Monthly Archives: September 2010

The 7 Principles of Labor Relations Work

Leave a reply
I have never worked with a union business agent whom I did not sincerely like as a person.  That is not some mushy, HR crap, it is a fact.  That does not mean that we have agreed on everything – or at times on anything at all – but, my experience suggests that  effective labor-management relationships are possible.  And, for HR it is imperative.

1. Unions are businesses. The perception that some business people have of unions is that they are a rabid group of sickle-carrying socialists whose life purpose is to run businesses into the ground. I will withhold political commentary and suggest that no matter what the sociopolitical drivers are for organized labor, they are themselves businesses. They have to look at increasing revenues to offset increasing expenses; they have employees; they have strategic plans; they have corporate mother-ships to whom they are accountable; they have government-mandated reporting requirements (which provides lots of public information for employers, such as Form LM-2); and, they have to provide value to their dues-paying membership. When you plan your strategies for union avoidance or negotiations, assume that unions think like businesses, because they must.  (Have you ever wondered how unions negotiate contracts with their own employees?  Perhaps a topic for another post).

2. Employees have the right to be represented, so get over it. I’m amazed at how quickly conversation can turn from how businesses are organized by labor unions, to how those businesses can get them decertified. Here are the facts: employees have the right under the law to be represented for purposes of collective bargaining, and they have the right to not be represented for purposes of collective bargaining. Stop wasting time, energy and “planning” around something that is entirely outside of your control!  See #4, and respect your employees’ rights.

3. Labor relations is one part show, and two parts substance. Many years ago I got a call from a union business agent prior to a scheduled meeting. We discussed the facts about an issue we were going to debate (um, I mean discuss), and he ultimately agreed that there wasn’t much merit to it. But, he also told me that it was a highly emotional issue for his membership. What he asked me for was my willingness to go into the meeting with his bargaining team, allow him to yell for awhile, beat his chest, and call me names until spit flew from his mouth. After a remarkable performance, the issue died. For those of you without labor relations experience, welcome to the show.

4. Labor relations work is about building “labor relationships.” The typical starting point to these relationships is that business managers (and their representatives) are assumed to be dirty, rotten, lying, cheating, stealing, SOBs – and that’s before they ever personally meet you. It takes real work, professional integrity, and at times thick skin to develop the relationship necessary to actually get work accomplished. Effective labor relationships are those through which HR is able to work effectively to address the substance of collective bargaining issues, without getting sucked into the show. It shouldn’t be your goal to be make the union’s holiday card list, but rather to be able to negotiate agreements and resolutions without the need for outside arbitrators.  That’s what your employer is paying you to do.

5. Nothing is personal unless you allow it to be. Labor relations itself is founded on the belief that labor and management have different interests – it is highly adversarial by design. Think of it this way – if union members believed that employers had their best interests in mind, union representation would be unnecessary (HINT: this might be a good union avoidance principle – just saying). Therefore, you as a representative of management will always be characterized as not having your employees’ best interests in mind, regardless of your own behaviors and actions. It’s nothing personal, it’s just the way that organized labor must operate to add value to its dues-paying membership.
6. HR is not going to build bridges between unions and management. When things go well, you will effectively resolve collective bargaining issues between unions and your employer. At other times, you will be the punching bag. At no time will you be able to fully align the interests of labor and management – it is fundamentally contrary to the protectionist role that gives unions a value (either real or perceived) for which members are willing to pay hefty dues.

7. Labor relations work is not going away. Union membership continues to decline in this country. In 2009, only 12.3% of all workers were represented by unions, and only 7.2% of workers in the private sector (Washington Times). But, if you believe that the long term decline of union representation is a sign of the demise of organized labor, you’re not paying attention to what has been happening in Washington.

I’m interested in reading what other HR-Labor pros have to say about labor relations work.

Time for HR Leaders to Put It In Gear

2 Replies

“If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.” – Malcolm X

Ian Britton http://www.freefoto.com/

I recently engaged in an asynchronous online discussion. The conversation was generated by a question about personal and professional interactions of HR professionals, but the underlying theme of many postings seemed to be this: HR must maintain neutral presence in their organizations. This is not the only venue in which I’ve heard this.

