IN THE NEWS
Sept 16, 2005

At auto talks, women grabbed the front seat

For first time in Canadian Big Three bargaining that females led talks

TONY VAN ALPHEN
BUSINESS REPORTER

When union leader Buzz Hargrove sauntered out of a tough bargaining session at Ford the other day, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Put two women in charge and they'll get it done," one of his top negotiators, Peggy Nash, said to chief Ford negotiator Stacey Allerton Firth as they walked down a Sheraton Centre hallway.

The women chuckled, and Hargrove, head of the Canadian Auto Workers, smiled. "Yes, they're right," he said later.

The two women had just found a way around a nagging money issue at the negotiating table to put another piece of the puzzle in place for a new contract.

They had also broken new ground in high-octane auto negotiations, a male bastion replete with decades of screaming, fist pounding and even the occasional scrap punctuated by a knuckle sandwich.

For the first time in Canada, two women were in the front seat of Big Three auto bargaining. They played a significant role in negotiating the tentative contract at Ford that set a pattern for the other auto giants, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler.

Both have participated in major auto bargaining before, but never with this much influence and so much at stake.

The atmosphere in this year's bargaining was noticeably different than a generation ago, according to officials familiar with talks.

On one side of the table was Nash, a former passenger agent at Air Canada who quickly took an interest in unions and women's rights, eventually rising to the CAW's inner circle. On the other side was Allerton Firth, a Ford labour relations veteran who became the first woman vice-president of human resources at Ford of Canada in 2003. The appointment meant she would automatically become the company's lead negotiator in contract talks this year.

And there they were — two married women juggling family life sitting across from each other at a bargaining table in a downtown hotel dealing with issues affecting millions of dollars and thousands of workers.

"I didn't really see gender as an issue," Nash said. "It's a different era. People now just want to see if you can do the job. That's the bottom line."

Allerton Firth added in a separate interview she also didn't give gender much thought in negotiations because both sides had to focus on resolving major issues including how to deal with pending job losses. Ford is losing money and needed to cut production because of sliding sales.

Insiders said one or two local bargaining committees still experienced heated arguments, but a lot of the macho nature of past bargaining on both sides had disappeared.

Hargrove, who has bargained contracts for more than 30 years, said he remembers occasions when chauvinism ran rampant. Some previous negotiators felt women had no place at the bargaining table or an auto plant, he said.

Although Hargrove didn't recall any CAW and Big Three negotiators resorting to fisticuffs, he remembers members of union committees trying to settle disputes physically among themselves after knock-down, drag-'em-out debates.

Nash said there are still some situations where people stereotype women as not tough or confrontational enough for contract bargaining.

"It's a Victorian notion of women as delicate flowers," added Nash, who has fought for more programs for women in the workplace.

She remembers a time when negotiators would ask her, "`What's a woman doing in a job like this?... Don't your kids miss you?... How does your husband feel about you being away so much?'"

It left her with the impression they felt she was abandoning her responsibilities as a mother.

Nash said bargaining was more of "a boys club" a generation ago.

"I don't mean to be disrespectful but it was different time and the bargaining style was different."

Nash said although there is still some occasional yelling as nerves become frayed and frustration sets in during all-night bargaining sessions, "the decibel level has gone down."

Allerton Frith added her approach in bargaining was sharing a lot of information and "active listening."

"If you're yelling at someone, they're not listening but thinking about defending themselves," she said.

"We were facing serious issues and had to concentrate on finding solutions."

Allerton Firth noted that as a working mother, organization is essential because she is usually "juggling several balls in the air" and that skill helps in bargaining.

Allerton Firth and Nash stressed their senior positions show young women choosing a career can break through barriers to holding non-traditional jobs.

The two negotiators received high praise for their work from colleagues because of strong communication skills, respect and trust between each other.

Hargrove said the women played a strong role in resolving impasses in local negotiations affecting Ford parts plants in Windsor that could have held up a settlement.

The deal must still be ratified by union members in a vote this weekend.

Whitey MacDonald, chairman of the union's master bargaining committee at Ford, said Allerton Firth listened intently, had a good understanding of the issues and made decisions quickly. "She put her best foot forward for the people affected by Ford's restructuring. Quite frankly, I had a better relationship with her than other people in that position in the past."

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