35 Accords : Re-Imagining British Columbia's Public Sector Labour Relations.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Penikett, Tony.

Contributor:

Calvert, John.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Collective bargaining--Canada.

Collective bargaining.

Industrial relations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (416 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bradford : Ethics International Press Limited, 2025.

Summary:

What does a cash-strapped government do when the collective agreements for almost a quarter million of its unionized employees expire simultaneously while wishing to maintain a respectful relationship with its labour supporters? In 1997, the Premier of British Columbia (BC), Canada, Glen Clark, thought of an imaginative solution. It was to offer unions an opportunity to participate with the government in developing policies on issues affecting their members and the services they provide. This was BC's public sector policy Accord process. The goal was to establish a different, more collaborative relationship with unions, one in which they had a voice in shaping policy solutions. This parallel process - entirely separate from collective bargaining - would also avoid the adversarial relationship that so often characterizes a government's relations with its unions, by recognizing the positive role unions and their members could play in contributing to improving BC's public programs and services.The authors, who worked on the Accord process with Premier Clark, provide an insider's story of the intensive three-year period, during which the parties negotiated 35 policy accords across the entire provincial public sector. The Accords covered a wide range of issues, including pension trusteeship and portability, early retirement, provincial school class size, benefits trusts, government procurement policy, hospital laboratory services, workforce training, pay equity, creation of a health and safety agency and numerous smaller policy fixes.The accord process demonstrated that it was possible for a government to initiate a new and more collaborative relationship with its unions by inviting them into the policy process. The accords definitely improved relations with the government and contributed to collective bargaining settlements within the government's

money mandate.

Contents:

Preface – A Problem

The Accord Story

Foreword

By Glen Clark

Introduction

Part 1: The Challenge

Chapter 1 The Economic, Political and Labour Context

Chapter 2 National and International Precedents

United Kingdom

Australia

Ontario

Assessment of the International and Canadian Accord Experience

Part 2

Chapter 3 The BC Government Took a Different Path

Chapter 4 Restructuring BC’s Labour Relations System: Korbin - Commission of Inquiry into the Public Service and the Public Sector

Chapter 5 The Accord Process

Part 3

Chapter 6 Negotiating the Accords

Chapter 7 Why the Accords Received Little Attention

Chapter 8 Overturning the Accords

Chapter 9 Summing Up

Chapter 10 Lessons from the Accord Initiative

Chapter 11 Afterthoughts

a) Bargaining

b) Billionaires

c. Democracy

Part 4

Chapter 12 The Accords

Public Sector Accords and Summaries Included in Part 4

Public Sector Accord on Early Retirement and Teacher Career Transition: BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) and the Government of BC (April 16, 1998) Generated by AI.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Part of the metadata in this record was created by AI, based on the text of the resource.

ISBN:

1-83711-278-9

OCLC:

1531328038