Labour Management Relations Traveller Inn hotels are well recognized throughout Canada company officials, union representatives, and employees and offer rooms and suites that attract families and business in contract negotiations and administering the collective travellers. Room rates are competitive with similar chains agreement. across the country. There are 392 unionized employees According to one of the Vancouver hotel managers who across the four Vancouver hotels, and they are represented participated in the latest round of bargaining, "During con- by the Hotel Employees Union (HEU). The members of tract negotiations, we met with the union bargaining team HEU generally work the front desk or are involved in main on a weekly basis. Each meeting was a good six or seven tenance, housekeeping, or food services at the hotels. hours, and it took us almost four months to ultimately ham- All four of the Traveller Inn hotels in the Vancouver area mer out a contract. Things were further complicated by have been unionized for eight years. Contract negotiations spending four days in conciliation. Furthermore, we seem between the two parties have been difficult, but five years to be spending way too much time dealing with griev- ago, the employer reached a three-year agreement with the ances. Our wages are competitive with similar hotels in the union (HEU). Two years ago, the Traveller Inn negotia- Vancouver area, but morale is low and turnover is clearly a tion team and HEU signed another three-year contract - problem at all four hotels." negotiations again were very challenging, but a conciliator A review of company records revealed the following was able to help the parties reach an agreement. grievance pattern, as shown in Table 1. Ledonna Johnson, vice-president of human resources, While some of the grievances involved more than one has asked you to carefully review the situation at the issue, most of them were single-issue matters. The break- Vancouver hotels and prepare a report. Some information down of grievances based on the type of issue was also relating to labour relations issues at the four Vancouver available, as shown in Table 2. hotels is summarized in Table 1. A survey of managers and employees at the four hotels Since signing the new contract, employee grievances was recently completed. All of the managers and 331 of the have increased by about 9 percent a year. The company 392 unionized employees completed the survey. The survey is concerned about the amount of time being spent by was conducted by a Vancouver consultant with expertise in TABLE 1 Grievance Pattern at Traveller Inn Hotels S02 labour relations and was supported by both the company und union (with the understanding that the completed sur vey forms would do directly to the consultant and that the survey results would be provided in summary form to both the company and union). As Johnson noted, "We didn't think the union would co-operate, and we needed it on board in order to survey the unionized workers. I'm getting a sense that both man agement and the union are getting concerned about the impact of the negative labour relations climate on our abil ity to compete in a very competitive Vancouver market Some of the initial findings from the survey are provided in The Total grievances filled Number of grincesse Step 1-First-level supervisor stage Step 2. Second-level supervisor stage Step 3 Senior HR manager stage Arbitration 75 288 129 10 TABLE 2 Grievance Issues at Traveller Inn Hotels Surwy Commen Survey participants were also permitted to make comments on the survey. A total of 104 union respondents made com- ments. Most of the comments concerned a few major issues la few are presented below: 191 OX Types of Grievance Issues Lateness or asenteism Overtime allocation Other discipline or discharge Job scheduling Job posting Multiple-issue disputes Workload: "It is crazy here at times. I work in food ser vices and we are frequently understaffed when it is busy" "The weekends are terrible, especially when we have sports teams in. The rooms take twice as long to clean some of the rooms are disgusting, and people are always coming in late or calling in sick. 02 35 42 TABLE 3 Initial Results from the Labour Management Survey Average Union Response 3.56 2.33 2.28 295 PARTA Workplace Performance Measures Average Management Response Workplace productivity 3.76 Service quality Union member moral 3.66 Union member job satisfaction 3.71 Quality of union member/supervisor relations 4.01 Note: Each of these questions uses a 5-point scale (1 = Very : 5 = Very high. PART B Labour Climate Measures Average Management Response Grievances are settled promptly 4.04 The working conditions are fair 4.28 The parties co-operate to solve problems 3.78 The parties share information The relationship is adversarial 2.91 Note: Fach of these questions uses a 5-point scale (1 = Very low: S = Very high). Average Union Response 282 3.18 2.55 2.37 4.10 Scheduling and Supervision: "I'm generally OK with DISCUSSION QUESTIONS working overtime, but after being on the front desk from midnight to 8:00 a.m., I'm just too tired." 