Canadian Lawyer InHouse

than a collective orientation," says Wheeler. "How do you make it meaningful where the primary unit is myself? We are not in the 1950s industrial age… unions are realizing they have to make an intellectual and cultural leap into the new world." While he's passionate about the evolution of unions (he recently helped organize a conference on this topic at Ryerson University in Toronto), what takes up much of his time at COPE is handling grievances — preparing them, arguing them, and settling them. (He also gives advice to the locals on various matters, such as contract interpretation, as well as general strategic advice.) He advises on whether a case has merit, and whether to move forward or settle. There are typically two kinds of grievances: a policy grievance (such as the meaning of a "holiday," which is more of a technical dispute), as well as an individual grievance (such as when someone has been disciplined or terminated). "We have many people to please — the griever and the other 200 people in the bargaining unit who might not be on the griever's side," says Wheeler. A policy grievance is "a more lawyerly type of endeavor," he says, where lawyers argue their points before an arbitrator. With individual grievances, however, there's much more emotion involved, especially if someone has lost their job. "Their self-worth is at issue," he says, "so one has to manage the case as well as manage the griever in terms of their anxiety." That adds to the challenge of his job. "My client is the local and not the griever; the individual member often assumes it's like hiring their own real estate or criminal lawyer, but I do not take my instructions from the griever, I take them from the local," says Wheeler. "So one has to, from the get-go, set out what the relationships are. It's often difficult for the griever to understand that." The arbitration process, too, is often slow and time-consuming. "The system takes a long while to deal with them," says Wheeler. "A matter might go on for months." Indeed, there are 26 locals in Ontario; Wheeler is the only in-house lawyer. He might have 20 to 30 cases to deal with at any given time, all at various stages. During the course of a month, he might have anywhere from five to 10 days of hearings. Aside from grievances he's also involved with member engagement. In the past, unions talked about organizing the organized. Nowadays, many people get a job with an organization that's already unionized. "They barely know they have a union or what's in the agreement," says Wheeler. "The emphasis now is as much on engaging members we already have (as) getting new members." Wheeler, who is of Mi'kmaq aboriginal heritage, also represents COPE Ontario on the Aboriginal Circle of the Ontario Federation of Labour. Though it's hard to imagine Wheeler has any spare time, he's also a part-time graduate fellow in aboriginal law at the University of Toronto, currently working on his thesis. "It's more of a personal thing than a career thing," he says. Perhaps it's a labour of love — or maybe it has to do with his love of labour law, advocacy, and learning. But either way, it's been a recipe for career success. IH Employment and Labour Lawyers Experience Counts. Referrals respected and appreciated. Shields O'Donnell MacKillop LLP 416.304.6400 65 Queen Street W, Suite 1800, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5H 2M5 Shields_IH_Apr_11.indd 1 canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse3/1/11 10:04:562014 45 February AM

• Cover