Countdown to Strong:
Engaging members
in the bargaining process
How do we engage members in drafting
proposals and encourage ownership of the
final package?
Context
• Part of a series designed to get faculty associations
to a state of readiness to bargain
• Built around an analysis of 5 key relationships, and
the tools needed to ensure bargaining success
• Past workshops focused on:
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Completing a scan of the external environment
Analyzing leadership roles and responsibilities
Creating a mature relationship with the employer
Building communities with allies
5 key relationships
Internal leadership,
bargaining team
External
organizations
Campus community
Bargaining unit
members
Employer
Goals for the day
• Relationship with the membership by far the
most important and complex
• Today, we will focus on two elements:
1. Members understand the goals of this round of
bargaining, embrace mandate and are prepared
to take action necessary for success
2. Members understand the process of collective
bargaining, their individual role and contribution
Workshop agenda
1) Introduction: Donna Gray
2) Panel of case studies
1) Small institution: Trent, Sue Wurtele
2) Medium institution: Carleton, Janice Scammell
3) Large institution: AMAPCEO, Barbara Gough
3) Break-out groups: Andrea Calver
4) Wrap up: Donna Gray
Role of members in bargaining
• We often define the key players as
– the faculty association’s team
– counterparts on the employer side
• Makes sense if bargaining is something that
occurs in a small room, across a table, with
paper being passed back and forth
• This view is not only off base, it is dangerous
and likely to lead to failure in reaching goals
Bargaining isn’t…
Building bargaining power (I)
• We often say that our bargaining power comes
from our members
• But we rarely take time to measure that
strength, or truly work to improve it
• A great exercise you can do on your own:
– Simply measure the amount of time the association
spends in a round of bargaining with the employer,
and with the members
Building bargaining power (II)
• There are many, many things we can do to
engage members and build bargaining power
• This is not a mobilization workshop, but if you
need help in this area, we are ready and
available to come to your campus to help you
build an action plan
Building a bargaining mandate
• Bargaining is fundamentally problem-solving
• To figure out what demands to include in our
package, we need to:
– Collect as much information as we can about our
members’ workplace problems
– Figure out which problems belong within the four
corners of our agreement
– Build a plan to resolve those problems
Tools for collecting information
• Pre-bargaining membership surveys
• Group meetings: departmental, sub-groups of the
members, issue-based
• Analysis of grievances during current agreement
• Analysis of unresolved issues from last round
• Leadership on emerging issues by the executive
and bargaining team
• Flash surveys during bargaining
What is a bargaining issue? (I)
• Not every problem that arises in a university is
appropriate to collective bargaining
• We have other structures and processes that
we can utilize to solve problems:
– Collegial governance processes
– Legal rights
– Policy and procedures
– Departmental processes
– Interpersonal relations
What is a bargaining issue? (II)
• A faculty association may define its mission
anywhere on a spectrum
Collective
bargaining
only
Full
member
services
• Faculty association leadership decides what the
appropriate role of the organization is
• The collective agreement cannot solve every
problem
Role of the Chief Negotiator
• Every Chief Negotiator needs clear understanding
of their role within the faculty association
• Varies by association, personality, past
experiences, membership needs, resources
available for bargaining and the strengths and
weaknesses of others
• Remember: you are a negotiator  you can
negotiate your time and resource boundaries with
the executive!
Chief Negotiator and members
• Some of the more common roles of Chief
Negotiators in relation to members:
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Ensuring members understand collective bargaining
Explaining to members their role in bargaining success
Designing and selecting tools used to establish issues
Explaining the ultimate package of proposals
Updating members on progress in bargaining
Re-affirming the bargaining mandate as needed
Explaining the tentative settlement reached
Panel of case studies
1) Small institution: Trent, Sue Wurtele
2) Medium institution: Carleton, Janice
Scammell
3) Large institution: AMAPCEO, Barbara
Gough
Break-out groups
• We will look at two popular ways of engaging
members:
– Surveys
– Focus groups or departmental meetings
• In this exercise, we are going to try and set
bargaining priorities by looking at survey
results and results of departmental meetings
Break-out groups (II)
• In addition, the association leadership has
identified two priorities they believe are
important for this round of bargaining:
1. Language on on-line learning
2. Language on the right of first refusal for
contract faculty
Wrap-up
INPUTS
 PROCESS
Sources:
a. Survey
b. Outreach
c. Grievance
process
d. Issue leadership
 MANDATE
Goals:
Goals:
 Inclusivity
 Solidarity
 Breadth
(something for
 Equity (protecting
everyone) but…
vulnerable
 No more than
groups)
three priorities