Ontario Public Service Employees Union

The proactive approach┬áGood labor relations are really quite simple. OPSEUÔÇÖsWarren Thomas tells Gay Sutton about the secrets of effective negotiation and putting issues rather than demands on the table. The world of trade unions has changed enormously since the bad old days of full-on confrontation, when old-style head butting polarized management and workers into opposite and conflicting camps. The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), led by Warren (Smokey) Thomas, is one of the new breed of collaborative, proactive unions.┬á Coming from health service, where he worked for many years as a psychiatric nurse, Thomas has always been in what he calls the human nature industry, and by nature he is a problem solver. ÔÇ£I donÔÇÖt look for problems,ÔÇØ he says. ÔÇ£I look for solutions.ÔÇØThomas has experienced labor relations issues from both sides of the divide. ÔÇ£I wear two hats, you see,ÔÇØ Thomas explains. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm the elected president for the membership, so IÔÇÖm a trade unionist and labor activist. On the other hand, the union employs over 300 staff members who report to me through the management structure, so IÔÇÖm the CEO of an $80 million a year not-for-profit corporation. And since our staff members are unionized, I sit at a table and bargain their contracts with professional negotiators. So I understand the process from both sides of the ledger.ÔÇØThomas has also been at the sharp end of sorting out corporate financial difficulties and improving performance. ÔÇ£When I took over as treasurer we were very badly in debt from a couple of big strikes,ÔÇØ he says. Through a mixture of slightly increasing union dues and initiating far smarter financial and operational practices, such as investing the unionÔÇÖs strike fund, he succeeded in getting the organization out of debt and into financial health. ÔÇ£We now have a surplus: a $50 million strike fund, money in the bank, and we can take on all comers.ÔÇØOPSEU is one of CanadaÔÇÖs largest public sector unions and has a curious history, starting out as a coal-buying cooperative for employees of the government of Ontario in 1911. Over the years it evolved into a social club, then into the Civil Service Association of Ontario. ÔÇ£We had always been barred by law from being a certified trade union,ÔÇØ Thomas says. ÔÇ£But in 1974 we engaged in a huge campaign called ÔÇÿfree the servantsÔÇÖ and won the right to become a trade union. We became the OPSEU in 1975. Then finally, in early 1993, we won the right to strike, in a reform of the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act.ÔÇØToday, OPSEUÔÇÖs core role is bargaining, enforcing contracts and organizing activities on behalf of its members. ÔÇ£As a union, weÔÇÖre very reasonable to deal with. WeÔÇÖre mature, weÔÇÖre responsible and we donÔÇÖt go looking for fights, although if youÔÇÖre going to attack us or our members, weÔÇÖll defend ourselves.ÔÇØThe unionÔÇÖs preferred approach to disputes and bargaining is very different. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm a big believer in interest-based bargaining,ÔÇØ Thomas explains. ÔÇ£What you do is start out with a facilitator, right from day one. You put issues on the table rather than demands. If both parties are willing, it really works. You donÔÇÖt go home feeling beaten up every night. You still have differences, but this approach forces all parties to be a lot more respectful.ÔÇØ All the parties engaged in a dispute will ultimately have to work together again once it has been resolved. ÔÇ£And the trick is to not personalize the issue but to look at it on a factual basis. Any lingering feelings afterward depend on how you conduct yourself while trying to work on an issue.ÔÇØThomas also plays a prominent role in advising on labor relations, giving lectures and talks and meeting with organizations on the issues. To employees his advice is always simple and direct: come to work when youÔÇÖre supposed to, do your job in the way the boss tells you toÔÇöunless itÔÇÖs illegal or immoralÔÇöand treat people the way you like to be treated yourself. And he tells employers that the essence of good management is defined by what he calls the three Fs: always be fair, firm and friendly. Labor relations are really that simple, he believes.┬á ÔÇ£I always tell people, donÔÇÖt ever tell a lie and donÔÇÖt try to double-deal. Take your lumps when you make a mistake or mess up. Most problems and mistakes can be fixed. And when you try to hide a mistake, you only make it worse. We have a saying in the union movement: once youÔÇÖve dug yourself a hole, for goodness sakes put the shovel down and stop digging.ÔÇØOne of the problems, he says, is that once people are promoted to management, ÔÇ£theyÔÇÖre just left to flounder. I donÔÇÖt think companies or the government are good enough at training their managers, particularly around labor relations and human relations. And that creates problems.ÔÇØTraditional dispute management is not the only role the union plays. It also has a strong strategic role in helping to shape public policy through the activities of its political lobbying and networking unit, and through its extensive research department. It advises and contributes to discussions on issues as wide-ranging as the national budget through the current reorganization of the health service, and OPSEU is increasingly gaining the ear of government. The union is currently marshaling its resources to oppose the restructuring of healthcare. ÔÇ£We take exception to what theyÔÇÖre doing, as do a lot of people,ÔÇØ Thomas says. The service is facing significant cuts in funding and a push to centralize facilities. Many smaller community hospitals face closure, while city hospitals are being required to focus on a narrow range of specializations that would result in patients traveling from hospital to hospital to access the range of services they would previously have enjoyed at one location.┬á ÔÇ£In addition, the Local Health Integration Networks who are making decisions on these changes are not accountable to anyone,ÔÇØ Thomas explains. ÔÇ£TheyÔÇÖre appointed by the Minister of Health, who insists theyÔÇÖre not accountable to him but to the local communities. However, they donÔÇÖt consult the local communities, so theyÔÇÖre essentially accountable to no one but themselves.ÔÇØLooking to the future, Thomas can see challenges ahead for his members as a result of the global economic crisis. Government taxation revenues are plummeting. But should the government come to him and his team to discuss ways of cutting costs, he believes the union can tap into its considerable experience and come up with some solutions. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs part of our proactive approach,ÔÇØ he says.  ÔÇô Editorial research by Jim Rose┬á