Raise the Hammer

I'm not playing Devil's advocate, not at all.

I come from a Unionized labour background, I've been involved in it for almost 30 years, with CUPE, UCFW, Teamsters and now USW 1005. Contract negotiations are a tricky business, I've lived through them countless times, and have been involved in them once in my career. You have to get a feel for the economic conditions broadly, locally and within the industry you work in. You have to understand the opinions and feelings of many different factions within your specific Local and within the Union as a whole. You have to read into and behind whatever saber rattling the company has been engaged in leading up to the negotiations. You have to understand what strikes fear in the heart of the local management team, as compared to the goals of the parent corporation. The macro from the Corporation and the micro down to one employee you represent all have to be weighed and considered.

With all these factors in mind, you have to brutally and honestly assess:

-what result do we want

-where are we strong

-where are we weak

-what is the tolerance level of those we are negotiating with

-what is the tolerance level of those we are negotiating for

-if opinions and results are not going our way after a certain amount of time, what fall-back position do we have?

-and finally, are we willing to lose everything with a labour stoppage, or do we go to the wire and get whatever we can, as best we can

USW 1005 did not apply this thinking and pragmatism, and look what the result was. 11 1/2 months locked out. Blast Furnace and Steel-Making shut down. No gains for workers from the original offer tabled. 1005 instead got locked into an ideological war with those opposing them. They dug their heels in, pinned the "we are smart, principled and right" badge on, and gained... what? Nothing. They would not consider ideas from the membership that would improve what was being offered, they would only stick to the original plan and refused to veer, and accomplished... nothing.

That's where I'm coming from. The parallels between what I've seen cause failure in labour negotiations and what I'm seeing in the "B line LRT only" squad is very depressing for me.

We are right. We worked hard. We deserve this. The wage study says this is best. It is not fair. They promised us back in 20?? I'll fight them to the end. I won't look at other options. They don't make sense. They are stupid. Who dares to question what the Local Executive has decided. It will work if the members just do what they're told. It doesn't matter what's happening to the economy right now. And so on...

So the 'concern troll' trial balloon has been floated my way, I'm surprised it took this long. If that's what you think, so be it. I'm concerned, yes. I'm concerned that we're going to get nothing if we don't honestly assess and adjust in regards to the Transit capital that is only currently on the table.