Restoring Dialogue: Keys to Effective Labor-Management Relationships
I
ssues between labor and management have an impact
on more than just an organization or company itself. Ineffective labor-management relationships can lead
to poor quality products or services provided and, ultimately, poor customer satisfaction. Recently, Dr. Keith
Levick sat down with Edgell Turnquist, executive director for the Michigan Labor-Management Association (MLMA), to
address
labor-management
issues
and
the attempts to “restore dialogue” between workers and managers.
CCN: Ed, what is the MLMA organization? ET:
Well, the organization is the Michigan Labor-
Spring 2011
Management Association. Actually, its roots went back to
the Michigan Quality of Work Life Council back in the
’70s. I got involved with them in 1985 when the City of
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Southfield was in the early stages of its labor-management program. Then, in 1998 I was asked if I would become the support person for the organization under a grant with the federal government to rebuild the Michigan Labor-
Management Association. I took over as director in 2001
and have been playing that role since then. Our organization
has two functions. We do training on an as-needed basis. But our main function is doing our annual conference once
a year at the Kellogg Center at Michigan State University; and that’s usually held in April of every year.
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CCN: What would you say is the primary mission of the
and creating a conference. What is the theme for this year’s
ET: Our mission is promoting labor-management coopera-
ET: This year is going to be “Restoring Dialog.” This was
it’s a product from the private sector or a service that’s pro-
state mediators in conversation at their mediation jobs that
organization?
tion — dialogue between labor and management…whether vided in the public sector…to create awareness and to create
dialogue that’s going to help improve the product and help improve the quality. It’s been said that you have to learn how to do more with less. In the workplace, when you have a solid
labor-management organization that’s working together and they are exchanging dialogue and looking for new, creative
ways, it was not hard for us to put together programs that
would actually create better quality, more quantity, yet at a reduced cost.
I could give you a simple example of snowplowing where I worked, for the City of Southfield. That was one of our pri-
mary functions during the winter, to keep the streets clear. Back when I first started, whenever
conference?
something that was brought up to us by our federal and our they have, both in the public sector and private sector. They are finding themselves challenged. When they’re called to
come in and mediate a contract or dispute within an organization they’re finding that when they get in there they are
actually being asked to come up with a decision that’s going to work for both parties because there has been no dialogue.
Both parties are not even communicating or even putting together a solid effort to try to work out their differences. So, with that in mind, with our theme…we put together
nine workshops. They are all based on skills — communication skills, brainstorming skills, teaching folks how to work
together and giving them the tools that they need to go back and show their constituents — whether it’s the labor
we had six inches of snow or more, it
would take us about four days to clean the streets. If you’re sitting behind a
plow truck, working 12 on and 12 off for four days, it becomes very, very
hard to do. It’s tiring and it wears on you. We actually developed, through
the labor-management program, a pro-
gram where we could do the streets in two-and-a-half days. …If everything
went well, and you didn’t get blasted with any secondary snows, we could
actually get it done in two days. From a standpoint of cost to the citizens,
that was about a 40 percent reduction in cost. And the way it was done was to listen to the guys actually doing the work. They told us the equipment
equipment to do the job. So we looked into their complaints and issues, put
together a plan, gave it to the city council, and they provided the tools they needed.
CCN: You mentioned earlier that one
of your primary functions is running
www.customercarenews.com
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Photo courtesy of Edgell Turnquist
they were using was not the proper
Edgell Turnquist
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group or the management group. Our trainers are primar-
ily from Michigan. We have folks from Eastern Michigan University;
we
have corporations in Michigan that provide
train-
ers. And we ask
the trainers to
focus on providing tools that the
only what they’re doing when they’re at the workplace, but what they talk about when they leave the workplace and how they promote their company. They need to be proud. They need to have an avenue where they feel as though they’re part
of the organization and they represent that organization all
the time. They need to stand up and be proud of what they do, no matter what that job is.
Again, I’ll always go back to my roots. I remember the
in a booklet and
world. But through our labor-management programs, in
take back with them to apply in the workplace. CCN:
As
you
know, I recently interviewed General Holiefield, vice president of the UAW-Chrysler, and Joe Ashton, vice president
of the UAW-GM, and the essence of those interviews was
custodial staff felt like they were the lowest people in the
developing the dialogue and putting them in charge of their day-to-day jobs, we really made them stand up and feel good
about their jobs. And they weren’t called janitors anymore; they were called custodians. By giving them a different title they felt more important. They felt more empowered to look
at and openly voice their concerns about the work they were doing.
on rebranding the UAW. For many years there has been a
CCN: Are you saying that in order for people to feel better
they talked about the importance of understanding that we
to open the door of communication more? And that’s the
negative perception of the old UAW. In those interviews, are each other’s customers. It sounds like there’s a link to your theme of restoring dialogue. What do you think? ET:
Everybody is going to be faced with this phenomenon of doing more with less. So we all need to understand, no matter what you’re doing, no matter how much money we make for doing our jobs, no matter how long we work at our jobs, everybody’s going to be affected by this.
