Canadian Labour Reporter

7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER news Photo: Rebecca Cook (Reuters) Employers wary of uniform collective agreements < from pg. 1 they could to try to save their facilities from closing, that that's where the collective agree- ments just started to really change a lot from where they were prior to that," Berto explained. "We're trying to refocus and trying to clean up and assess what's happened over the last five to seven years." But the new bargaining tactic has sparked concern from some employers and manage- ment groups, citing competition as one pos- sible point of contention. David Amyot, a labour lawyer at McTague Law Firm LLP in Windsor, Ont., said pattern bargaining may sound good but is a little more involved than one might initially expect. "Theoretically, there is more predictability," Amyot said. "It sounds good in theory but the reality is employers have their own unique set of circumstances, whether it be financial or employment, which pattern bargaining prob- ably wouldn't take into consideration as much as those employers would want it to." This is something the union has consid- ered. Berto offered an example of an employ- ee in Windsor, who might be entitled to a top wage rate after three years, while an employ- ee working for the same company in London, Ont., might need five years to get that top rate. Consistency between the two would pro- vide security for those workers. Wages and benefits are only the tip of the contract ice- berg. "But there are other parts to a collective agreement — wages and benefits are a very small piece of the collective agreement," Berto explained. "There's no reason we can't make that a little more uniform throughout the sec- tor. For the members, it provides them with a level of security and benefits across the sector — and I don't just mean health-care benefits." Another concern from management might be the cost of a uniformly bargained contract. "Maybe it's not implicit but there's this per- ception that 'Oh, this has got to be expensive and it's got to be bad,'" Amyot said. "And what I'd say to my clients would be there is nothing forcing you, legally, to pattern bargain. Ultimately, you control your own des- tiny. It's not a legal mandate that you have to pattern bargain like they do in the construction industry." He points to the industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) construction contracts in Ontario. Under the provincial Labour Rela- tions Act, certain unions and employers are legally obligated to collectively bargain using a pattern bargaining model. Pattern deals have pitfalls and benefits, Amyot said, and the mechanism can blossom in a certain climate. "For the Big Three, I would speculate (pat- tern bargaining) was to their advantage be- cause they wouldn't want any one of them to have a radically different set of labour cost parameters than the other," Amyot ex- plained. For the union, it can be a way to bootstrap better deals, he added. For instance, a tier- three employer might negotiate the baseline conditions, and typically one would expect a tier-two employer to pay a little more than a tier three, and so on. "As a management-side lawyer, I have some concern with that because we also have to con- sider the value of the work being performed relative to the employer where the employer isn't a supply chain," Amyot said. But because each employer's situation var- ies widely and wildly, Amyot said an open mind is key when approaching a new round of negotiations. "The natural reaction for many is skepti- cism or concern," he said. "There could be ad- vantages as an employer, but I think some of those advantages are theoretical and they're based on all the employers in that same tier es- sentially offering the same set of financial and employment circumstances, which I don't think actually exist." A notable local When it was fi rst established as the union for Chrysler employees in Windsor, Ont., in 1942, Local 444 (then a part of the United Auto Workers), represented auto workers. Since then, the storied chapter has been a breeding ground where key players like the following cut their teeth: Charlie Brooks, fi rst president of the local, was shot and killed in 1977 by a disgruntled employee who had been fi red by Chrysler. Buzz Hargrove was a member of Local 444 before taking the reins as national president of the Canadian Auto Workers union. Ken Lewenza served as the fi fth president of Local 444 in the mid-1990s and unionized then-new casino workers. He would be the Canadian Auto Workers' last national president before its merger with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union to form Unifor in 2013. In recent years, staff at auto plants have taken a hit. But the economic tide is turning, according to Unifor.

• Cover