LABOUR RELATIONS

Leading labour and employee relations experts representing management and unions will provide practical advice and critical insights into key issues, including a roundup of important court cases and arbitration rulings.

PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS

Sandra I. Banister
Banister & Company

Bruce R. Grist
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Trends in Employment Privacy: Observations by the Commissioner

Elizabeth Denham 
Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC
Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Building Problem Solving Labour Management Relationships

Negotiating Duty to Accommodate Language in the Collective Agreement

Collective Bargaining: Unique Clauses and Trends

Managing Stress and Absence Due to Stress: The Medical Perspective

PLUS…

Privacy Challenges • Violence and Threats • Duty to Accommodate • Managing Stress and Absence • Aging Workers • Social Networking • Pensions

CLE Accreditation

This conference has been approved by the Law Society of British Columbia and the Law Society of Saskatchewan for 13 hours.

MARKETING PARTNERS

This program is designed for public and private sector, unionized and non-unionized organizations including:

• Vice Presidents, Directors & Managers of:
  • Human Resources
  • Labour Relations
  • Employee Relations
  • Benefits
• Chief Negotiators
• Union Presidents, Officials, Business Agents, Stewards and Committee Members
• In-house Counsel

• Labour & Employment Lawyers
• Mediators, Arbitrators and Conciliators
• Supervisors & Plant Managers
• Directors & Managers of Occupational Health, Safety & Environment
• Return to Work Managers
• Labour Relations Consultants
• Government Representatives

Dear Colleague:

For union representatives and labour relations professionals, keeping on top of changing legislation and important arbitration and judicial decisions is essential. Insight Information’s 6th Annual LABOUR RELATIONS agenda addresses key topics which are a “must know” for anyone working in the area of labour relations.

This upcoming conference stands out because of the excellence of the presenters and the relevance of the topics to the challenges arising in the rapidly evolving field of labour relations across Canada. Rarely are so many leaders, representing labour and management viewpoints respectively, all assembled on the same program.

Union representatives and renowned legal experts who are involved in the action “day in and day out” will point you to recent arbitration and court decisions and give strategic advice to help you manage current issues and prepare for future trends. You will be provided with valuable insights, practical tips, and excellent papers on the various topics.

In addition, we believe you will find the following presentations interesting and highly insightful. Elizabeth Denham, Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC will address Trends in Employment Privacy: Observations by the Commissioner; Debbie Cameron, Director of Mediation Division & Conflict Resolution Programs at the BC Labour Relations Board will lead panelists from the City of Coquitlam, CUPE Local 386 and UBC in an informative discussion on Building Problem Solving Labour Management Relationships; Vince Ready, renowned BC Arbitrator and David Vipond of BCGEU will highlight recent developments in the area of Collective Bargaining; and Robert Kirby of Halifax Regional Municipality will share how HRM and CUPE articulated the rights and responsibilities of Duty to Accommodate in the parties’ Collective Agreements.

We are very excited about the conference and we believe it offers excellent value as a resource. The presenters have a variety of backgrounds but they share the same qualities – they are all highly qualified, successful, and have a strong dedication to their craft.

All in all, we are sure you will find this conference most worthwhile. We hope you will be able to attend and we look forward to your feedback.

Yours truly,

Sandra I. Banister 
Banister & Company

Bruce R. Grist
Partner
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

JANUARY 18, 2011

8:00

Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30

Welcoming Remarks from Insight Information

8:35

Co-Chairs’ Opening Remarks

Sandra I. Banister
Partner
Banister & Company

Bruce R. Grist
Partner
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

8:45

Building Problem Solving Labour Management Relationships

Jim Bontempo
Front Counter Supervisor Building Division
& CUPE Local 386 Chief Shop Steward
City of Coquitlam

Debbie Cameron
Director of Mediation Division & Conflict Resolution Programs
BC Labour Relations Board

Thomas R. Knight
Associate Professor
Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Division
Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia

Ken Landgraff
President
CUPE Local 386

Bill Susak
General Manager, Engineering and Public Works
City of Coquitlam

Building problem solving labour management relationships is a strategic goal of the BCLRB Mediation Division. This presentation will outline how mediators work with labour and management to identify driving forces, and challenges, to reach effective problem solving capacity. Based on common visions of collaboration, mediators facilitate joint efforts to develop and implement skills and strategies to change dynamics in the workplace, and to monitor and evaluate outcomes.

