News release announcing the final report of the U.S. Secretary of Labor\u27s Task Force on Excellence in State and Local Government Through Labor-Management Cooperation

U.S. Secretary of Labor\u27s Task Force on Excellence in State and Local Government Through Labor-Management Cooperation

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News release announcing the final report of the U.S. Secretary of Labor's Task Force on Excellence in State and Local Government Through Labor-Management Cooperation.ExcellenceTaskForceNEWSRELEASE.pdf: 733 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

U.S. Secretary of Labor's Task Force on Excellence in State and Local Government Through Labor-Management Cooperation

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Report Finds Labor Management Cooperation Critical To State and Local Government Success

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Cornell University ILR School 
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Federal Publications Key Workplace Documents 
May 1996 
Report Finds Labor Management Cooperation Critical To State 
and Local Government Success 
U.S. Secretary of Labor's Task Force on Excellence in State and Local Government Through 
Labor-Management Cooperation 
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Report Finds Labor Management Cooperation Critical To State and Local 
Government Success 
Abstract 
News release announcing the final report of the U.S. Secretary of Labor's Task Force on Excellence in 
State and Local Government Through Labor-Management Cooperation. 
Keywords 
task force, labor, state, local, government, reich, news 
This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/256 
NEWS RELEASE  
 
U.S. Department of Labor 
Office of Public Affairs 
Washington, D.C. 
CONTACT: Carl A. Fillichio 
202/219-7317 (ext. 118) 
FOR RELEASE: Embargoed  USDL: 95-483 
Tuesday, May 28, 1996 
 
Report Finds Labor Management Cooperation Critical To State 
and Local Government Success  
 
A study of 50 public workplaces found that labor-management cooperation and 
employee participation in the public sector leads to dramatic improvements in 
quality, costs and delivery of service, the U.S. Department of Labor announced 
today.  
The report, entitled 'Working Together for Public Service," details specific service 
improvements and cost savings that result from cooperation and participation, as 
well as methods that can be used to bring workplace cooperation to many 
government services and jurisdictions. 
The report was issued by the Task Force on Excellence in State and Local 
Government Through Labor-Management Cooperation. It was comprised of 14 
elected officials, labor leaders and academics and was appointed by Labor Secretary 
Robert B. Reich and co-chaired by former Governor Jim Florio of New Jersey and 
Mayor Jerry Abramson of Louisville, Kentucky. The task force was unanimous in the 
view that public workplaces must change from traditional ways of doing business and 
move towards workplace cooperation, participation and quality improvement. 
Further, the task force believes that the public sector offers significant opportunity--
far more than is commonly believed--for employee participation and 
labormanagement cooperation. 
"It is evident from these findings that employee involvement and labor-management 
cooperation represent a high-potential strategy for meeting the demands on state 
and local government. I join the task force in challenging elected officials, union 
leaders, public employees and administrators to move towards models of workplace 
parõidpation and cooperation. Some of the most dramatic turnarounds in business 
performance come from labor-management cooperation and employee participation. 
We should apply the same lessons to the public sector," said Reich. 
Mayor Abramson agreed, stating that by "working together, we can cut red tape that 
contributes to the public's low opinion of government today. Citizens are our 
customers, and they deserve the best service we can provide. This report will help 
those of us in the public sector improve our image by improving our performance in 
servicing our customers." 
Noting that many traditional ways of planning and performing public services are 
antiquated and not responsive to the needs of communities, Governor Florio 
commented that, "cumbersome procurement, accounting and civil service rules, 
authoritarian organizational relationships and labor management confrontation are 
often part of the landscape, but surely won't serve our communities well anymore. 
These findings suggest how to break old molds and use some approaches that can 
actually produce better service." 
Also among the report findings: Absenteeism, time loss injuries, and overtime were 
often reduced significantly. Work schedules and procedures were changed to save 
time and money and to provide better service. School performance improved, public 
safety services increased, and vehicle readiness and equipment purchasing were 
improved to save overtime and other costs and improve the quality of service. 
In every case where there was a collective bargaining relationship related to a 
service-focused partnership, the task force found that there were fewer grievances 
and contracts were negotiated more quickly. Usually, contracts were shorter, more 
flexible and focused on service responsibilities. 
"Employees usually know the most about how to get a job done. If you create a way 
for them to be involved, don't rely on top-down approaches, and then combine their 
talents with the priorities of elected officials, you can find resources you did not know 
you had and solve problems that have been in the way for years," Reich said. 
The report includes examples and detailed discussion of ingredients to creating 
cooperative workplace arrangements. The appendix lists contacts so that parties 
interested in pursuing their own improvements can get peer assistance. The report is 
available on three Internet sites: the U.S. Departrnent of Labor web site, the Martin 
P. Catherwood Library at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell 
University, and through the Alliance for Reinventing Government's Public Innovator 
Learning Network. 
 
