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THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

BARGAINING & AUTOMATION

In 18% of contracts negotiated, provisos are
inserted to the effect that eS eideinant retains
all its usual prerogatives except those which are
specifically set out in the contract as matters for
bargaining. Restrictions on management prero-
gatives are imposed in 66% of U.S. contracts.

Limitations on the right of management to
sub-contract work occur in 28% of these con-
tracts. ,

Restrictions on technological changes are
specified in 11% of the contracts.

Prior discussion with the union is called for
by nearly half of these agreements, and re-train-
ing of affected employees is required by many.

LIMITATIONS ARE PLACED

About one-sixth of the agreements in this
group expressly make technological changes sub-
ject to the grievance procedure. In 5% of the
contracts limitations are placed on shutdowns and
relocation of plants.

In a recent decision of the National Labour
Relations Board a company was forbidden to
relocate a plant to evade the Union’s demands.

Increasing popularity for joint labour-man-
agement committees is shown in American con-
tracts. These committees are usually associated
with industry-wide bargaining, but frequently
they are said to prove effective when organized
at the plant level as well.

The authority vested in these committees
varies from company to company. In some in-
stances the committees recruit an impartial mem-
ber from outside the plant to act as chairman or
a professional adviser. They only have the author-
ity to study existing or anticipated problems and
evaluate them to make suggestions in an annual
report.

In some cases the committee may be em-
powered to administer or interpret the collective
agreement clauses.

LIKENED TO MEDICARE

Some union negotiators claim that the pur-
pose of the joint standing committees can be
likened to recent developments in medical care.
Doctors are now more interested in preventive
practices and treatment to ward off potential ills
such as for example, periodic checkups and chest
x-rays. In industry, some say, the same principle
can apply. The committee’s purpose is not only
to act as a kind of barometer to detect what some
of the future problems will be, but to work them
out between the parties in a manner satisfactory
enough to eliminate “eleventh hour crisis bar-

gaining.”

In the contract between the United Rubber
Workers and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Company the following clause appears:

“The purpose of the Joint Study Committee
will be to analyze, study, and make recom-
mendations to the parties respecting any la-
bour relations problems which may be refer-
red to it by agreement of the parties. The

Committee shall have no authority to bargain

INDEXES OF OUTPUT PER PERSON EMPLOYED,

NON-MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES (COMMERCIAL NON-AGRICULTURAL), CANADA, 1947-63
(1949= 100)

RATIO SCALE

RATIO SCALE

TREND O
PER PERSON EMPLOYED

for the parties on any matter, but its functions
shall be limited to analysis, review, and recom-
mendations concerning matters referred to it.

“The Committee shall consist of three mem-
bers from the union who will be selected by
the President of the International Union, and
three members from the company, who will be
selected by the Vice President in charge of
Industrial Relations . . .

“The Committee may procure the services
of specialized personnel from either party for
advice and consultation, as well as of such out-
side consultants as it may deem appropriate.”

The I.U.E. and Emerson Radio Corporation
agree on this point as follows:

“The parties mutually express their interest
and concern about the impact on manpower
and conditions of employment, resulting from
technological improvements and automation.
The parties desire to utilize to the best ad-
vantage of the company and the employees,
scientific improvements. The employer and
the union, therefore, shall establish a commit-
tee known as the Committee on Automation,
consisting of six persons equally representing
the employer and the union. The function of
the committee shall be as follows:

(a) To study the effect of such changes on
the utilization of manpower;

(b) To study the data on technological
changes as they occur, and the effect on man-
power requirements;

(c) Such recommendations as are agreed
upon to extend the benefits of automation to
employer and employee.”

In 1960 the United Steelworkers of America
signed an agreement with the major steel com-
panies inaugurating the Human Relations Re-
search Committee, later to be known as the Hu-
man Relations Committee. The agreement out-
lines seven basic areas that fall within the scope
of the Committee:

(1) Wage incentives.

(2) Medical care,

(3) Statistical materials,

(4) Training,

(5) Job classification,

(6) Contracting out of work, and

(7) Other over-all problems referred to the_
Committee.

With respect to training, the agreement takes
cognizance of the importance of preparing em-
ployees for higher-rated jobs after technological
change. It stresses the job progression required
to operate new facilities and training laid-off
employees in order to improve their re-employ-
ment status.

Another section states:

“.. The contracting out of work which
could be performed by bargaining unit em-
ployees, the scheduling of overtime work for
some employees while other employees are on
layoff or working less than forty hours, the
performance by supervisory employees of work