Key elements of this presentation include:

• Assessment procedures to determine commitment, expectations, and the “real issues”
• Training to identify and apply components of emotional intelligence
• Participant design of initiatives, goals, systems, procedures, and measurement tools/criteria
• Participant experience in the City of Coquitlam and CUPE Local 386 Relationship Enhancement Program
• An analysis of LRB Mediation programming in partnership with Tom Knight of the UBC Sauder School of Business and BC LRB Mediation in its quest for continuous improvement and relevance to the labour management community

10:15

Networking Coffee Break

10:30

Updated Solutions to Workplace Privacy Challenges

Rebecca Murdock
Barrister & Solicitor
IBEW 258

Lorene A. Novakowski
Partner
Fasken Martineau

• Internal protection of employee privacy – records management best practices
• Surveillance of employees – what’s allowed? What is not?
• New challenges – the affect on workplaces of required security against potential terrorism
• Access to employee medical information
• Sharing of employee information:
  • with 3^rd party benefits coordinators
  • as part of a company sale (M&A)
• Crossing the line – is gathering information unrelated to job performance illegal?
• Discontinuation of benefits by insurers based on Internet postings – Nathalie Blanchard case
• Privacy breaches
• Public access to grievance and other documents involving employees
• Privacy and privilege:
  • implications of litigation privilege in an arbitration setting
  • when does it terminate?

11:20

The Widening Array of Duty to Accommodate Requests: Is the Hybrid Approach Dead?

Donald J. Jordan Q.C.
Partner
Taylor Jordan Chafetz

Lindsay M. Lyster
Associate Counsel, Moore Edgar Olson
Former Member, British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal

• Prima facie discrimination
• Is the Fraser Lake Sawmills decision dead?
• Challenges to accommodation
• How has the elimination of mandatory retirement affected accommodation solutions?
• How far must one go to accommodate an older worker?
• The ever widening scope of requests for accommodation: What’s legitimate? What’s being recognized?
• What’s up for negotiation?
• Family status:
  • the increase in request for dayshifts
  • accommodating the needs of the “sandwich” generation
• Other evolving trends?

12:15

Networking Luncheon and Keynote Address

Trends in Employment Privacy: Observations by the Commissioner

Elizabeth Denham
Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC
Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia

1:30

Managing Stress and Absence Due to Stress: The Medical Perspective

Dr. Daniel R. Gouws, MB, ChB, LMCC, FLEX
Occupational Health Physician
Ultima Health Assessments Corp.

• What’s legitimate stress? What isn’t?
• Symptoms the supervisor should be aware of
• Post-traumatic stress disorder – how does it differ?
• Different types of discipline problems with stressed employees

2:10

Collective Bargaining: Unique Clauses and Trends

Vince Ready
Arbitrator
Labour Arbitration & Mediation Services Ltd.

David Vipond
Director, Negotiations
B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union

• New era in bargaining – setting priorities in turbulent times
• How have the needs of employers and workers changed?
• Getting to ratification
• Evergreen clauses
• Charter challenges
• Effect of two-tiered wage systems and benefit costs
• Disclosure obligations on both sides to further collective bargaining

3:00

Networking Refreshment Break

3:15

Bringing Clarity to Pensions: Is it Possible?