Some Typical Examples  
• The State of Connecticut and District 1l99/New England Health Care 
Employees (SEIU) set up employee teams to look into safety problems, 
reducing injuries and saving nearly S5 million after implementation in only 
half the department.  
• In Peoria, Illinois, a coalition of unions and management worked on a joint 
committee that stopped the bickering and competition over health coverage, 
developed a plan with better benefits and utilization management, and saved 
$1.2 million--or almost 20 percent-- of expected costs.  
• As part of a quality improvement/labor-management partnership, Madison, 
Wisconsin and AFSCME Local 60 developed a new approach to electrical 
code enforcement that has improved safety and overall compliance and has 
electrical contractors complimenting the department. The senior inspector, 
once known as "Dr. No" is now a well-respected and more satisfied public 
employee. As a result of a training program developed after consultation with 
electrical contractors, inspection activity costs S30,000 a year less.  
• At the Foshay School in South Central Los Angeles, drop-outs have gone 
from 21 percent to 3.5 percent, test scores from the bottom to near the state 
average. Suspensions have gone from 400 cases to 40, all through a labor-
management partnership formed by a new principal and the local head of the 
United Teachers or Los Angeles.  
• The City of Indianapolis, working with AFSCME Local 3131, as part of a 
citywide service improvement effort, made substantial improvements in the 
city's motor vehicle repairs, showing nearly a 25 percent decline in that 
department's budget and a 90 percent decline in grievances. Rather than 
annual wage adjustments, the parries agreed during the current contract to a 
gain-sharing program, where 25 percent of the savings accrued to the 
employees. Although no bargaining unit employee has lost a job, the city 
contracts out some services, under ground rules developed with the input of 
union representatives. Among other things, improvements in cost accounting 
helped labor and management identify barriers to service improvement.  
• In the State of Ohio, probably the most comprehensive effort found at the 
state level, a state-wide effort in cooperation with the Ohio Civil Service 
Employees Association is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually 
and engaging labor and management leadership in learning the best quality 
improvement techniques and applying them to state government.  
• In Phoenix, Arizona, the management team and representatives of Fire 
Fighters Local 493 gather each year in a planning retreat to identify service 
and workplace issues needing attention. Arbitration has not been used there 
for 10 years.  
• The Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation and SEIU Local 47 have, among 
other innovations through a joint problem-solving committee, increased 
vehicle readiness from 75 percent to 94 percent, obtaining a large increase in 
productivity. The overall labor-management relationship has shifted to a far 
more positive tone and the next three years looks for a 25 percent budget 
reduction with no layoffs in the department.  
• In Portland, Maine, the city and AFSCME Local 481 worked together 
through a cold winter to use new approaches and skills to build a community 
minor league ballpark, millions of dollars below the projected contract cost. 
Grievances were resolved by a "a walk to center field." The pride and lessons 
from this high-pressure project has resulted in a complete revamping of the 
labor-management relationship and a reorientation of almost all public works 
services into self-managed teams. City workers more often than not beat the 
estimated private-sector cost of most small construction and repair projects.  
 
Some Additional Interesting Findings  
• In conjunction with a participative program and a labor-management 
partnership, a "no-layoff," or, at least, a significant employment safety net 
and retraining program, contributed greatly to creativity in finding cost 
savings and service improvements.  
• Simple forms of training were found to greatly contribute to the improvement 
of a labor-management relationship by teaching the parties alternatives to 
traditional bargaining. Investments in training, normally the first budget item 
cut in hard times, turned out to be important also in teaching workers and 
managers skills in analyzing and changing service delivery systems and 
solving other kinds of workplace issues.  
• Often, a service-oriented relationship began after a successful attempt to 
reduce grievances or conflicts over contract terms, or after working together 
to resolve a specific service problem. The improved trust and better problem-
solving skills then were applied to larger service issues.  
• Most successful service partnerships started small, on one issue, or in one 
department or division, and then spread.  
• In a brief examination of contracting out, the task force found that 
cooperative models of workplace cooperation generally got as good or better 
results than a policy of imposed contracting out, and offered other long term 
benefits. Contracting out as part of a cooperative relationship was often a 
useful tool, but not the primary answer to cost and quality of services.  
• Supervisory and managerial levels were often reduced as a result of 
participative examination of services for improvements and efficiencies, and 
there was a far greater use of teams and labor-management committees.  
• Jurisdictions involved in workplace partnerships where there was a collective 
bargaining relationship used the features and mechanisms of a collective 
bargaining relationship to the advantage of service improvement.  
• Changes and improvements in budgeting, cost accounting, procurement 
practices and in civil service systems often accompanied successful 
cooperative partnerships and greatly aided efforts to improve services. 
Employee involvement contributed centrally to identifying the most important 
changes and to developing alternatives.  
• Support and encouragement from national labor, management, neutral and 
research organizations have and can help spread the use of effective 
workplace participation and labor-management cooperation aimed at 
improved service delivery.  
• Successful cooperative relationships emerged not only from visionary 
leadership, but often from bitter or difficult relationships or came up around 
problems that had previously seemed insurmountable. 
 


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Report Finds Labor Management Cooperation Critical To State and Local Government Success

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