Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Under the Microscope

When we take pride in the work that we do, we should want to hold ourselves to a high standard, taking the extra steps to ensure that if someone questions our work, we have answers at the ready

By Justine Van Bolhuis, Research Supervisor

As part of my role on CLAC’s Research Team, I work on interest arbitration cases for Ontario retirement and long term care homes. In Ontario, employees in these facilities are unable to go on strike, so if bargaining reaches an impasse, the union and employer go before a third-party arbitrator to determine the terms and conditions of the new collective agreement.

The whole process is a bit like preparing a court case, with the arbitrator as judge. For my team, this involves pulling together data from healthcare collective agreements across the province, analyzing it to build the best case for our proposals, and putting together a submission binder that, when printed, can stand up to three inches thick.

As I get deep into the process, the volume of data can start to make my head spin, making it extra important to check and double-check each item so that it can stand up to close scrutiny at the arbitration hearing.

In a recent hearing, an employer-side representative challenged our data. This person took issue with some of our numbers and demanded a full disclosure of each and every source document cited throughout the 275-page submission.

So, that became my Wednesday—combing through the submission and gathering every single collective agreement and arbitration award referenced in our arguments. The grand total was 259 documents, combined into a zip folder and sent back to the employer representative for a bit of light reading.

While it wasn’t my preferred way to spend a Wednesday, it was critical for us to be able to defend the integrity of our data. CLAC’s interest arbitration team takes pride in doing the best job we can to advocate for our Ontario healthcare members at the arbitration hearing, and we rigorously examine each piece of data so that when a challenge like this arises, we can point to exactly where we got our numbers.

Maintaining our credibility with the arbitrator, and with our healthcare members witnessing the arbitration process, is vital to ensure the best possible outcome from the arbitration and to bolster CLAC’s reputation as a union advocating for members with integrity, justice, and fairness.

A similar story plays out in workplaces represented by CLAC across the country every day. In each person’s work, there are parts that they find less enjoyable, that may be tedious, repetitive, or like a waste of time compared to the mountain of other tasks at hand.

But just like in the world of interest arbitration, even the smallest details can have a big impact if gotten wrong. In many workplaces that CLAC represents, the potential for damage isn’t only reputational. Missing a step can lead to miscalculations, wrong decisions, or accidents that endanger the health and safety of the workforce and the public. Sometimes, the devil really is in the details.

There will always be the possibility of human error, but when we take pride in the work that we do, we should want to hold ourselves to a high standard, taking the extra steps to ensure that if someone questions our work, we have answers at the ready. It’s worth taking the time to double-check your numbers, follow health and safety procedures, and see that task through to the final step.

After going through 259 documents, we could send back that zip folder with confidence in the work we put into our submission. If someone had the opportunity to put your work under a microscope, would it hold up to their scrutiny?

Under the Microscope

You might be interested in