Labor-Management Committee Service

Types of Labor-Management Committees

Unions and businesses/management organizations have been using labor-management committees (LMCs) since at least the Second World War to resolve disputes and proactively address concerns. They are a time-tested method to resolve differences and improve communication and relationships between the parties in a collective bargaining relationship.

The nature of LMCs varies from relationship to relationship. An LMC can simply be periodic meetings that mirror collective bargaining sessions, for example, where the parties periodically sit on opposite sides of the table and exchange complaints and proposals to be decided upon in later caucuses.  Alternatively, an LMC may be a labor-management cooperative committee (LMCC) that meets regularly, with an agreed upon agenda using group problem-solving tools such as brainstorming consensus decision making, and interest-sharing to reach creative solutions to problems, hopefully before they become formal disputes.

Labor-Management Training and Facilitation Services

Both types of LMCs described above, as well as hybrids of the two, benefit from training and facilitation conducted by a neutral third party. Simple LMCs benefit from a neutral facilitator helping the parties work out logistics, ground rules, and simple procedures prior to formation and periodically when they run into obstacles.

Labor-Management Cooperative Committees  require training and expert facilitation, at least for a time, because they involve the use of skills and techniques that most union and management leaders are unfamiliar with and require the suspension of adversarial behaviors that are typical in the labor-management relationship. The goal of an LMCC is twofold: first, to proactively and creatively solve problems before they become disputes and second to, over time, improve the existing relationship between labor and management. LMCCs, if done effectively, do not involve either side compromising their core duty: to zealously protect the rights and privileges of their constituents (union members and management), but they do create a forum where that core duty can be done in an atmosphere of mutual respect and joint determination to improve both the work and the workplace.

As an original trainer and facilitator of the (unfortunately, now defunct) Ohio Labor-Management Cooperation Program, a statewide network of area labor-management committees and academic centers for labor management cooperation, from 1986-2004 Tom Kruglinski helped hundreds of groups develop successful LMCs and LMCCs by delivering comprehensive training and expert facilitation. Contact Tom for more information on the services Kruglinski ADR can provide to unions and businesses/public sector organizations.