Collective Bargaining
Following the union certification process and thereafter, negotiation of a collective agreement (contract) between the employer, their employees and the union representing employees is the next step.
Negotiating a collective agreement can be complex. It is governed by legislation in the form of a Labour Relations Code or Act and governed by a Labour Relations Board.
Adding to the complexity are the impacts of other statutes such as Employment Standards, Occupational Health & Safety and Human Rights statutes.
Scott Wiggs is an experienced negotiator and has bargained in multiple provinces and territories and is ideal to assist in navigating the complexities of collective bargaining.
Essential Services:
Where collective bargaining breaks down, and the potential for a strike or lockout exists, employers that are subject to the need for essential services will be required to negotiate, or otherwise devise an essential services plan that will withstand the scrutiny of the union and the jurisdiction’s Labour Relations Board.
Generally, essential services are those services that must be maintained despite a strike or a lockout. How essential services are determined and staffed varies between jurisdictions. All stipulate that essential services must be agreed, or otherwise established, before a strike or lockout can occur.
Essential services definitions are somewhat similar across the country. The Alberta Labour Relations Code is a good example:
“95.1 For the purposes of this Division, essential services are those services
(a) the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the public, or
(b) that are necessary to the maintenance and administration of the rule of law or public security”
Applying that definition can range from simple to highly complex. For example, it is a simple answer where all employees are emergency firefighters during fire season. In that case all employees would be essential.
However, as a real example very familiar to Wiggs Labour Relations, Health Care has the greatest complexity of any essential services staffing. There are many factors that must be considered, including patient acuity, nature of the care, the profession (nursing, health sciences, general support), the individual modalities within that profession, nature and scope of the work, professional licencing and, the abilities of managers to perform the work to name but a few.
Wiggs Labour Relations has the experience and expertise to assist you through the Collective Bargaining and Essential Services processes with the most complex needs and beyond.