Title: 35 Accords
Subtitle: Re-Imagining British Columbia's Public Sector Labour Relations
Subject Classification:  Politics and Government, History, Economics and Finance  
BIC Classification: JP, HB, KC
BISAC Classification: POL013000, POL017000, BUS038010
Binding: Hardback, eBook
Planned publication date: Jun 2025
ISBN (Hardback): 978-1-83711-277-7
ISBN (eBook): 978-1-83711-278-4

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Description

What does a cash-strapped government do when the collective agreements for almost a quarter million of its unionized employees expire simultaneously while wishing to maintain a respectful relationship with its labour supporters? In 1997, the Premier of British Columbia (BC), Canada, Glen Clark, thought of an imaginative solution. It was to offer unions an opportunity to participate with the government in developing policies on issues affecting their members and the services they provide. This was BC’s public sector policy Accord process. The goal was to establish a different, more collaborative relationship with unions, one in which they had a voice in shaping policy solutions. This parallel process – entirely separate from collective bargaining - would also avoid the adversarial relationship that so often characterizes a government’s relations with its unions, by recognizing the positive role unions and their members could play in contributing to improving BC’s public programs and services.
The authors, who worked on the Accord process with Premier Clark, provide an insider’s story of the intensive three-year period, during which the parties negotiated 35 policy accords across the entire provincial public sector. The Accords covered a wide range of issues, including pension trusteeship and portability, early retirement, provincial school class size, benefits trusts, government procurement policy, hospital laboratory services, workforce training, pay equity, creation of a health and safety agency and numerous smaller policy fixes.
The accord process demonstrated that it was possible for a government to initiate a new and more collaborative relationship with its unions by inviting them into the policy process. The accords definitely improved relations with the government and contributed to collective bargaining settlements within the government’s money mandate.

Biography

Author(s):  Tony Penikett is a past president (Chair) of the federal New Democratic Party in Canada, former premier of the Yukon and one-time Fulbright Scholar at the University of Washington's Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, and Officer of the Order of Canada.
John Calvert is an LSE graduate and retired professor from Simon Fraser University, Canada who has written extensively on public policy and labour issues. Before joining Simon Fraser, he worked as a researcher for Canada’s largest union.

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