The bottom line is that I don’t buy the concept of HR being a neutral party within an organization. Here’s the simile that I can’t resist: When I put the transmission of my car into neutral and press on the accelerator, what happens? The obvious answer: I rev my engine really high, but actually get nowhere.

First, let’s define neutral. According to thefreedictionary.com, neutral is an adjective that means, “not aligned with, supporting, or favoring either side in a war, dispute, or contest.” Look, I get the need for HR to practice objective inquiry, and the need to mediate conflict that occurs between people on a daily basis. But in its most literal sense, being neutral also means that we are not willing to form an opinion, take a stance, or advocate for that which we believe is right for our employees, for our organizations, and for our communities. Being neutral means it would be inappropriate to align with social justice, fairness and equity. Being neutral implies that we cannot favor either side on ethical and moral issues.

HR’s role is not to live a neutral existence in our organizations. Our role and responsibility is to be active and engaged advocates and leaders. We advocate for the people who are our organizations. We advocate for social justice, fairness, equity and ethical business practices. We must advocate for the success of our businesses, and support the difference that our businesses can make in our communities, our countries and the world.

We can continue to push on the HR accelerator as long and as hard as we like. But, if we don’t take the transmission out of neutral, we are not going to move.

The Confession of A SM Convert

4 Replies

 

Allow me confess my sins to the social media tolerant (okay, maybe just one sin). You see, I have only recently crawled out from under my rock. It started with an accidental introduction to Facebook.  Picture this:

Telephone rings on a HR desk that doesn’t exactly match any other furniture in the office

Me:  HR, this is Bill. How can I help you?

Undisclosed Manager: (With no greeting, but much excitement) I just had a staff member report that some of my employees are making disparaging remarks out on that damned Facepage…or Facebook, or whatever it is.

Me:  Did the complainant give you any particulars about who was involved, what they said, or where we might find this libelous information?

Undisclosed Manager:  No! It just needs to be investigated.

Well, it turns out that someone posted a snide comment about someone else on a third employee’s FB wall because she mistakenly thought that the second employee made a pass at the third employee’s boyfriend and thought the third employee ought to know about it. Before I could even begin to unravel this mystery (which ultimately took 1 phone call and less than 4 minutes to confirm), I had signed up for Facebook. To my surprise, when I signed up for an account, my long-lost high school friends had a great avenue for tracking me down (and vice versa).

Several months later, I received an email invitation from a HR colleague to connect on LinkedIn. Because the Facebook experience had turned out to be great on a personal level, I set up the account, filled in some of the basic information, and made a few additional connections. However, I didn’t spend much time on it.

Then one day not so very long ago, I managed to step ever so gracefully into the middle of a political dung pile in my professional life (see Changing Compensation).  The first moral of this story is that there is little that motivates one to pay attention to what is happening around him like the thought of having to find a new job during the worst economic recession in a generation. Guess what? That old world of submitting a polished executive resume (not that I actually had one) and expecting to rise to the top of a very deep talent pool of job seekers was long gone. Leave it to a HR guy to be the last to figure that one out. The answer via some trusted HR colleagues: GET WITH THE 21ST CENTURY DUMMY! Even dense people like me can take a hint.

What began as an eleventh-hour response to a potential personal/professional crisis has quickly morphed into a fascination with SM – I am converted. So what? Well, it goes to show that even the most skeptical people will change their minds and hearts about things (such as the use of SM) when it has a real connection to them personally/professionally – it’s what Chip and Dan Heath refer to as motivating the elephant in their book “Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard.”

The second moral of this story is to associate personally and professionally with good people. Nothing is more valuable in a time of political turmoil than a highly supportive boss. Now if I could only figure out how to get her to respond to my tweets.

Thanks to everyone who contributes freely to the wealth of information out there on SM and personal branding. While certainly not an exhaustive list, there are a few people whose work first set me on the path to SM liberation: Mark Stelzner (@stelzner); Dan Schawbel (@DanSchawbel); Pete Cashmore (@mashable); and, Charlie Judy (@HRFishbowl).