Canadian Labour Reporter

by how much people have done to help us." In an effort to garner as much support as possible, the union has regularly moved its picket line throughout the community. "The CBS centre is in down- town Charlottetown but on a fairly quiet street," Kaiser said. "The members decided to move the picket line around so they would be more visible and raise greater public awareness about the strike." The main issue for the workers is the minimum number of guar- anteed hours. Minimum guaran- teed hours are crucial, the union said, because employees must work at least 18.75 hours per week to maintain their benefits. "We want to know that Cana- dian Blood Services will maintain at least some of our jobs as real jobs or, in other words, jobs that have enough hours to continue to be eligible for benefits and to have enough income to support their families," Kaiser said. The parties' previous contract expired in 2011 and employees have been working under the terms of the expired agreement as negotiations have been ongo- ing. While wages and the length of contract are also outstanding, Kaiser said the issue of minimum guaranteed hours is the union's priority. A conciliation officer was ap- pointed by the province's Min- istry of Labour in August in an attempt to reach an agreement. The resulting final offer was re- jected by an "overwhelming ma- jority" of members. "The union members felt that, without strike action, CBS wouldn't move off its position of having complete flexibility over the minimum number of hours for their jobs. NSUPE 19 mem- bers feel they made concessions to try to reach an agreement but that they didn't see any reciprocal movement by CBS," Kaiser said. CBS declined to comment on the outstanding issues with the bargaining unit, but director of donor relations Peter MacDon- ald said the organization remains "committed to reaching a mutu- ally satisfactory agreement with NSUPE Local 19." MacDonald went on to say the province will continue to receive blood products from CBS's na- tional inventory as the distribu- tion of blood products to P.E.I. hospitals and the operation of mobile clinics continues to be managed from Dartmouth, N.S. CBS manages the national supply of blood, blood products, stem cell and related services for all provinces and territories with the exception of Quebec. The not- for-profit organization — regu- lated as a biologics manufacturer by Health Canada — is primarily funded by the provincial and ter- ritorial ministries of health. Pubic perception This perceived need to strike could be a contributing factor behind the public's support of the union during labour action, ac- cording to David Gordon, man- aging partner at Cohn & Wolfe and chair of the Canadian Coun- cil of Public Relations Firms. "If you move to a strike or lock- out, I think the public opinion rests on your ability to convince and illustrate to the public that the step was truly necessary, that it was appropriate," he said. For both unions and employ- ers, Gordon said, it is important for the public to see your posi- tions as genuine, balanced and reasonable. Blatant or thinly veiled self-interest or any form of perceived selfishness is likely to turn the public off of a labour dis- pute. Additionally, Gordon said, "there's an effect from people who seem intractable and extreme in their demands or their bargaining positions." The NSUPE Local 19 employ- ees have, in their rotating picket line, had opportunity to explain their position to the public and discuss the impact of ongoing ne- gotiations on their personal and professional lives. Most significantly, Gordon said, may be the fact the employ- ees' strike has not affected CBS services in the area. "One of the key underlying ele- ments of the labour dispute itself is that it affects a much broader audience than those that are ac- tually present at the negotiating table," he said. Customers and investors will always consider their interests in a labour dispute, Gordon said. Because parties outside of those directly involved in bargaining are often affected by the outcome of negotiations, the public percep- tion of labour disputes and the impact of that public perception on the union or employer can play a tremendous role in negotia- tions. "Public perception has an in- fluence at the table and, almost more importantly, a perceived in- fluence outside of the table," Gor- don said. "That goes both for manage- ment or labour — it doesn't mat- ter which side of the table you're on. Because both management and labour have brands of their own." And while it can be tempting to negotiate in the media in an attempt to court public opinion, Gordon said, it is important to re- member the parties' most recent agreement only buys time before the next negotiation. "For either side of the table, I think, if you want to be perceived as successful in the negotiation process — forget the output, but successful in the process — is that you are respectful of the process," Gordon said. 7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER NEWS < from pg. 1 Public perception playing important role in strike Photo: NSUPE NSUPE Local 19 decided to move its picket line around in an effort to be more visible within the commu- nity and to raise greater public awareness about the labour dispute with Canadian Blood Services.

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