The Transit Strike In Ottawa ON – A Mediator’s Perspective

The Transit Strike In Ottawa – A Mediator’s Perspective
By Ruth Sirman, Workplace Conflict Expert, CanMediate International

Ottawa is scrambling to find ways to deal with a transit strike this week that has now created stress and disruption for tens of thousands of people – riders, drivers, company employees, municipal government and those on strike too…plus all those who are impacted by the change in routine this is evoking in the city – employers, business owners, kids, schools, entertainment venues, retail stores / malls and pretty much anyone who has a positive response to the pulse and respiration checks that indicate they are alive and vertical.

As a mediator who specializes in helping groups resolve tough intractable issues I have watched the evolution of this conflict for the past several weeks and it has followed very predictable pattern – little consolation for those who are struggling to deal with the collateral damage from the loss of transit service and those who are actively involved in the conflict. As it progresses and tempers flare it has the potential to get nasty. But how do we as human beings get ourselves into the weeds like this when we have a conflict?

Who’s right? And Who’s to Blame?
Like every other conflict that has erupted between humans throughout history, each group in this one has their story about what is going on, what led to the strike and how it should be resolved - based on their perspective of the situation. And as human beings we are very talented story tellers (even if we have never authored a book!) and inevitably we draft our story with the focus on how others have wronged us.

There is rarely any accountability for the role we might have played in the situation included in our stories – and we rarely paint ourselves as ‘the bad guy’. No, instead when we feel that something is unfair or that we have been mistreated, we have a powerful tendency to paint ourselves as the righteously screwed victim who was only doing the best that we could to deal with the rotten situation that someone else created and which THEY should fix – because after all it is THEIR fault and they are totally unreasonable and wrong.

And the more often we repeat our story, either to ourselves or to others, the more firmly it becomes entrenched as ‘the one and only true story’ – at least in our own minds. And typically as it gets told and retold (even to ourselves) the more it grows and gets embellished as we add more detail and more history to the growing tale. Interestingly enough, everyone in a conflict will be busy drafting and continually refining their story, looking for additional ammunition to justify the position they have taken.

And if we are really honest with ourselves about what we want out of the situation it would be that the other side would listen to our story, understand our hurt, frustration and anger, agree with us, tell us that we’re right and apologize for the horrible wrongs that they have perpetrated upon us…and promise never to do it again…

And what does the other group want? You guessed it – exactly the same thing - which leads us to a total impasse as everyone strives to protect themselves from being the first one to give in, the one to lose face in front of others and the side that is labeled as ‘the loser’. So we dig in and proclaim our story even louder and longer… and so do they.

Think of it as each group standing on a bar stool – hanging on tightly to their position while they shout their story to the world - a classic loggerhead ‘in your face’ conflict that just gets more intense the longer it is permitted to continue. The down side to our incredible bar stool stories we have created is that they leave us with little room to move and maneuver and they can quickly become a trap from which there is no easy way out without risking the devastation of seeing ourselves as having “lost” the fight. This makes it tough to resolve the problem because as long as I am firmly convinced that my story is the one and only RIGHT story – why would I waste my time listening to you? And as long as you are convinced that you own the one and only RIGHT story – why would you waste your time listening to me? And if this goes on long enough, we can actually start to believe our own fiction and buy our own invented reality.

And so who wins? No one. And who loses? Everyone – including those who have no direct connection to the issues at all. There is an old African proverb that says “When 2 elephants fight – it’s the grass that suffers the most!” – which certainly is the case in this situation.

So how do we help people get down off their bar stools?

Well it can be very tempting to invoke a power play that pushes people down or topples the bar stools – injunctions / back to work legislation / threats and coercion have been used many times to force people to give up the fight. But typically what happens here is that the minute they have the chance both sides will scramble back on to the bar stool and hang on tighter than ever.

Or we can wait it out until one group or another loses the will to fight. Have you ever watched Dr. Seus’ video “The Zaks” where they refused to budge for so long that the new highway had to be built around them?