Mark Newton
Partner
Heenan Blaikie LLP (Toronto)

“The law of pensions is an increasingly complex and mixed bag. The sponsorship, registration, regulation, administration, and termination of pension plans are impacted by a variety of legal sources including contract law, statutory law, labour and employment law, tax law, trusts and equity, estate law, family law, property law, and administrative law. These legal regimes, while distinct in many applications, frequently interact in the multidisciplinary world of pensions.”

Excerpt from Pension Law (2006) by A. Kaplan

• When is a pension plan part of a collective agreement?
• Who has jurisdiction over pension disputes: arbitrator, pension regulator, the courts?
• Why are multi-employer pension plans in such a mess?
• Is it easy to convert from defined benefit to defined contribution?
• How do you bargain pension benefits in the midst of pension reform?

4:00

Here Today, Here Tomorrow! Proactive Attendance Management for Maximum Productivity

Anne Harvey
Vice President, HR Services for PHC, PHSA and VCH

Susan Spratt
Area Director, British Columbia, Alberta
CAW-Canada

The cost of absenteeism can be enormous. With workplaces faced with an increased emphasis on reducing costs, looming skill shortages, and employees dealing with many additional responsibilities in challenging economic times – the importance of tackling this issue has never been greater. Using a good foundation in Labour-Management meetings as a starting point, our speakers will share how innovative and creative solutions can be developed away from the table. They will provide you with practical information to help you get this costly issue under control.

• How does one manage attendance using positive enforcement?
• Emerging issues:
  • different generations in the workplace
  • differing expectations around work/life balance
• What should be negotiated in an agreement that will help increase attendance?
• What challenges are being presented at Human Rights Tribunals and Courts? Why?
• What language is most effective? Is more language better than less?
• What practices work best?

5:00

Conference Ends for the Day

JANUARY 19, 2011

8:00

Continental Breakfast

8:30

The Aging Worker: Juggling Competing Concerns

Brian Mathae
Director, Group Client Development
Pacific Blue Cross

Christopher M. McHardy
Partner
McCarthy Tétrault LLP

• The cost impact to plans of older workers
• Carriage of benefits for workers older than 65
• How does this affect the cost of your plan and what your plan contains?
• What should the cutoff age for LTD plans be?
• Is there a human rights issue?
• The value of older workers
• Employer concerns when older workers refuse to retire:
  • the impact on productivity
  • safety issues
  • morale issues when younger workers are unable to progress
  • duty to accommodate and undue hardship
  • does a population of aging workers affect the ability to attract new employees?
• The challenge of getting older employees to adjust their role in the organization
• Challenges when younger supervisors manage older workers

9:20

Retirement Age: Negotiable? A Right? The Air Canada Experience

Bruce A. Laughton, Q.C.
Union Counsel
Laughton & Company

• Does the duty of fair representation prohibit a trade union from taking a position that is contrary to the wishes of some employees?
• How can the benefits and burdens of a seniority-based system be shared equally by younger and older employees at various stages of their careers?
• What modifications to employment conditions can be made for older workers?
• What incentives can be negotiated to induce workers to retire?

10:00

Networking Coffee Break

10:15

Developing a Corporate Policy for Social Media: What Companies Need to Consider

Stephen D. Burns
Partner
Bennett Jones LLP (Calgary)

Effective Social Media policies address both the Company’s and its employees’ uses and interactions with social media. This is accomplished by understanding not only the rights and expectations of the employer and its employees, customers and marketplace, but also by understanding the changing technology and social dynamics that can impact same. This session will focus its discussion on the key risks and issues arising when managing the use of social media in the workplace and provide a framework for developing an effective, robust social media policy.

