It's too early to pass judgment, but the initial returns don't appear to be too encouraging.
In the last couple of negotiations between Delta and its unionized workforce, there had been complaints about how the Metro Vancouver Labour Relations Bureau was doing as much harm as good. Delta had joined the bureau years earlier as part of a regionwide effort to coordinate and standardize public sector contracts.
The loss of local autonomy, however, was becoming a sticking point, so Delta served notice to withdraw from the bureau with the intent of returning to direct negotiations with its employees.
Many other cities and municipalities have done the same.
That bargaining here began five months ago, and while I didn't expect this new structure to produce miracles, I thought the news might be a little better than what CUPE Local 454 president Darryl Robison offered recently.
I realize they're meeting intermittently so there's only so much that can get accomplished, but when the union leader says talks aren't progressing as well as they'd like, and they haven't even broached wages yet, the prognosis isn't good.
With property tax hikes outstripping the rate of inflation in recent years, and those increases attributed in part to steadily rising staff wages, I suspect those on the management side of the table will be looking to rein in costs once bargaining gets around to salaries. It doesn't take a psychic to see where they could run into some trouble while attempting to do so.
Firstly, council members have voted themselves substantial salary increases - and we're talking a cumulative 40 per cent in the past five years - since the last CUPE contract was signed. Granted, the property tax hit that results from a wage hike for the seven-member council is nowhere near the impact it would be for a significantly smaller raise for all 850 members of the civic union, but you can bet CUPE negotiators will raise the issue at the table nonetheless.
Another potential minefield is the divide and conquer possibility now that many cities and municipalities are going it alone on the negotiating front. All it takes is one settlement elsewhere in the region to set a precedent in this round of bargaining, and while management will do its best to dismiss it as an anomaly, that will be harder to do given municipal politicians are always quick to use comparisons whenever they fall behind their counterparts on the old wage scale.
