Even the Best Gets Old

The ballroom was sparkling and opulent. Warm, ambient music blanketed the quiet spaces of the room. Open bars, each complete with its own grinning bartender and top-shelf spirits beckoned from around the perimeter. Chefs stood at attention behind mountains of pickerel cheeks, pork bellies, gnocchi, sushi, and other culinary delights.

It was all free and prepared for my pleasure. 

And I was bored. 

It wasn’t always like that. Five years ago, when I attended one of these events for the first time, my eyes were as wide as saucers, and I couldn’t erase my goofy grin. The second year, I looked forward to the event with almost the same level of anticipation. But by the third year, something started to change—not the quality of the event, but my experience somehow began to decline. This year, having attended this amazing party four times, I was lukewarm about the whole affair. 

Sometimes for our members, the value that CLAC brings to the workplace can be a little like that annual party. We can all tell stories about one organizing campaign or another in which the employer archetype might best be typified as a “Big Bad Wolf.” But then CLAC comes in and brings peace to the workplace, good benefits, and other improvements, and for a time the workplace is like me in my first year attending that party. But time passes, and before you know it, those same members who were once in the honeymoon phase are looking bored and ready to head to the nearest exit. 

Why is it that the shine of really good things can wear off over time? How is it that even the best of the best can get old? And how can union staff and members work together to renew that early sense of wonder? 

The worlds of sociology, economics, and neuroscience tell us that there are at least three processes that occur during the three “firsts” that take place in the first five years of a new relationship between CLAC, a bargaining unit, and an employer.
 

The three firsts in the relationship

1. A first contract (including all the elements leading to this from organization to ratification)
2. A first duration (living through a number of annual cycles of the collective agreement)
3. A first collective agreement renewal

The three processes that operate within and through each of these firsts

1. Team development cycle 

Psychologist Bruce Tuckman first came up with the memorable phrase “forming, storming, norming, and performing.” He used it to describe the path most teams follow on their way to success.

In the labour relations world, this means: 

• Forming—this is the organizing process, learning the company, industry, employer counterparts, the first contract negotiations and ratification. 
• Storming—testing boundaries established during the forming stage. 
• Norming—improved understanding and dialogue between all parties.
• Performing—structures, people, and processes begin functioning at a higher level. 

Why does understanding this cycle matter? Storming is a normal aspect of this cycle and doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of commitment or that the whole enterprise is falling apart. Getting to this stage as early on as possible is important because it will harness the energy already present in the bargaining unit. Understanding this will foster patience and understanding between all parties.

2. From erupting volcano to entwined root systems

In Louis de Bernières’ novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, he writes: “Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether or roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part . . . Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.”

Sure, the author writes of love, but the metaphor he employs offers something useful to the world of labour relations, when the genesis of a new bargaining unit—particularly in ground-up organizing campaigns—can be characterized by a series of eruptive events followed by a cooling off period. It is unreasonable to expect that the initial energy and heat of the organizing campaign is going to continue. Cooling will occur. This is natural and should be expected. 

To successfully navigate and cultivate the transition from eruption to entwined roots is to deliberately integrate a new labour relations model into a workplace, its people, its culture, and its management team. This work is at once a creative act and a collision. 

The creative acts include among other things: relationship building, process establishment, problem solving, community building, and empowering workers to be the change they want to see in the workplace. 

In some cases, such culture creation will be embraced by employee and employer. But in many cases, change is difficult and sparks conflict. This conflict is not a bad thing when managed well. Like two match heads that burn and fuse together in the process, such conflict holds the capacity to deepen and strengthen the integration of the new labour relations model. 

3. Diminishing marginal utility

Marginal utility is a concept from the world of economics. Utility is the measure of satisfaction or pleasure derived from consuming a product. Marginal utility is the change in satisfaction (utility) you experience when you increase the consumption of that product. The first time you consume a product, you typically receive the highest satisfaction (utility). With each subsequent consumption, you experience diminishing satisfaction (utility)—this is called diminishing marginal utility.

The brain is built to ignore the old and focus on the new. When we see things often, we see them less and less. The world of addiction particularly illustrates this point—with addicts receiving less pleasure with each subsequent hit and trying to reach that first high by taking larger doses of the drug. 

Solutions to the end of the honeymoon stage

What do the three processes above have to do with volcanoes, team dynamics, and my experience at that annual party? For me at the party, it was a classic case of, “it’s not you, it’s me”—it was my brain doing what brains normally do that changed my experience. 

Understanding that those who were once enthralled with the union may sooner or later “fall out of love” with CLAC can keep members, stewards, and representatives from second guessing CLAC’s model or becoming disillusioned. 

Understanding these naturally-occurring, behind-the-scenes forces and dynamics can help all of us make sense of what we see happening in our bargaining units. 

By working together as a team, where all parties involved—the union, the members, and the employer—have a voice and a place at the table, we can ensure that the honeymoon phase transitions into a place of contentment where we are rooted and growing together.