Labor Management Relationship Building

1. Labor ManagementRelationship Building

2. Overview • Rights Based Approach • Cooperative Approach • Roles of Labor and Management • Goals and Interests of Labor and Management • An Effective Labor-Management Relationship

3. Primary Approaches to Labor Relations • Rights Based (Compliance) and • Cooperative (Collaboration)

4. Labor Law and Labor Relations • Labor law creates rights and obligations to be enforced and obeyed • Labor relations concerns how people deal with people in an organized union environment

5. What is a Rights Based Approach? • Enforcing statutory and contractual rights • Doing what statute and contract require ‑nothing more and nothing less • One side wins and one side loses

6. Some Advantages of Rights Based Approach • Approach is known to the parties • Clearly defined winners and losers • No need to trust the other party • May be quicker (or not)

7. Some Disadvantages of a Rights Based Approach • Litigation can be costly • Adversarial relations can lead to continued escalation of warfare between parties • To be successful party must have high degree of skill at advocating its position • Compliance does not improve relationship of parties

8. Enforcing Statutory and Contractual Obligations • Negotiability Appeals • Unfair Labor Practice Process • Binding Arbitration • Binding Impasse Resolution Process

9. What is a Cooperative Approach? • Relationship based on problem solving approach • Union participates pre‑decisionally in management decisions ‑management ultimate decision maker • Both parties seek solutions where they both are winners

10. Some Advantages of Cooperation • Uses interest based problem solving • attack the problem and not the people • Cooperative decision-making • improves the quality of the solution • reduces problems arising during implementation • Cooperation increases trust between the parties • leads to better communication • leads to better understanding of each side’s concerns and better resolution of disputes

11. Some Disadvantages of Cooperation • May be perceived negatively by respective constituencies of labor and management • Can take longer and cost more to come to decision (or may only seem longer) • Requires new skills which are different than those required in compliance environment

12. Key Question…. • To what extent is there a commitment to this approach from both labor and management, or… • Is cooperation simply doing compliance in an atmosphere where both sides speak to each other more politely or more often?

13. Roles of Union and Management • Management - manages • Union – represents employees

14. Management’s Goal • Accomplish the mission of the agency. • Manage its physical, financial and human resources effectively • Comply with legal, regulatory & policy mandates

15. Union’s Goal • Accomplish the mission of the agency • Represent the interests of the bargaining unit employees • Help them obtain safe and effective working conditions.

16. Elements of Effective Relationships • Top Management & Union commitment • Commitment requires understanding • Communication & trust • Belief that cooperation will lead to a more effective organization

17. Characteristics of Success • Open & candid sharing of information • Problems identified & solved jointly to better serve the agency’s mission • An environment that respects & values all employees • Agreement reached through consensus

18. Characteristics of Success • Cooperation even though some may disagree on specific issues • Patience for & commitment to a cooperative LMR for the long haul • Shared responsibility & accountability for results • Employee involvement in problem-solving

19. Summary • Rights Based Approach • Cooperative Approach • Roles of Labor and Management • Goals and Interests of Labor and Management • An Effective Labor-Management Relationship

20. Questions?