 | | Lisa Hughes
Senior Research Associate
Leadership and Human Resources Research |
Last December we cautioned in our Industrial Relations Outlook that continued economic uncertainties and strained financial circumstances didn’t provide for a solid foundation for labour negotiations in 2011. Nevertheless, we anticipated a relatively quiet year in labour relations terms, and it seems topical to take stock here now.
Media reports surrounding strike activity at Canada Post and at Air Canada have made headlines in recent days.
Out in Saskatoon, 300 health care workers walked off the job on Friday after contract negotiations between the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) and the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan (HSAS) broke down.
Further afield, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has applied for a mid-June strike vote following failed mediation talks with the city of Calgary. And out east the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) are preparing for conciliation after months of bargaining with Dalhousie University.
That relatively quiet year in labour relations terms, it would seem, is getting noisy.
A closer look at what isn’t making headlines, however, sheds a bit more light on what exactly has transpired thus far.
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s reports show that 110 collective agreement settlements were successfully ratified between January and April of 2011.
Taken together, these agreements cover close to 250,000 employees Canada wide. A late January settlement between the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec and the Comité patronal de négociation du secteur de la santé et des services sociaux covers the largest number of employees in a single agreement, at approximately 47,000 nurses.
An agreement in March between the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW) and Olymel S.E.C./L.P. in Québec constitutes the longest collective agreement negotiated to date at seven years. Other agreements ratified this year are, on average, approximately three years in length.
More recent settlements include a six year agreement between Xstrata Raglan nickel mine in Nunavik and the Syndicat des métallos earlier this month. TELUS and the Telecommunications Workers Union also voted to ratify a four year agreement in recent weeks, as did VIA Rail and the Teamsters.
At the half way mark, the year is of course far from over. Some very big players are currently at the table, including the Government of Canada, the Ontario Hospital Association, and Alberta Health Services. Together these three sets of negotiations alone account for more than 160,000 employees nationwide, and their outcomes remain to be seen.