Why Grieving Contracting Out Is Important to the Labour Movement

Contracting out is one of the most significant issues facing workers and trade unions. When an employer decides to contract work to an outside company, the decision can affect jobs, wages, working conditions, and the long-term strength of the union. That is why grieving contracting out is an important tool for the labour movement.

A grievance allows a union to challenge contracting-out decisions when it believes the employer has violated the collective agreement. More importantly, consistently challenging improper contracting out can protect unionized work and establish important precedents for the future. If you need the clause itself, start with what a contracting-out clause is.

What is contracting out?

Contracting out occurs when an employer uses an outside company or contractor to perform work that could potentially be performed by its own employees.

Some collective agreements contain specific language governing contracting out. These provisions may restrict an employer’s ability to contract work, require consultation with the union, or establish conditions that must be met before outside contractors can be used. When an employer contracts out work contrary to the collective agreement, the union may have grounds to file a grievance.

Why should unions grieve it?

One of the biggest reasons is that ungrieved violations can become harder to challenge in the future. If an employer repeatedly contracts out bargaining-unit work without the union challenging those decisions, the union may face an increasingly difficult argument later that the practice violates the collective agreement.

Protecting union jobs

Contracting out can have consequences that extend well beyond the immediate job being performed. When bargaining-unit work is transferred to contractors, the union can lose work that provides employment for its members. Over time, widespread contracting out can reduce the size of the bargaining unit and weaken the union’s ability to negotiate. That makes every contracting-out grievance potentially important.

The issue is not necessarily whether every contractor is bad or whether employers should never use outside companies. The question is whether the employer is following the rules that were negotiated with the union.

Contracting out and the labour movement

The labour movement has historically fought for workers to have a meaningful voice in their workplaces. Collective agreements are one of the primary ways that unions achieve that goal. When a union grieves contracting out, it is enforcing the principle that an employer cannot simply ignore negotiated protections.

A successful grievance can potentially result in redress for affected workers and clarify how contracting-out language should be interpreted. These decisions can also become important precedents when similar disputes arise in the future.

Standing up for bargaining-unit work

Contracting out is ultimately about more than one job or one grievance. It can raise questions about the future of the bargaining unit itself. That is why unions need to carefully examine contracting-out decisions and determine whether they comply with the collective agreement.

Grieving contracting out is an important part of protecting bargaining-unit work, enforcing collective agreements, and maintaining the strength of organized labour.

The bottom line

The labour movement cannot simply negotiate strong language and then fail to enforce it. When contracting-out provisions exist in a collective agreement, unions have an important responsibility to hold employers accountable when they believe those provisions have been violated. Every contracting-out grievance can help protect workers today while establishing stronger protections for workers tomorrow.