Or we can dangle carrots at one or both parties to entice them to get down on their own – but carrots bread skepticism about the agenda of those dangling the carrots… and often lead to stoic resistance on the part of the targets.

Or we can work to get people ready to take at least the first baby steps towards climbing down on their own. This is by far the hardest solution – but also the one with the most potential to actually resolve the issue and bring closure that allows people to move on. It needs someone who has a reasonable level of credibility with all the parties, who can get their attention and help them to start to look at the situation more objectively. What is their story based on – facts or assumptions elevated to the level of fact but without any objective verification? Is there information that they don’t have that the other party might know? Are there questions they need answers to? Who can give them those answers? What is the real issue that needs to be resolved? (It is rarely the one that the parties are talking about.. that is likely a symptom of the real issue - but is not the fundamental underlying cause of the problem). What if they choose to stay trapped in their story and not resolve the problem? What if someone else in authority (boss, government, arbitrator) steps in and makes the decision for everyone – what will that look like?

But let’s get real folks! Nobody is going to give up their story if it means that the perception is that they lose and the other side wins… Collective bargaining is traditionally a pushing and shoving process in which both sides attempt to win ‘big’ by making the other side lose as much as possible. And it is traditionally based on compromise – people knowing that they will have to give up some things in order to gain others resulting in both sides offering less than they are willing to give and demanding more than they know they will get in order to create room to negotiate. But compromise does not solve problems when it is used in situations where the stakes are high – it typically creates short-term settlements that are often superficial and unsatisfactory for all concerned but are accepted as ‘the best we could do’.

So the challenge is how can we get all the parties working on the same problem? Because everyone owns some part of the resolution of this and none of us is as smart as all of us! The drivers, dispatchers, mechanics and administrative staff of OC Transpo know the reality of providing transit service in the city better than anyone – they DO it every day! And the city staff and municipal government know the reality of the budgets and commitments it takes to operate a city the size of Ottawa – they work with it every day. So how can we get out of this hole that we’re in?
1. Stop digging the deeper the hole the harder it is to get out of it!
2. Look at the long term implications for both the city and the union. Recognize that strikes hurt everyone and there will be negative impacts on both sides that will increase the longer it goes on. What if all those riders find that their alternative solutions work well and they get used to functioning without the transit system? Will they come back when the strike is over? What impact could that have?
3. Stop demonizing the other side and acknowledge that everyone owns part of the creation of this situation and everyone owns part of solving it
4. Change the mindset (just a LITTLE bit) and get curious – what don’t you know about the other party’s reality?
5. Start listening to each other and learning from each other (this may require some help from an experienced mediator / facilitator)
6. Recognize that there are 3 sides to every story – yours, mine and what really happened… Work to let go of ‘We own the one and only whole truth and we’re totally RIGHT – and recognize that there everyone’s perspective is valid to them – even if you don’t agree from it.
7. Look at it as a joint problem that needs all parties involved to solve it well – focus on “How can we deliver efficient cost-effective transit services while supporting our transit employees to have a good quality of life and a healthy working environment?”
8. Recognize that fighting and striking is the easy way out while committing to finding a resolution that works can be tough and difficult work – but it is the only way that things get fixed. It takes courage and guts to change directions and acknowledge there are other choices… Do the union and city leadership / negotiation teams have the courage? That remains to be seen!

Ruth Sirman is a veteran in the world of workplace mediation specializing in assisting groups to find practical and workable solutions to seemingly intractable conflicts. Her professional practice takes her across North America working with federal, provincial and territorial governments, corporations, NGO’s, churches, communities and the courts. She designed and teaches the acclaimed Power to Resolve Program including modules on Discovering Your Resolution Quotient, I’m OK – It’s Everyone Else Who Needs Help!!, Mastering Difficult Situations and People You Find Challenging, From Discord to Dialogue, Organziational Conflict 911. Her website is www.canmediate.com.