• Understanding the rights and responsibilities of the employer and the employee
• Managing the risks of using social media as part of the hiring process
• Managing the expectations of privacy and confidentiality
• Managing the risks of providing information and advice through blogs and other means
• Integrating the social media policy into the company’s existing privacy, e-mail, IT resource, corporate communications and other policies
• Managing the company’s brand and image online, and in particular, managing the risks of defamatatory, derogatory and libelous remarks by company representatives

11:00

Administering Accommodation Under a Collective Agreement: Xstrata Zinc’s Proactive Disability Management Team

Union Representative

Kevin Clement
Union Compensation Representative
United Steelworkers Local 5385 (Bathurst)

Labour Relations Representative

Numa Dandurand
Senior Labour Relations Coordinator
Xstrata Zinc (Bathurst)

Labour Relations Representative

Carmelle Savoie
Occupational Health Nurse, Occupational Health Supervisor
Xstrata Zinc (Bathurst)

Members of Xstrata Zinc’s disability management team will share how today, both workers and the Employer are benefiting from the foresight shown several years ago when the disability team concept was initiated at Xstrata Zinc with the support of USW. The speakers will share how their team was composed, their mission statement, and how they have developed policies that comply with legislation, regulations and the current language of the collective agreement.

Leave this session inspired and with new ideas for your disability management team’s mandate.

12:00

Networking Luncheon

1:00

Update on Damages: What Can We Expect in the Future?

Frank R. Foran, Q.C.
Counsel
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (Calgary)

Randy J. Kaardal
Partner
Hunter Litigation Chambers

• Individual liability under grievance process (i.e. Arbitrator awarded damages only against the employee, not against the Union)
• Too soon for a funeral for Wallace? What obligation, if any, do employers post-Honda v. Keays owe to their employees in the manner of dismissal?
• Recent cases and decisions
• Are damages beyond the period of reasonable notice recoverable by an employee post-Honda v. Keays? If so, what employer conduct in the manner of dismissal may give rise to a claim for damages beyond the period of reasonable notice?
• What employer conduct and employee circumstances will the Courts take into account in quantifying damages arising from the manner of dismissal?
• Punitive damages – can they still be awarded in consequence of employer misconduct and, if so, in what circumstances?
• How have Canadian Courts applied Honda/Keays?
• The issue of proportionality in recent decisions – Merrill Lynch, Pate, GTAA, Bell Mobility
• What can we expect in the future?

1:50

Social Media and the Union: New Ways to Communicate

David J. Climenhaga
Communications Director
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (Edmonton)

Larry Hubich
President
Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (Regina)

• How labour unions are integrating technology with normal practices
• How social media is used in the organizing and certification process by both Employer and Union
• Use of social media in bargaining
• Has social media had an impact on the duration of strikes?
• Managing the message when ratifying an agreement – what happens if the wrong recommendation message goes viral?
• Expectations of members?

2:40

Networking Coffee Break

2:50

Negotiating Duty to Accommodate Language in the Collective Agreement

Robert Kirby
Labour Relations Consultant
Halifax Regional Muncipality (Halifax)

Union Representative

The Duty to Accommodate is a long standing Human Rights obligation. Recently Unions and Employers have considered the benefits of including language which details processes addressing Duty to Accommodate, including rights and responsibilities (Employer, Employee and Union) in the parties’ Collective Agreements. In this session you will hear how Halifax Regional Municipality and CUPE negotiated this recent addition.

3:30

Violence and Threats in the Workplace: Navigating the Minefields

Maureen Headley
Executive Director, Labour Relations and Legal Services
Health Sciences Association of BC

Thomas A. Roper, Q.C.
Partner
Roper Greyell

• Due diligence required
• Cyberbullying – ramifications of off-duty and on-duty conduct
• Resolving bullying:
  • between co-workers
  • between Manager and Employee – when either is the bully
• Psychological harassment claims
• Conducting interviews
• Privacy v. the duty to inform workers
• Domestic violence in the workplace – what are your obligations?
• Options for disciplinary action
• What happens if criminal charges are laid?
• At what point does a company have the right to terminate?
• Interpreting results of workplace violence audits

4:30

Register 3 delegates for the main conference at regular price at the same time and you’re entitled to register a fourth person from your organization at no charge. For other group discounts, please call 1-888-777-1707. All discounts must be redeemed when booking, discounts will not be valid or applied after this time.