Jay Sharun, CHRP, is a negotiator with Western Industrial Relations, the premier consulting firm for labour relations in Western Canada. Having been in the industry for over 15 years and negotiated more than 400 collective agreements, Sharun was most recently recognized as the recipient of the 2014 HRMA Award of Excellence in Innovation for his work done at BC Tree Fruits.

What attracts you to labour relations?
Looking back on the more than 400 collective agreements I have negotiated, it is a great challenge to match wits with labour negotiators who all seem to possess the patience of a zen master, the resilience of a high stakes poker player, the mind of a chess player, and often the mouth of a truck driver. Stickhandling through issues at the bargaining table and dealing with such folks on a day to day basis is more fun than you could imagine and leaves me with a locker full of great stories.

It also leaves me with priceless gifts from some of the giants in labour relations: the wisdom and laughter of Gerry and Dan Bell, the integrity of David McPhillips, the brilliance of Peter Gall, the larger-than-life spirit of Ralph Elke, and the heart of Anne Kinvig. I continue to follow in their footsteps and hope to pass on their gifts to the next generation of labour relations practitioners.

How has the approach to labour relations changed over time?
You can imagine the difficulty trade unions had in achieving improvements in the late 1800’s in Canada: bitter province and city-wide strikes resulted in many deaths and much of the legislation we have today around workplace safety, human rights, and employment standards did not exist. There was no labour relations code or labour boards and union activity was actually against the law.

Vince Ready put it best when he described early labour relations as a “bare knuckle contest.” Today, collective bargaining is conducted within a robust legal framework and more often than not with the professionalism of any other set of important workplace meetings. Both unions and employers recognize that it is simply bad business, and very costly, to declare war on each other without very good reason.

Can you highlight the innovation and impact of your labour relations solution at BC Tree Fruits?
Last summer, BC Tree Fruits was in the midst of a massive decline due to non-union US competition and the harsh reality that their labour costs were double that of their competitors. They had a poor relationship with their trade union and expected a bitter strike in 12 months, given their previous round of collective bargaining had resulted in many concessions. A war was brewing, but the company required further cost savings to save their industry in the Okanagan.

After much thought, we opened up negotiations one year early; we knew the employees were angry and we decided it would be best to let them vent before any solutions could be found. We took a very honest approach with the employees and told our story with full disclosure. We put ourselves in the shoes of the employees and asked ourselves what kind of a deal we could actually ratify given the almost impossible circumstances. We put aside traditional gamesmanship in bargaining and asked for one scheduling change which would create some work-life benefits but create the necessary cost reductions. It was the ultimate win-win.

In retrospect, our approach seems more common-sense than innovative, but many labour relations practitioners are still stuck in the dark ages; they have trouble marrying labour relations objectives with overall HR objectives to foster high employee engagement. What was destined to be fist-fight at BC Tree Fruits quickly turned into a hand shake.

What piece of advice would you give those struggling with collective bargaining?
Most employers—and unions quite frankly—make the mistake of bringing far too many issues to the bargaining table. You gain credibility in negotiations by being focused and backing up your issues with great evidence. Our one scheduling proposal at BC Tree Fruits was a great example of using this strategy effectively. The vast majority of deals I have negotiated are concluded with 3 days – and it all starts with being focused and prepared.

How do you most directly perceive HR driving business results—or where it could?
Collective bargaining is one of the few areas in the world of HR where it is easy to keep score. In this case, BC Tree Fruits secured a 7 year agreement that is projected to save the organization $10 million in labour costs. In addition, their base wage rates will not increase over the 7 years to ensure competitiveness in the long-term.