1. Assume that you assigned to examine labour relations "I'm in housekeeping and when it is super busy, you can at the Travellers Inn. Review the material for Ledonna only do so many rooms. If I take too long, I hear about it Johnson, and briefly summarize your major findings. from my supervisor. And if the rooms aren't cleaned prop 2. What specific recommendations would you give erly. I hear about that, too. You can't have it both ways, Ledonna? Are there any programs or initiatives that especially when people don't show up or guests are late you would suggest? checking out of their rooms." Labour Management Relations Traveller Inn hotels are well recognized throughout Canada company officials, union representatives, and employees and offer rooms and suites that attract families and business in contract negotiations and administering the collective travellers. Room rates are competitive with similar chains agreement. across the country. There are 392 unionized employees According to one of the Vancouver hotel managers who across the four Vancouver hotels, and they are represented participated in the latest round of bargaining, "During con- by the Hotel Employees Union (HEU). The members of tract negotiations, we met with the union bargaining team HEU generally work the front desk or are involved in main on a weekly basis. Each meeting was a good six or seven tenance, housekeeping, or food services at the hotels. hours, and it took us almost four months to ultimately ham- All four of the Traveller Inn hotels in the Vancouver area mer out a contract. Things were further complicated by have been unionized for eight years. Contract negotiations spending four days in conciliation. Furthermore, we seem between the two parties have been difficult, but five years to be spending way too much time dealing with griev- ago, the employer reached a three-year agreement with the ances. Our wages are competitive with similar hotels in the union (HEU). Two years ago, the Traveller Inn negotia- Vancouver area, but morale is low and turnover is clearly a tion team and HEU signed another three-year contract - problem at all four hotels." negotiations again were very challenging, but a conciliator A review of company records revealed the following was able to help the parties reach an agreement. grievance pattern, as shown in Table 1. Ledonna Johnson, vice-president of human resources, While some of the grievances involved more than one has asked you to carefully review the situation at the issue, most of them were single-issue matters. The break- Vancouver hotels and prepare a report. Some information down of grievances based on the type of issue was also relating to labour relations issues at the four Vancouver available, as shown in Table 2. hotels is summarized in Table 1. A survey of managers and employees at the four hotels Since signing the new contract, employee grievances was recently completed. All of the managers and 331 of the have increased by about 9 percent a year. The company 392 unionized employees completed the survey. The survey is concerned about the amount of time being spent by was conducted by a Vancouver consultant with expertise in TABLE 1 Grievance Pattern at Traveller Inn Hotels S02 labour relations and was supported by both the company und union (with the understanding that the completed sur vey forms would do directly to the consultant and that the survey results would be provided in summary form to both the company and union). As Johnson noted, "We didn't think the union would co-operate, and we needed it on board in order to survey the unionized workers. I'm getting a sense that both man agement and the union are getting concerned about the impact of the negative labour relations climate on our abil ity to compete in a very competitive Vancouver market Some of the initial findings from the survey are provided in The Total grievances filled Number of grincesse Step 1-First-level supervisor stage Step 2. Second-level supervisor stage Step 3 Senior HR manager stage Arbitration 75 288 129 10 TABLE 2 Grievance Issues at Traveller Inn Hotels Surwy Commen Survey participants were also permitted to make comments on the survey. A total of 104 union respondents made com- ments. Most of the comments concerned a few major issues la few are presented below: 191 OX Types of Grievance Issues Lateness or asenteism Overtime allocation Other discipline or discharge Job scheduling Job posting Multiple-issue disputes Workload: "It is crazy here at times. I work in food ser vices and we are frequently understaffed when it is busy" "The weekends are terrible, especially when we have sports teams in. The rooms take twice as long to clean some of the rooms are disgusting, and people are always coming in late or calling in sick. 02 35 42 TABLE 3 Initial Results from the Labour Management Survey Average Union Response 3.56 2.33 2.28 295 PARTA Workplace Performance Measures Average Management Response Workplace productivity 3.76 Service quality Union member moral 3.66 Union member job satisfaction 3.71 Quality of union member/supervisor relations 4.01 Note: Each of these questions uses a 5-point scale (1 = Very : 5 = Very high. PART B Labour Climate Measures Average Management Response Grievances are settled promptly 4.04 The working conditions are fair 4.28 The parties co-operate to solve problems 3.78 The parties share information The relationship is adversarial 2.91 Note: Fach of these questions uses a 5-point scale (1 = Very low: S = Very high). Average Union Response 282 3.18 2.55 2.37 4.10 Scheduling and Supervision: "I'm generally OK with DISCUSSION QUESTIONS working overtime, but after being on the front desk from midnight to 8:00 a.m., I'm just too tired." 1. Assume that you assigned to examine labour relations "I'm in housekeeping and when it is super busy, you can at the Travellers Inn. Review the material for Ledonna only do so many rooms. If I take too long, I hear about it Johnson, and briefly summarize your major findings. from my supervisor. And if the rooms aren't cleaned prop 2. What specific recommendations would you give erly. I hear about that, too. You can't have it both ways, Ledonna? Are there any programs or initiatives that especially when people don't show up or guests are late you would suggest? checking out of their rooms