Hot Tubbin' In Harrison 2012
Every January the Canadian Labour Congress holds its Pacific Winter School in Harrison Hot Springs. It's an opportunity for all affiliated unions and labour councils to send delegates to take courses like Collective Bargaining, Arbitration, Provincial Labour Law, Health and Safety, Leadership, Steward Training, Facing Management, Union Counselling to name a few (or a lot, haha). Most courses are very practical and have lots of role plays - everything from mock bargaining sessions to mock hearings at the Labour Relations Board. It's a lot of work in class and then a lot of group work in the evenings.
Last week I took Collective Bargaining Level 1 - the introduction to the Collective Bargaining process. The unions represented in our class were CUPE, BCGEU, UFCW, USW, BCFMWU, IAFIAW and the BCTF. Our instructors were seasoned negotiators and staff reps from the BCGEU and the IBEW.
We spent the week talking about the process of collective bargaining and our instructors shared stories of their past experiences in both the private and public sector - everything from small rural collective agreements to provincial master agreements for the health services sector. Then we were put into groups where 2 different collective agreements would be negotiated. I was put onto the management side for the private sector agreement. It was exciting to play the part of a manager and to switch your thinking. Part of the fun of doing this was to put our management hats on and we dressed up - our spokesperson even wore a suit to our mock bargaining table! We wrote proposals from scratch and then had to make counter proposals in response to the union's demands. We had to look at issues like wages, recruitment and retention, sick bank and...management rights (ugh). The course was great - we all brought something different to the discussion and I learned just as much from my classmates as I did my instructors.
This week was a little different than prior weeks as the ranking officers of the CLC were also in the hotel having their winter meeting - so that meant all of the heads of the affiliate unions and the BC Fed were kicking around. Ken Georgetti (President of the CLC) and Jim Sinclair (President of the BC Fed) addressed us opening night and focused on updating the image of the labour movement. Call me jaded but I would really like to see our leaders give us some direction and a call to action. They have a captive audience of people who've drunk the labour kool-aid and are ready to mobilize as soon as we get some clear direction.
Adrian Dix was also in town with his NDP caucus and he addressed the group Monday night. I'll be honest - he wasn't my first pick. But over the past year I've been really impressed by him. He's articulate, compassionate and really likeable. He goes out and visits communities and speaks to people around the province unlike our current Premier who sits in her office all day long. He spoke a lot about the tragedy in Burns Lake (explosion of the Babine Mill) and how resilient the community is. My heart goes out to residents of that community - we lost 2 brothers and many of the residents have lost their jobs. The delegates from week 3 raised almost $2000 at the pub night fundraiser for the United Steelworkers Burns Lake Fund.
After Adrian, we had the CLC Winter Games where all of the instructors scored our teams in activities like the egg race, golf putt putt challenge, hockey accuracy and the bean bag toss - unfortunately we lost to the Level 2 Arbitration class. Ah well - our team was recognized for booing our own classmates. hahaha
Then there was the mandatory choir competition - "So You Think You Can Sing?" on the Wednesday night. Our class called ourselves the "Dix"ie Chicks and Gents because...yep, Adrian Dix. It was done to the tune of Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley and the Comets:
Premier Premier Adrian Dix
Premier Premier Adrian Dix
Premier Premier Adrian Dix
We spent the week talking about the process of collective bargaining and our instructors shared stories of their past experiences in both the private and public sector - everything from small rural collective agreements to provincial master agreements for the health services sector. Then we were put into groups where 2 different collective agreements would be negotiated. I was put onto the management side for the private sector agreement. It was exciting to play the part of a manager and to switch your thinking. Part of the fun of doing this was to put our management hats on and we dressed up - our spokesperson even wore a suit to our mock bargaining table! We wrote proposals from scratch and then had to make counter proposals in response to the union's demands. We had to look at issues like wages, recruitment and retention, sick bank and...management rights (ugh). The course was great - we all brought something different to the discussion and I learned just as much from my classmates as I did my instructors.
This week was a little different than prior weeks as the ranking officers of the CLC were also in the hotel having their winter meeting - so that meant all of the heads of the affiliate unions and the BC Fed were kicking around. Ken Georgetti (President of the CLC) and Jim Sinclair (President of the BC Fed) addressed us opening night and focused on updating the image of the labour movement. Call me jaded but I would really like to see our leaders give us some direction and a call to action. They have a captive audience of people who've drunk the labour kool-aid and are ready to mobilize as soon as we get some clear direction.
