Last week, Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers published an update on their website regarding negotiations for some of the home care workers they represent.
These 25 or so workers are employed in Strathmore by Bayshore Home Care Solutions and have been without a new contract since their previous one expired this past November.
The bargaining team that these workers democratically elected was scheduled to meet with representatives of the employer last week on the 20th.
However, when the employer representatives saw that workers not part of the bargaining committee were in attendance, they got up and left.
According to Local 401, these workers had all recording devices disabled.
Local 401 uses an open bargaining process, something they have done for years. This means that they share proposals and bargaining updates with the workers they represent. It also means that workers can attend negotiation meetings.
Having a transparent bargaining process reduces the power imbalance inherent in contract negotiations and that favours the employer.
When negotiations are made public, it becomes more difficult for employers to misrepresent what occurred in these meetings.
By walking out, the employer makes the negotiating process last longer, and the more it drags out, the more desperate the workers will be to ratify a subpar agreement.
The most recent contract between these workers and Bayshore, for example, took four years to negotiate.
These workers joined Local 401 in November 2019. This will be their second contract since unionization.
This was only the third day of bargaining since the last contract expired.
3 replies on “Home care employer walks out of contract talks”
Very intriguing. Does it make it harder for the employer to offer rubbish contracts when they have to actually face the workers impacted?
Far easier to bargain in less-than-good faith when you never have to see the workers impacted by your proposals.
Not only that, but if the workers can see and hear what they’re offering, then it makes it harder to change your messaging when trying to present poor offers as good.
[…] Workers showed up to a scheduled bargaining session on 20 March to observe the negotiations. Because these workers weren’t part of the bargaining team, the employer’s representatives stood up and left the room. […]