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Transforming the labour relations culture in the City of Toronto

The City of Toronto had had two rounds of collective bargaining since amalgamation, with labour disruption and significant costs to the City, in terms of finances, employee morale and productivity. This has not been at all helpful in a city that is struggling to establish its new identity & culture. In many ways the legacy of the seven predecessor cities remains a barrier to that development. Within Labour Relations the city & the unions are still dealing with many issues out of the lack of harmonization of various aspects inside & outside of the labour contracts.

Also symptomatic of this poor labour relations environment was the existence of an extensive backlog of outstanding and unresolved grievances and a growing list of new grievances. It was determined that the direct and indirect costs (both financial & morale)were not sustainable year after year and an aggressive short and long term labour relations strategy was developed in response to this situation.

In 2003, a concerted effort was begun by the various stakeholders including the unions and senior management to address the labour relations issues and to work towards moving the organization from an adversarial to a more collaborative labour relations model.

Successes include:

• Successful round of negotiations with The Toronto Professional Firefighters’ Association, Local 3888 utilizing a facilitated interest based approach to bargaining.
• Joint union-management training in an interest-based approach to problem solving.
• External funding from Human Resources Develop Canada to promote a positive approach to labour relations.
• A deliberate, planned approach to reducing the backlog of grievances by utilizing Human Resources Business Unit staff and involving Line Managers in the process. Since January 2003 the grievance backlog has been reduced from 3,411 to 2354.
• New approaches to resolving grievances at Step 3 with the use of mediators well before the scheduled arbitration dates in order to avoid significant cancellation fees associated with arbitrators and meeting space. Twenty-seven (27) mediation dates were set between September and December 2003 with as many as nineteen (19) grievances resolved in one day. Twenty-nine (29) mediation dates are established for the period January to June 2004.
• The establishment of joint labour-management committees with the various union executives.

The Employee and Labour Relations Division has introduced a strategy to change the City’s labour relations culture from an adversarial approach to problem-solving and collective bargaining to a more collaborative, co-operative approach. The principles of the new strategy are:

• To use engagement and involvement by others.
• To act in an open manner, sharing information
• To measure our progress.
• To give respect and recognition to all.
• To enjoy the journey of our work.
• To empower people to make decisions.

The concept of moving from a positional-based approach to an interest-based approach is being utilized in the joint Association-Management process within the Toronto Fire Service. The adoption of the interest based approach to bargaining and working together is being funded by the Human Resources Development Canada Labour-Management Partnerships Program whose mandate is to fund projects that encourage co-operation between labour unions and employers and promote productive, fair and innovative workplaces.

Before the August 2003 Teplitsky decision on the 1999 – 2001 fire fighters collective agreement, City staff contacted the TPFFA and Toronto Fire Services to determine their interest in exploring an interest-based approach for the next round of bargaining. A joint initiative advisory was signed on June 30, 2003. Human Resources Development Canada awarded a $100,000 grant to the City of Toronto under its labour management co-op program to fund this interest-based initiative, bargaining and ongoing training for the approach. Bargaining commenced on September 2, 2003 facilitated by a professional consultant in the field and was concluded on December 3, 2003.

Throughout 2003, Corporate Labour Relations has focused on moving the City of Toronto’s labour relations environment to an interest-based bargaining approach. In keeping with this new direction, City Council directed that Chief William Stewart work to improve labour relations within Toronto Fire Services.

The facilitator met separately with each party prior to their embarking on this process with him as a facilitator. In preparation of this process the Association‘s full Executive Board and all the Senior Fire Service management spent two days in a session to determine a joint action plan & obtain firm unanimous commitment to go forward with this joint process. The session included exercises in learning some of the interest based philosophy & processes they would use. The session was very successful & optimism prevailed. The Association & Management communicated across the service & overall both sides made great strides in being positive & open in all communications.

Two significant events took place just prior to negotiations formally beginning. The City made an unprecedented move by moving forward a wage increase & delivering all back pay in a timely manner. This immediately gave some credibility to the process & to both Leadership teams. Just prior to negotiations as part of the process the parties developed & agreed on an attendance management process which would be implemented later. This was of much significance to management.

The two bargaining teams were selected and bargaining commenced early in September 2004. A few goals were developed for the process. They were to negotiate an agreement that would be ratified by stakeholders without the necessity of arbitration which is the usual way negotiations in Fire & Police Services are completed. To complete these negotiations by a certain date which was extended slightly early in the process but was achieved as expected.

Also of significance was the fact that the parties agreed to use the Association’s offices to conduct negotiations in the interest of cost savings & relative privacy.

The City’s objectives for this round of bargaining were to negotiate a timely and reasonable settlement without resorting to arbitration; to successfully introduce interest based bargaining in the City’s relations with bargaining agents and to reach an agreement based on that approach. (Those objectives were met. A negotiated settlement was reached within 25 days over a 4 month period prior to the expiry of the current collective agreement. This compares to an arbitrated settlement in the last round, after in excess of 125 days of negotiations over a 4 year period.)

