Canadian HR Reporter

14 NEWS January 27, 2014 CANADIAN HR REPORTER Binding arbitration 'misused' Positive dialogue LABOUR LAWS < pg. 8 correct an antiquated system and keep pace with shifts on the labour horizon, said Thomas Lukaszuk, who heads up the newly formed Ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour. He likened previous penalties for illegal strikes to handing out $2 speeding tickets. "Nobody in this country has a democratic right to strike illegally," said Lukaszuk. "Legal strikes for non-essential services, by all means, that's part of the process. Some of us may agree with the process or not, but it doesn't matter, it's a valid tactic. No one has a democratic right to execute illegal strikes, but if you do then there has to obviously be consequences, and they're dual. There has to be some punitive measures, some deterrent, but you also should be responsible for covering the cost that was incurred as a result." Fuelling the motivation for Bills 45 and 46 are wounds from a wildcat strike at Alberta's jails. Last spring, correctional officers at the Edmonton Remand Centre (represented by AUPE) initiated a wildcat strike, prompting the province to bring in replacement RCMP officers to step in at their posts. The illegal strike cost taxpayers $9 million and put the workers and the public in danger, said Lukaszuk. As a result, Bill 46 — a one-time bargaining chip — is intended to get negotiations rolling and put an end to what Lukaszuk called a misuse of binding arbitration. "Arbitration is a very essential part of this entire process," he said, adding its function is to ease deadlocked negotiations. "It is not designed for either the employer or the union to say, 'No, I'm going for binding arbitration because I think I may get a better deal than actually negotiating with you.'" But the move has forever soured the bond between the government and its staff, according to the union. "The relationship with the government is completely fractured," said Smith. If the public is inconvenienced on a large scale, the government is under pressure to settle a deal. Curbing striking might be the key. "We've been through some scrapes the last little while. We've been an effective voice across the province protesting cuts and privatization, obviously the wildcat strike in the spring at our correctional facilities. Even before all this, the relationship with the government was tenuous, and now it's been completely destroyed." Where does it end? Perhaps the most chilling notion stemming from both labour laws is that this so-called exit strategy could snowball. If governments can push legislation through that bypasses key processes when negotiations fail, where will it end? While that debate is being fought in the courtroom, checks should be put into place to limit cancer ? Does one of your employees have No one ever expects to have cancer. When it strikes, having CAREpath as part of your benefit package shows your employees and their families how much you really care. Employees diagnosed with cancer are assigned a personal oncology nurse providing guidance and support throughout every stage of their cancer journey. CAREpath is the only complete cancer navigation provider in Canada. 1-866-599-2720 www.carepath.ca We'll be there. Anita McGowan, RN, CON(C), OCN Head Oncology Nurse Manager THE CANCER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM illegal strikes, according to Brian Lee Crowley, managing director at the Macdonald Laurier Institute, an Ottawa-based public policy think tank. A strike can be used as a weapon — especially in the public sector. "In the private sector, if you're a unionized autoworker and you go on strike at Ford, there are still going to be cars made by Hyundai and GM and Honda. So unionized employees in the private sector generally don't have the ability to cause an entire service to be withdrawn," he said. "But because most government services are provided only by government — health care, education — if the unionized employees withdraw their service, it's withdrawn from everybody." That effectively makes the public a third party during negotiations. If the public is inconvenienced on a large scale (typical of public sector strikes), the government is under more pressure to settle a deal. Curbing striking abilities might be the key, but both parties need to be kept in check, according to Crowley. "The argument is public sector strikes tilt the balance in favour of workers, but you wouldn't want to let governments set the wages unilaterally," he said. "You always want there to be some reasonable balance." This article was originally published in Canadian Labour Reporter, a weekly newsletter focusing on labour relations including news, collective agreement summaries and arbitration decisions from the editors of Canadian HR Reporter. For more information, or to subscribe, visit www.labour-reporter. com. SOCIAL MEDIA < pg. 12 market that information makes it more visible," said Barrett. "These channels are, for the most part, free. You're not paying a job board." It's increasingly more important to have a recruiting presence on social platforms because that's where many talented candidates are primarily focusing their searches. And it's not just the newer or less experienced millennial candidates, she said. "A lot of people just think stereotypically that younger people are on social media… and while that is absolutely true, one of the things that we're starting to see from a shift perspective is a lot of the baby boomers are adopting social media." sector?" Three tools were instrumental in her social media leadership: Twitter, blogging and a social tool called SoapBox, which allows for customer or stakeholder feedback. "By having a Twitter presence… I have a direct line of communication into my entire Ryerson community and well beyond," said Hanigsberg. "So what I find (is)… people are constantly coming up to me and they know me. They feel like they know me, and in a certain sense they know me in an important way, and that's because in my personality on Twitter and my personality in my blogs… it is very important that I'm authentic Communications and I'm being me in all of those One of the most important appliinteractions." cations of social tools is for timely And it's pretty easy to figure out communications with customers, what works and what doesn't, she according to Robert Underwood, said. Toronto-based president and "The nice thing about social CEO of Actra Fraternal Benefits media is it does allow you to test, Society, an insurance and retireand you can test and get pretty ment plan company for perforinstant feedback mance artists. about things and "If we didn't take "The nice thing a place on Faceabout what's working and what isn't." book, we'd end up about social there anyway. The media is it does plan was to head E-recruiting Recruiting is an- allow you to test, off negative press other area where and member comand you can get plaints on the front social media can have a dramatic what pretty instant end, and turn been impact, extending could have feedback about reputational direach while lowering costs, accord- things and about saster into positive ing to Ann Barrett, member dialogue," what's working he said. director of e-recruitment and so"Our social meand what isn't." dia analyst monicial media strategy at Sun Life Finantors our accounts cial in Toronto. The company has 24-7, which is absolutely key and about 15,000 employees globally. critical." "From a hiring perspective… The objective was to promote everybody wants to hire the best open communications with talent," she said. "Where are these members, be an active participeople? Where are the candi- pant in conversations about Acdates that we're hiring coming tra's brand, and respond with fast, from? What we started to see was positive solutions when a problem a shift in the marketplace. Tradi- would arise. tionally, we had candidates that Of course, there are always would come from job boards, some risks involved when movwe would have them supplied by ing a business platform onto social staffing agencies. But what we media, said Underwood. started to see was job aggregators "Taking sensitive information like Indeed, Facebook, LinkedIn, offline is absolutely essential." Twitter, etcetera… we started to But the benefits far outweigh get tangible results from these the risks — especially when sosources." cial media allows them to resolve Sun Life began to cross-pro- complaints and frustrations so mote its jobs by posting on a num- quickly. ber of different social channels, "When members feel the serwhile simultaneously focusing on vice is not up to snuff, Facebook is effective branding. often their first stop. And the key "If you think about the fact that is to catch the comments early over 80 per cent of candidates out and, again, the key is to engage the there are passive and not actively members in positive dialogue," he looking for jobs, it's important said. "The best result we can exto understand that using social pect… is turning a complaint into media channels to maybe cross- a compliment."

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