I
totally
agree. One of the
things that we’ve
been doing now for 10 to 12 years at our conference
about what they do and have a different perception, we need essence of your theme this year?
ET: Yes, right…. “Restoring Dialog” is a form of redesign-
ing and/or rebranding oneself. People have to feel as though they’re part of an organization if they’re going to move
forward. But the perception of workers needs to change as
well and workers need to take responsibility for how they are seen.
is hosting forums
CCN: With that being said, and as a union leader and execu-
conference
of management and labor? I know this is a difficult question,
at the end of the
for
feedback…. The feedback we often
receive is about things that happened years ago, things that
tive director of the MLMA, why do you think there is a split but in your opinion, what do you think is the main cause? And what do you think we need to do to remove that gap?
were in the news media, and the negative perception that
ET: That’s really a good question and an interesting topic
go to work, they punch in, they leave for the day, come back
the city that part of the problem was that if I’m the manage-
autoworkers are just lazy. There’s been stories that people
and they still get paid for not doing much of anything. There are many negatives stories out there. However, we promote
that there are good people that work in all industries. It
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importance of the image that they project on their jobs, not
people can actually put together
could be auto, the public sector, for cities, for counties; it could be in the Coca Cola factories. There are many good
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and dedicated employees. And they need to understand the
to think about. I used to think back when I was working for
ment, then it’s my job to manage, and if you’re the worker, it’s your job to just go out and do what I tell you to do. And that’s kind of how it seems to be. I’ve heard this statement many a time, “If you don’t like what I’m asking you to do,
then there’s nothing stopping you from letting the door hit
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you in the rear as you’re leaving.” And you’re welcome to
ET: Agree. …And to teach them that it’s OK to look at
and more dialogue, it’s almost like there’s no relationship
into work with a fresh thought in your mind and communi-
just go ahead and leave. But you know, as we created more
between the two: that managers view themselves as being one family and this is the way we do our business. And
workers are another family. And in reality, without two-way
communication, it’s very hard to do a job exactly the way they want you to do it.
CCN: Because you’re not communicating. ET: Yes, because of the communication breakdown, you have no idea what they want you to do or not do. So you
need that dialogue. I’ve seen huge strides [once the dialogue was created] where, all of a sudden, groups weren’t fighting
anymore. They were having good, open communication;
and the jobs were being done the way everyone wanted them
to be done. As a worker, there’s nothing worse than doing something and having to be told to do it again.
CCN: It comes down to the communication. So the vehicle
in which to remove that gap is to get people (labor, management, it doesn’t matter who you are) to start communicat-
ing and have that dialogue. Hence the theme of the 2011 MLMA conference.
ET: As the director of
this organization, and
having 30 years here,
what I did see when I started in 1980 was the lack of communication.
I saw the ’90s as the start of building com-
munication. We kept
things differently; it really is OK. It’s OK to wake up and go
cate it. And we need to give [workers] the tools to communicate constructively.
CCN: And remem-
ber, we’re talking about years of dysfunctional
habits
of communicating,
speaking and listen-
Now that organizations are leaner than ever before and workers are working harder with less people power, we need to communicate and work together. The old ways of doing business are just not going to cut it any longer.
ing to one another. And, as you know, if you’re a smoker or
a drinker, or whatever it is, trying to change a habit is a real
challenge. But that’s what the Michigan Labor-Management Association is about.
ET: …It’s one of the things we do — to help labor-management work together more effectively. Now that organizations are leaner than ever before and workers are working harder with less people power, we need to communicate and
work together. The old ways of doing business are just not going to cut it any longer.
It’s been said that you have to learn how to do more with less. In the workplace, when you have a solid labor-management organization that’s working together and they are exchanging dialogue and looking for new, creative ways, it was not hard for us to put together programs that would actually create better quality, more quantity, yet at a reduced cost.
stressing to folks that
CCN: That’s a reality of today’s world. In
every organization, private and public, workers are doing a whole lot
more
resources.
with
less
There’s
no question about it. Any final thoughts or message you want to
share with our readers regarding
either
the
there are going to be times you have an issue that you cannot
conference, the organization, or anything else?
that is where we are today. We need to come together and
ET: Everybody is going to be faced with this phenomenon
agree on. So you need to work together to resolve them. And communicate clearly with one another.
CCN: We have certainly developed some poor communica-
tion habits in the past 100 years. I think we can agree that
an organization’s survival depends on all employees (labor with one another — sounds like the makings for a good conference.
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no matter what you’re doing, no matter how much money we make for doing our jobs, no matter how long we work at our jobs, everybody’s going to be affected by this. So
we need to open the door of communication and work together as opposed to working against one another
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and management) communicating openly and honestly
of doing more with less. So we all need to understand,
to create a successful work environment for all people to prosper. CCN
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