*Articles and posts on York Nursing News should be considered neutral concerning the current labour dispute at York University. Content should be considered only as a helpful resource for students-York Student RN*
York University has just published this latest press release that indicates a process of what is sometimes called forced ratification.
“In light of the refusal by the CUPE 3903 bargaining team to take the University’s last offer to their membership for a vote as requested two days ago, York University has requested that the Minister of Labour direct a supervised vote on the comprehensive offers for settlement made by the University on January 7 to its employees represented by CUPE 3903″ (source).
What is Forced Ratification?
by
The Labour Relations Act, 1995 contains two clauses creating a power to do something that is sometimes called forced ratification. The pertinent parts of the law are sections 41 and 42, which you can read here:
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_95l01_e.htm#BK47
Here’s how it works. There are only a few ways for a strike to end. I am going to talk about the most common way, which is the ratification of a new collective agreement.
It is the union bargaining committee’s job to negotiate with the employer until both sides come to an agreement. This is called a “tentative agreement.” It is “tentative” because the agreement is not official until the whole union has agreed to the deal in a vote.
The usual way for this to happen is for the union leadership to call a vote on the tentative agreement. The union leadership will normally recommend that union members vote “yes” to accept it. Sometimes the rank-and-file union members disagree with their leaders, reject the deal and choose to stay on strike. However, the most common result is that the rank-and-file members accept the deal that their bargaining committee made with the employer, and vote “yes.” When they do this, it is called “ratification.” The new deal is ratified, and it becomes official.
What is important to notice about this procedure is that, normally, there is no ratification vote until the union leaders decide to hold a vote. If the union leaders don’t like what an employer is offering, they won’t normally hold a vote. Instead, they’ll keep trying to negotiate with the employer to get a better deal. Also, when the union leaders hold a vote, they are in control of the vote. They decide how much advance notice to give to the members, where and when to hold the vote, etc.
So, in review, there is normally no ratification vote until the union leaders are satisfied with the deal and decide to take it to the members. Sections 41 and 42 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995, create an exception to this. They allow the Minister of Labour to force a vote, even though the union leadership doesn’t want one. They also allow the Minister of Labour to decide the timing, location, etc. of the vote.
This can happen in two situations. First, the Minister of Labour can choose to force a vote anytime he believes it is in the public interest. This can be done any number of times. This is rare because (as we have seen), politicians don’t like to get involved in labour disputes. Second, the law give the employer a ONE-TIME right to ask for a forced vote.
In a forced vote, the union members are voting on the employer’s “most recent offer.” Usually, the employer will add something to its final offer to sweeten the deal and entice the members to vote “yes.” Union supporters often argue that these final offers are poor deals that look good to members on the surface, but actually screw union members out of things that they could have won if they’d stayed on strike. The reality is, it completely depends on the situation.
What is the point of a forced vote? Well, a forced vote gives the employer a one-time power to go over the heads of the union leaders and propose a deal directly to the union members. In some cases, an employer may believe that the union leadership is keeping its members out on strike, when the members would actually be satisfied with the employer’s offer.
During the last strike by CUPE 3903, there was a forced ratification vote. As you probably know, CUPE 3903 is actually three different units with three different collective agreements. Therefore, York is making three different offers to three different groups.
In the last strike, unit 2 (the contract faculty) voted to accept York’s offer in the forced ratification vote. The other two units (teaching assistant’s and graduate assistants) voted no, and stayed out on strike. York and the union then went into a flurry of negotiations, and reached a negotiated deal with the remaining two units very soon after the forced vote.
When the Bill 145 ending the York University Strike finally passed, I took a nap. I hadn’t realized how intensely I had been watching the process. The ups the downs were exhausting; an emotional intensity from not knowing what the future would hold, and if we would ever get back to school.