Management’s objectives were to achieve operational improvements. Improvements for station transfers, relieving, vacation scheduling, and attendance management help to respond to staffing issues. The TFS will be better able to optimize service coverage across the City, reduce station relieving, and minimize the number of trucks taken out of service. (Management achieved their objectives in negotiations but more importantly are continuing to work jointly to bring more performance improvements).

The Association’s primary objectives were to maintain parity with Police, investigate a 24 hour shift schedule and upgrade the benefits package. There will be a joint investigation of appropriate hours of work for Communications and Operations that considers operational needs and requirements in conjunction with employee health and wellness. The investigation will explore a 24-hour shift based on detailed criteria and assessment against established benchmarks intended to improve Toronto Fire Services. (Thus the Association achieved their objectives).

To make it unanimous the objectives of the facilitator were as follows. To achieve ratified settlement, to improve ongoing relationship & process and to learn how to be better leaders. (These were also met).

The City of Toronto and the TPFFA are working toward a shared goal to have the best fire service in North America. A joint process to transform the relationship to an interest based approach is being utilized. (The eventual memorandum of agreement represents a significant change and improvement in labour/management relations at the City of Toronto. The settlement embraces joint problem solving, recognizes the needs of all parties and allows the parties to continue to build on their relationship with a stable collective agreement.)

The City of Toronto and Local 3888, Toronto Professional Fire Fighters Association (TPFFA) have negotiated and ratified terms for a collective agreement for a five year period from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2006. The TPFFA represents approximately 3,000 fire fighters. The extended term benefits all parties and gives improved

Now that the parties have completed the negotiations successfully and shown they can accomplish difficult goals together they have shifted the process to an ongoing process. Becoming the "Best Fire Service" is still the goal.

Although this process is important to the Fire Service it’s also very important to the City as it is a "beacon of hope".

The mandate for the steering committee & this process is as follows:

Purpose: We will transform our relationship and the Fire service Culture by actively working together, aimed at creating the best Toronto Fire Service possible as measured by & viewed by all of its constituents.

(The transformation will be most obvious in the way we deal with opportunities/issues immediately rather than waiting for negotiations.)

• Each party in this relationship will not alter their primary responsibility.
• The proper protocol will remain in effect around decision making.
• The process will be completely transparent to all stakeholders.

1. Manage the number of projects arising out of Negotiations.
2. Mandate various sub-committees & audit & evaluate their progress regularly.
3. Identify & work on opportunities or issues as they arise.
4. Communicate openly, jointly & often to all Fire service personnel.
5. Identify relationship & cultural performance measures & audit these on an ongoing basis.
6. Promote the Wins with all constituents. (include feedback on regular basis to Council)

5) Joint Process 4^th Stage – Progress Reports:

The parties have worked effectively together and have achieved a number of objectives/projects arising out of Negotiations. The "interest-based" training and experience from the recent round of negotiations has proven itself in a number of other areas, including:

• Development of the "24 Hour Shift" pilot project – memorandum of agreement to be signed 29 Oct 04;

• Reduction of grievances from 350 to 60 using an interest-based approach to problem solving;
• Joint speaking engagements with the President of the Association and the Deputy Fire Chief and/or Director, Employee & Labour Relations;
• News articles about the City of Toronto labour relations environment in Toronto Globe & Mail and Canadian HR Reporter, with quotes from Scott Marks, President of the Toronto Professional Firefighters’ Association.

• "24 Hour Shift" Memorandum of Agreement signed and pilot project implemented
• Further reduction of grievances
• Joint meetings and resolution of several thorny attendance management issues
• Letter of Intent – Communications Division - Hours of Work/Shift Schedule and pilot project implemented.
• Letter of Intent – Promotional System
• Parties working together to improve the Attendance Management System.

• Parties have seen improved morale, increased credibility of leadership, both Management and the Association and a significant reduction in grievances and improvement in attendance.
• Joint Panel Presentations - the President of the Association and the Deputy Fire Chief and Director, Employee & Labour Relations;
• Lancaster House: November 24, 2004
• Federated Press: April 7, 2005

In May 2005, the parties will formally come together for 2 days to achieve the following:

• Evaluation of the Project and improved relationship
• Development of a Strategic Plan for 2005-06

Ideally this process will continue to evolve & grow from the inside out. Although there is much to do with respect to ongoing projects, the ongoing process will minimize any issues or opportunities that may end up in negotiations. Making changes when needed rather than waiting for negotiations. The Fire Service will provide the model for the city as it seeks to achieve its intended identity as a leader in Labour Relations. Once this begins to occur citizens will no longer associate the city with Labour Relations but with excellent service in a great city.

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