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Labor/Management Relations

It doesn't matter if you've just lost a campaign and negotiated your first contract or if your facility has always been organized, fact of the matter is you have a 3rd party representing your employees. And… the degree to which they manage your interaction and influence with your employees is in large part a matter of choice. Remember, 3rd party influence can be minimized while working within the confines of the contract.

If this is your first time in a union environment, it will be beneficial for you to review pertinent labor laws and obtain background information on how and why unions are formed, if you haven't already learned that painful lesson. You will also need to review and familiarize yourself with the local contract and any past practices/procedures that exist in your facility. As a company and as managers in that company, you must establish yourself as the credible source of information and direction if you are to build company loyalty and support that will not weaken in the face of opposition. If you don't fulfill this vital role, you can be assured that the union steward or another employee will. Question is, are you armed with the knowledge, programs, and process to accomplish the task at hand?

Even though you must deal with a 3rd party, never forget that your employees have the right to choose not to be represented by a union through a process called "decertification" which can and does quite frequently occur. Many employees belong to the union without really understanding the union's purpose or the way it operates. How and what they do while represented by a labor union will be a direct result of the first line manager's ability to establish and maintain a positive relationship with those they are responsible for managing.

• Do your supervisors and managers know who the key contact is for the union?
• Do they know that it is not necessary to confer with a union steward each time they want to talk to an employee?
• Do they know when it is absolutely necessary to have a union steward present when they talk to an employee?
• Do they understand appropriate interpretation and application of contract language and impact of past practices?
• Are they comfortable with handling and responding to grievances?

If the answer is anything other than a definitive "YES" then you can bet that it will be the union steward or other employees influencing and managing the attitudes of your employees. Unless you "fix" the issue there will be significant counter productive and unnecessary time consumed that will take you and your management team's focus from the day to day business operation.