While one premise of the Code is the desire for stability, the more fundamental principle of collective bargaining is voluntarism. The parties are given the opportunity and the obligation to bargain over working conditions so that they will own and take responsibility for the terms of their collective agreements. They are more likely to accept terms and conditions of employment that have been crafted together than terms that have been imposed upon them by an external force. The existence of a collective agreement need not stop parties from being able to adapt to changing conditions. Indeed, sophisticated collective agreements contain mechanisms to deal with such changing conditions as they arise.
Recent history shows how well parties have been able to respond to difficult challenges.
Canadian Airlines and its unions provide one example of parties who were able to deal with the need to make adjustments during the terms of their collective agreements because of the pressures created by deregulation and competition. Had they failed to respond or been unwilling to enter into good faith negotiations together, it is likely that they would no longer be in operation. The federal sector also has many collective agreements that have incorporated process clauses to deal with material changes and to effect contract adjustments during the term of the agreements. The technological change provisions in the Code have only come before the Board in a handful of cases since its enactment. Parties in the federal sector apparently recognize that it is preferable to deal with such changes through processes they design themselves.