Employers and Labor Unions: a Partnership that can (and does) work

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.afscmeblog.org/2008/08/28/employers-and-labor-unions-a-partnership-that-can-and-does-work/

August 28th, 2008

It’s been proven time and time again that employers can have a productive relationship with their employees’ unions. See for yourself in the fourth annual Labor Day List:Partnerships that Work, a current snapshot of the most innovative and productive ways in which management and employees are working together across the country.

The partnership between the state of Kansas and the Kansas Organization of State Employees (KOSE), a joint union of AFSCME and the American Federation of Teachers is featured in the Labor Day List report as a recent example of how workers and employers can collaborate as equal partners.

As the Labor Day List states:

Thanks to the strong partnership between the state and KOSE, employees are now positioned to address their own workplace issues through their union and provide better agency services. Workers in thousands of job titles—correctional officers, social workers, transportation employees, and mental health facility staff—can now bargain over issues including increased security, training, pay equity, and hours of work.

The report was released by Americans Right at Work, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to educating the American public about the obstacles workers face when attempting to form a union.

[MercutioATC]

1. When Jane Garvey was the FAA Administrator, we accomplished amazing things.

She and NATCA treated each other with respect and worked together, and we made substantive, smart advances that made America's airspace safer and more efficient.


We need that kind of partnership again...but we're not going to get it (at least not in Federal unions) until we have an administration that values the workers of this nation.