By Amanda Jones

This seems like a pretty simple question – and I’m not going to argue against your initial inclination that arbitrations are bad. What I will tell you are a few reasons why arbitrations can be damaging, not only to the union/management relationship but also to the bottom line. When it comes to arbitrations, they:

• Are expensive Arbitrations are not only costly due to the fees for an arbitrator, but also due to indirect costs. Think employee wages, lost time for employees attending the arbitration, lost time in preparing the case, and perhaps legal fees.
• Can damage the relationship Going through the normal grievance process maintains and sometimes can even improve the relationship. Arbitrations are trials, so the sheer formality is enough to put each side on edge and pin them against one another.
• Have a greater sense of win/loss The winner can become overconfident or cocky which will only be damaging later. On the flip side, the loser feels a stronger sense of resentment towards the other party.
• Involve lots of preparation If you do not have any help from a lawyer, you will quickly become stressed. Not only do you need to prepare notes and evidence documents, but also witness statements to guide you during your interviewing. In addition, you need to find relevant case law – and not just one or two cases, but a good textbook amount.
• Create lost time Human resources, other employees and witnesses must attend. This is time taken away from their regular duties, and in the case of the unionized employee, results in actual lost production which will not make the plant managers happy.
• Create a greater fear of trying again In one particular situation, an employee was fired for calling in sick when he was really away on vacation. Word had spread to the shop floor about the reason he was fired. The company was fearful of losing the arbitration and figured if the employee came back, the message that calling in sick when not actually sick is okay would be sent. However, if the company won, there is greater potential to fire other employees who use sick time fraudulently. So, you can see that it can work either way – either spark or slow down action.
• Can be symptoms of a damaged relationship A grievance isn’t necessarily a bad thing – it’s just a formal method for expressing a concern; a few grievances can be healthy – they remind both sides to stick to the collective agreement and bring issues to the surface that may need addressing. Too many grievances can lead to a greater underlying problem which is that of a damaged union/management relationship in which the current communication methods are unsuccessful. The problem is that once the grievances go to arbitration they are serious and can really start affecting the relationship.
• Have binding decisions Arbitrators make binding decisions that must be acted upon by the parties involved. That means that going forward, a precedent has been set for similar cases, which depending on the conclusion of the arbitration, may be good or bad.

Make sure that if you are going to arbitration that it is really worth it and that you can handle being the loser and having a binding decision to act upon.

Amanda Jones, BBA, loves to spend time with friends and family and play with her dog. But in her spare time, she also enjoys delving into the HR field. She currently works for a unionized manufacturing company as the learning, development and wellness manager. She also mentors two HR students through BC HRMA’s Professional Mentoring Program. She hopes to one day become an HR professor and start her own HR consulting firm.