Adrian Dix was also in town with his NDP caucus and he addressed the group Monday night. I'll be honest - he wasn't my first pick. But over the past year I've been really impressed by him. He's articulate, compassionate and really likeable. He goes out and visits communities and speaks to people around the province unlike our current Premier who sits in her office all day long. He spoke a lot about the tragedy in Burns Lake (explosion of the Babine Mill) and how resilient the community is. My heart goes out to residents of that community - we lost 2 brothers and many of the residents have lost their jobs. The delegates from week 3 raised almost $2000 at the pub night fundraiser for the United Steelworkers Burns Lake Fund.
After Adrian, we had the CLC Winter Games where all of the instructors scored our teams in activities like the egg race, golf putt putt challenge, hockey accuracy and the bean bag toss - unfortunately we lost to the Level 2 Arbitration class. Ah well - our team was recognized for booing our own classmates. hahaha
Then there was the mandatory choir competition - "So You Think You Can Sing?" on the Wednesday night. Our class called ourselves the "Dix"ie Chicks and Gents because...yep, Adrian Dix. It was done to the tune of Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley and the Comets:
Premier Premier Adrian Dix
Premier Premier Adrian Dix
Premier Premier Adrian Dix
He's gonna rock BC Politics!
We'll bring in Adrian and his team,
Our workers will get a wage increase,
We'll bargain benefits, COLA, pensions too,
We'll show show show solidarity,
We'll vote vote vote NDP majority!
It is a lot of fun - all of the classes get up and sing their songs and then we're all judged by El Tigre and Harmony - a couple of Randy and Paula rip-offs. People try to bribe the judges with alcohol and chocolates - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and every time it's hilair. All 11 courses sang songs set to tunes like "Ring of Fire," "These Boots are Made for Walking," "Down by the Bay," " Should I Stay or Should I Go?" and "Buffalo Soldier." The whole goal of the competition is to NOT win. The only rule of the competition is that there is no booing allowed. The key here is to make it short and sweet. Our seasoned brother from the IBEW said it best - we had the perfect amount of mediocrity.
I joke about the hot tubbing but it's really where the best conversations occur. We all spoke about our situations with our employers - lots of comparisons of collective agreements. We talked about arbitrations and grievances. I had a great conversation with the President of the Vancouver District Labour Council about her experience being in a leadership position in what's still a predominantly male environment. We talked about the challenges for unions in this province under the current BC Liberal regime. We talked about privatization and the dangers of contracting out. I learn more from my brothers and sisters after class is over - at dinner and in the hot springs.
So between the full day of class, the plenaries, the speeches, the choir competition, the pub night fundraiser, the CLC Winter Games and all of the hot tubbing - it was a rich learning environment chock full of wonderful opportunities to connect with labour activists from different unions from all over the province.
It is a lot of fun - all of the classes get up and sing their songs and then we're all judged by El Tigre and Harmony - a couple of Randy and Paula rip-offs. People try to bribe the judges with alcohol and chocolates - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and every time it's hilair. All 11 courses sang songs set to tunes like "Ring of Fire," "These Boots are Made for Walking," "Down by the Bay," " Should I Stay or Should I Go?" and "Buffalo Soldier." The whole goal of the competition is to NOT win. The only rule of the competition is that there is no booing allowed. The key here is to make it short and sweet. Our seasoned brother from the IBEW said it best - we had the perfect amount of mediocrity.
I joke about the hot tubbing but it's really where the best conversations occur. We all spoke about our situations with our employers - lots of comparisons of collective agreements. We talked about arbitrations and grievances. I had a great conversation with the President of the Vancouver District Labour Council about her experience being in a leadership position in what's still a predominantly male environment. We talked about the challenges for unions in this province under the current BC Liberal regime. We talked about privatization and the dangers of contracting out. I learn more from my brothers and sisters after class is over - at dinner and in the hot springs.
So between the full day of class, the plenaries, the speeches, the choir competition, the pub night fundraiser, the CLC Winter Games and all of the hot tubbing - it was a rich learning environment chock full of wonderful opportunities to connect with labour activists from different unions from all over the province.
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