Labor & Employment Law

City of Toronto Strike Ends

By Michael Fitzgibbon

The City of Toronto Council approved collective agreements with striking unions thus bringing to an end the 39 day strike.  Of course they were going to approve the deal but the margin was 21-17, tighter than most people anticipated.  But the residents of Toronto are not happy with either side. 

As with any strike (or lockout), it's important for both sides to conduct a post mortem and draw hard learned lessons from what has taken place. Strikes and lockouts are part of the labour relations landscape in Canada, and the fact that they take place is not the point.  The point is to learn from them.

What could have been done differently?  How might the negotiation strategy been been approached differently?  What could have been done differently with the strike contingency plan?  How might the communication/messaging  been handled differently?  Add the words "if anything" or "if at all" before the question mark because you might conclude that you would have done everything exactly as you did it.  The point is to examine and take apart what took place in the clear light of day and ask those (and other) hard questions.  It would be unfortunate not to learn from these experiences even if the lesson is that you wouldn't have changed a thing.

Full post as published by Thoughts from a Management Lawyer on August 01, 2009 (boomark / email).