Recession Nurtures Innovative Negotiations

Extensions, freezes, increased flexibility common features

by Gordon Sova (gordon.sova@thomsonreuters.com)

Desperate times, the saying goes, call for desperate measures.  For manufacturers, this last year has been a desperate time.  While the collective agreement responses are not desperate, they certainly are various and interesting.

Among the more conventional changes, wage freezes have recently become much more common.  And, with a few exceptions, the wage roll-backs that characterized the meat packing industry when it was in crisis a few years ago have been absent.  This would suggest that labour cost is not the central issue in the implosion of manufacturing, but perhaps other culprits such as financing and demand.

Another old stand-by, the one-year extension, has also become very frequent of late.  An article in the Globe and Mail not long ago suggested that doing nothing was the new labour relations strategy.  Waiting and seeing has certainly gained in favour.

However, some agreements are displaying more confidence.  National Steel Car in Hamilton and Cooper-Standard in Georgetown come to mind.  Standard length agreements were ratified with concessions balanced against commitments for investment and new products.

Among the more innovative changes, new hire rates have dropped as a percentage of the job rate in numerous agreements.  The length of time before the job rate is reached has also increased.  In a climate of massive layoffs, this may not have immediate effect, but it might in the longer term.

Several recent agreements, Barnes Group in Burlington and Aker Chemetics in Don Mills, for example, have cut back on or eliminated lead hands.  The cost savings may be a consideration, but the role of supervisors will also be affected.

The weekend shift will be eliminated in the new Kellogg’s agreement in London.  This is one of several flexibility measures that were achieved by the company despite a strike.  New employees will be cross-trained for all jobs and can be scheduled more freely.

Timken Canada in St. Thomas was being hurt by the value of the Canadian dollar.  The union agreed to trade the COLA clause for a floating premium based on the exchange rate.

Finally, perhaps the most innovative and the one that renews your faith in the traditions of the labour movement:  Biltrite in Etobicoke and its union agreed to a single wage rate of $20 per hour across the board with greater or lesser roll-backs for everyone from Sweeper to Electrician.