunities for agreement, give too much away without getting their must-haves, or make any number of other errors that will paint her or his side into a corner.
That can often mean a strike or a lockout where the sides are very far apart or where there’s nowhere for either side to move.
Of course, this only applies where the parties haven’t waived the right to strike or lockout. I wonder about the legal process O’Brien will have to follow if he’s to make good on his promise to bring the work stoppage back to Ottawa.
The City and CUPE 503 have signed a no-strike or lockout clause in their current contract.
When parties are in a legal strike or lockout position, management can cancel the existing collective agreement, including any provisions about how the contract is to be renewed. But is there some non-strike ‘open period’ where management has the same right as it does during a strike? I don’t know. I doubt it, somehow.
O’Brien may be just one vote on council, but if ultimately he has to sign the contract for the City, then he should be at the table. It may be CUPE 503′s most difficult round of bargaining in some time, but it will be more difficult still if the person at the table on the other side isn’t calling the shots.
Better to be bargaining with the puppet master than the puppets. Even if he is a loose cannon.
I’m not a fan of the no-strike/lockout approach among unions, but I do have sympathy for both the leadership and membership of CUPE 503. I’ll be following the negotiations with trepidation.
