Cooperative Provisions in Collective Bargaining Agreements

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Cooperative Provisions in Collective Bargaining Agreements Collective Bargaining Agreements Cooperative provisions in labor agreements: a new paradigm? In the midst of mixed results, a clear trend can be seen in which firms are progressing toward a new collective bargaining paradigm; fourteen percent of workers in the sample examined in this study are covered by some sort of partnering agreement George R. Gray, ince the mid-1980s, there has been a agement? What progress has been made towards Donald W. Myers, growing recognition of the need for a this new approach to collective bargaining? This and Snew collective bargaining paradigm em- article presents the results of a comprehensive Phyllis S. Myers bracing an equal partnership between labor and analysis of union-management collective bar- management in the private sector. A consensus gaining agreements covering 1,000 or more em- has arisen among representatives from major ployees. Its aim is to determine the level of coop- employers, unions, and others in the field of la- eration that exists today between labor and bor relations which holds that unions must have management in large unionized U.S. firms. The a role in firms’ strategic decisions if they are to article develops a cooperative continuum to dis- help those firms increase their productivity and tinguish various levels of cooperation between the compete in the global marketplace. The new two parties. At the heart of the contemporary la- paradigm involves union participation in deci- bor relationship model is the empowerment of sions regarding the direction of the business, workers: giving them a say in how business is con- including access to any financial and business ducted. The analysis that is presented investigates records that have a role in such decisions. The the areas in which workers have been given result is a commitment to a unified vision of decisionmaking authority and measures the extent the organization and its continued growth and to which true partnering and mutual respect exists development. With this arrangement, unions between labor and management. and management would share responsibility for the success of the organization. The workplace George R. Gray, of the future is seen to be a haven of coopera- Evolution of the new labor relation Donald W. Myers, and tion, openness, and trust, with unions and man- The traditional relationship between labor and Phyllis S. Myers are professors at the agement working toward a common goal of management has been an adversarial one of mana- School of Business, improved economic performance. gerial authority and employee acquiescence. Such Virginia Common- Can the workplace of the future really attain an environment breeds hostility and distrust be- wealth University, Richmond, Virginia. such a full partnership between labor and man- tween labor and management and has proven to Monthly Labor Review January 1999 29 Collective Bargaining Agreements be a hindrance to organizational success in the face of national ties in transforming industrial relations, and public policy and international market competition. principles. Beginning in the late 1970s, the business environment was Federal agencies also became involved in the effort to characterized by economic doldrums, intense global compe- transform the private-sector labor-management environment. tition, rapid technological advances, downsizing, mergers, and This effort included national conferences and commissions acquisitions. This environment was a wake-up call to busi- convened to find ways of achieving cooperation between la- ness, labor, and Government that a new strategy was neces- bor and management. In March 1993, the Clinton Adminis- sary for survival. Businesses of all types, whether or not they tration created the Commission on the Future of Worker-Man- had a unionized workforce, were recognizing the need to in- agement Relations, chaired by former Secretary of Labor John volve and empower employees. Dunlop and under the supervision of then Secretary of Labor Changing from a decades-long adversarial relationship to Robert Reich. In addition, that same year, Reich and former one of cooperation and mutual trust would not occur over- Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown cosponsored a Con- night. In fact, with few exceptions, initial efforts at employee ference on the Future of the American Workplace. The con- involvement were actually resisted by unions. Even some in- ference emphasized high-performance workplaces and the novative labor-relations programs, such as the one existing at necessity for union-management cooperation in achieving Saturn, experienced a union backlash.1 In other settings as such workplaces. The conference had more than 600 partici- well, management’s efforts to obtain union involvement were pants, from Government, management, and labor. Panels dis- met with skepticism. Often, the lack of trust that existed be- cussed ways to achieve world-class performance, how unions tween the two parties led union leaders to feel that employee and management could continue to move toward “win-win” involvement measures were employers’ efforts to keep unions collective bargaining scenarios devoid of debilitating conflict, out of the workplace. and how Government could proactively support such activi- Eventually, individuals from various sectors of the labor ties. The participants were provided with case studies of relations field began to espouse the benefits of a cooperative model employer-union relationships, such as U.S. West and relationship between labor and management. One of the ear- the Communication Workers of America and L-S Electro- liest such initiatives in the United States was the creation of Galvanizing Company and the United Steelworkers of the Collective Bargaining Forum in 1984. This medium was America. The case studies provided examples of how em- established exclusively to discuss ways in which labor and ployers and unions could consciously change their collective management could work together, through the collective bar- bargaining relationships to accommodate high-performance gaining process, to improve performance so that the organi- environments and a substantial degree of employee involve- zation could be a “more effective competitor.”2 In 1988, the ment in workplace decisions and responsibility. forum adopted a set of guiding principles that recognized the need for unions to be involved in the strategic decisions of the any contemporary researchers have advocated a new organization if they were expected to be partners with man- Mcollective bargaining paradigm and a positive work agement in improving performance and meeting technologi- environment.4 The Dunlop Commission and the Collective cal and market changes. These principles call for manage- Bargaining Forum, among whose members are top corporate ment to accept the legitimacy of unions, provide greater roles leaders, union representatives from the AFL-CIO hierarchy, and for worker and union participation, and accept workers’ con- outstanding labor relations specialists from the academic com- cerns regarding security and continuity of employment as munity, have presented strong arguments for more worker in- “major policy objectives” in the business-planning process. volvement in the decisionmaking process. Representatives The principles also call for unions to accept responsibility for from all these constituencies have provided recommendations cooperating with management in seeking the firm’s economic and guidelines for a successful work environment that will improvement. In addition, the forum recommended public include open communication, trust between labor and man- policies that do not inhibit representation by unions and that agement, shared decisionmaking and responsibility, and mini- encourage labor-management relations “based on mutual re- mal friction in the collective bargaining relationship. The spect and trust.”3 “workplace of the future” will be a strategic partnership be- In 1991, as a means of providing guidelines by which the tween labor and management. principles could be put into action, the forum published its There has been some empirical evidence of cooperation in Compact for Change. The Compact suggests action in the the workplace. Michael H. Cimini and Susan L. Behrmann areas of joint commitment to the economic success of the en- examined agreements negotiated in 1993 and found an emerg- terprise, joint commitment to the institutional integrity of ing trend of cooperation between unions and management.5 the union, employment security and continuity, worker par- The 1995 Commission on the Future of Worker-Management ticipation and empowerment, conflict resolution, responsibili- Relations reported on several employer surveys conducted to 30 Monthly Labor Review January 1999 determine the extent of employee participation and labor- a full partnership between the two parties in which each has management cooperation.6 The topics studied in these sur- equal decisionmaking authority on strategic issues. Exhibit 1 veys included the team concept, job rotation, quality circles, shows the cooperation continuum, with these two extremes, committees (on job safety, health, productivity, and quality), along with the four other types of cooperative provision that information sharing, and participation in formulating sugges- constitute various stages between them. tions. A 1991 survey of 691 firms with 50 or more employees The first stage of cooperation is the promulgation of a state- found that 64 percent of the firms had one or more of these ment in which the
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