The Lockout Between Canadian National Exhibition And IATSE
The article “Defining and Conceptualizing Work” written by John Budd highlighted certain conceptualizations that help understand the flow of work. The 10 conceptualizations help analyze the work conflict that is happening in this workforce as well as aid in the understanding of them. The International Alliance Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), purpose is to provide professional staging service for Toronto entertainment.
IATSE has worked for many different companies and venues. One specific job they worked that will be talked about in this paper is the Exhibition Place. IATSE has worked for the Ex. since before World War II and only now they are facing some conflicts. However, since December 2017, workers haven't had a written employee contract and they have been on lockout since July 20th. This has put over 400 staff that worked for the Exhibition place at jeopardy. The city would like to contract out jobs that are typically completed by the members of the Local 58, and that have been done since the start of their partnership. There is lack of freedom in this workplace. Having freedom in a workplace gives you the opportunity to decide on what terms and where to work and on what terms.
The city just wants to be landlords. By doing more research I have come across that not only is this dispute hurting the employees but it is also affecting the income of the CNE. There are various issues that have been faced due to the strike. It has been mentioned by the CEO, that the lockout is having a negative impact on the earnings of the Canadian National Exhibition. The Ex. has lost about $1.5 million.
The commodity being offered by IATSE is the venue and all other forms of entertainment seen at the Ex. When IATSE offers these, and delivers what they have contracted, the Ex. makes revenue, so they pay IATSE. But, since IATSE is on lockout they aren’t able to provide the Ex. services; the Ex. brings in no revenue, nor do the Local 58 members get paid. In this instance neither IATSE or the Ex. is winning. On the side of the Local 58 members, they have no desire to contract out work that they can do themselves because then they will have to downsize. IATSE would have to downsize as they would have a surplus of employees, and not enough work for all of them. In the CNE’s point of view, they would ideally contract these jobs out because they would find people to work for less pay. This relationship cannot be even considered a social relation. After 12 hours of negotiations, the two parties did not come to an agreement and the meeting ended when the president of the IATSE walked away from the table. These companies do not care for each other nor do they care for their employees.
In conclusion the parties won't come to an agreement unless one makes a compromise. It is very possible for either company to lose their identity in this power struggle. It is very essential for the CNE to see what the pros of using IATSE are, and for also IATSE to see if it is worth still working in partnership with the CNE. Is there a point in wasting all this money during a lock out, while they could find adequate work elsewhere?
