|
Adversary OR Partner |
| Can choose the form of the service it provides to workers. In the traditional model, unions wait until a crisis develops between employees and employer and then reacts by jumping into the fray. Among other disadvantages, this model creates an adversarial relationship between union and employers which decreases the chances of reaching win-win agreements. This decrease in effectiveness in turn creates a deterioration in the relationship between the consumer - the employee - and the provider - the union. In contrast, the emerging model calls on unions to reconceive their roles and to actively participate in the employee-employer relationship before issues reach the crisis stage. This participative role has numerous positive side effects; a working relationship with management, for example, can lead to the union acquiring better information earlier in the organization’s decision making process, which can increase the union’s representative effectiveness. |
|
|
reactor > participant |
|
Cheryl Teare and Greg Nicklas, Guidance for partners from a union perspective, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (June 1995). Barry Bluestone and Irving Bluestone, NEGOTIATING THE FUTURE: A LABOR PERSPECTIVE ON AMERICAN BUSINESS, BasicBooks, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. (1992). Father and son - one of whom has spent a lifetime as a union official - illustrate how our traditional labor-management system tends to weaken American business. The Bluestones propose an "Enterprise compact" in which labor partners with management on strategic business decisions; the first step toward this new relational model "demands a profound change in attitude from both union leadership and corporate executives toward one another - and toward the work force". Addresses the role of government, labor law reform, U.S. Department of labor, labor-management councils, and includes specific recommendations for designing and implementing this new relationship. THE GRAIN MILLERS’ ROLE IN CREATING LABOR/MANAGEMENT PARTNERSHIPS FOR NEW WORK SYSTEMS: A STATEMENT OF POLICY AND GUIDELINES FOR LOCAL UNIONS, American Federation of Grain Millers, AFL-CIO, CLC, 4949 Olson Memorial Highway, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55422. (612) 545-0211. Informational booklet "...intended to make local union leaders as knowledgeable, if not more so, as their managers about business strategies that companies can use to meet current and future competition. In particular, it describes the concept of labor/management partnerships to create a ‘new work system’ (NWS) as the one strategy that combines appreciation for the abilities and experience of workers, respect for the importance of the union and a high probability of success." Good resource bibliography. |