Brian B. McArthur, M.A. /LL.M

Brian McArthur is a professional negotiator, contract administrator, educator and advocate with over 25 years experience in labour relations and has worked on both sides of the aisle.

As the Former Director of Collective Bargaining for one of Canada’s largest private sector unions, Brian has vast experience to draw on.  He has bargained more than 300 collective agreements and resolved countless labour disputes during his career. He has vast knowledge on how trade unions and companies operate and how workers respond to change. His experience within the labour movement has given him a unique understanding of how unions and management use leverage and what techniques each employs to further their goals and objectives.  He is an expert in developing strategies and leverage opportunities. Known as a fair but firm negotiator, Brian has always attempted to resolve labour relations issues using tact, diplomacy and good will. Brian is respected as a professional negotiator by management, labour and government.

Brian has experience negotiating in the private, government, academia, and not-for-profit sectors. He has a solid record of achieving bargaining mandates whilst, at the same time, improving the labour relations climate within organizations utilizing the Negotiation Institute’s approach of Everybody Wins®. Brian has used his bargaining and negotiating experience throughout North America and has significant knowledge of Canadian, American and British employment systems. He has spoken on a variety of labour relations issues throughout Canada as well as in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Japan, Mexico and Argentina.

His experience at the bargaining table includes negotiating with some of the largest multi-national corporations in the world including InBev (Labatts), Molson-Coors, Loblaw, Cargill, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Maple Leaf Foods, Tri-Mac, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P), The Hudson Bay Company, Compass Group, Four Seasons Hotels, Holiday Inn Hotels, Best Western Hotels, Kraft Foods, H.J. Heinz, Aramark Canada, Cara Operations, Metro Richelieu, Diageo Canada (Seagrams) and Wal-Mart.

Brian has a Master’s degree in Law and Employment Relations from a leading British University. He also has professional training in negotiations from Harvard Law School. Brian has taught collective bargaining and employment law at the university level and has been recognized as a leader in the field of industrial relations by the Conference Board of Canada.

Brian has working experience with Global Union Federations such as Union Network International (UNI) and has collaborated with such organizations as The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC); The American Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO); the British Trade Unions Congress (TUC); the National Union of Public and General Employees; the Canadian Police Association; the Canadian Teachers Federation and the Japan Institute of Labour.

Brian is a member of Canadian Industrial Relations Association. In 2007, Brian was named a member of the Governor General’s Leadership Conference and has been recognized by the Conference Board of Canada as a leading expert on Canadian industrial relations.

He has lectured at such place as:

The following is a partial list of his published works:

Brian is President of EDGE Labour Solutions Inc. a private consulting firm specializing in representing companies in labour relations matters.