In My Opinion: The High-Road Model for Successful Labor-Management Relations

It’s a remarkable story, but you won’t read the whole story in your daily paper.

An early contract settlement involving nearly 80,000 workers in America’s leading industry, the information industry. No strike or strike threat, no labor turmoil — no drama. No hardline employer concession demands to challenge the power of today’s “embattled labor movement.”

Simply, an outstanding labor contract in which a successful company is willing to recognize the contribution of its very productive workforce and build its future success on the basis of good labor relations with that highly skilled, dedicated group of workers.

CWA’s settlement with SBC Communications (see page 3) is enough of a man-bites-dog situation that you might have thought some reporters would see it as a unique trend-breaker, but no, it doesn’t fit the stereotype storyline that the media looks for in union-management negotiations. Good news isn’t newsworthy.

In fact, these negotiations and CWA’s evolving relationship with SBC represent what I believe is the 21st century model for successful, high-road labor management relations.

Employers like to talk about building “cooperation” and seeking “win-win” agreements with workers and their unions, but that doesn’t really happen unless both sides have the guts to lay out their cards and build some real trust.

SBC laid the groundwork for gaining CWA’s trust first by agreeing last year to cardcheck union recognition for all present and future business ventures — declaring itself unconditionally and proudly a union employer. What a concept in 1998! And then the key to this early settlement was SBC’s assurance up front that it would not engage in game playing by putting concession demands — phony bargaining chips — on the negotiating table.

Being willing to break the mold of traditional strike-deadline-oriented bargaining was a credit to the vision and leadership of CEO Ed Whitacre, and also of CWA Vice Presidents Ben Turn and Tony Bixler.

The traditional ways are familiar and comfortable to everyone. And there are risks in doing these things differently. Employers are pressured by Wall Street to at least look tough in dealing with unions. And labor leaders have to worry that members may think that if bargaining doesn’t go down to the brink of a strike deadline then maybe the union didn’t squeeze everything it could out of management.

In fact, I’m convinced that this is a better settlement than we could have achieved for Southwestern Bell and Pactel members by playing contract brinksmanship. It is the richest economic settlement in the industry since the Bell System breakup, but no more than anyone could say members deserve based on SBC’s profits and our members’ productivity in earning those profits. The settlement includes all the key objectives we laid out this year in the industry in the areas of job growth and security, retirement security, excessive overtime, job pressures and health care.

That’s not to say that hard bargaining didn’t take place. There were times that this experiment in 21st century negotiating looked like it might blow up. There is always an adversarial element between unions and management, even as both parties ultimately share the goal of a successful business. But in the end, both sides wanted it to work and wanted to go forward building a new type of labor relations.

This 32-month agreement marks the first time in 30 years that a Bell operating company contract will expire before the rest. Significantly, SBC is willing to stand apart from the pack and set its own standards in its relations with CWA without looking over the shoulder at all the others.

The company is declaring that it is confident in its management ability and business strategy, and recognizes that a high-quality workforce and partnership with CWA are truly a competitive advantage.

SBC has rejected the low road of short-term cost cutting through downsizing, union containment and destruction of good American job standards, announcing that it is prepared to compete in this dynamic industry with a strategy of growing the business, innovating and giving customers quality service provided by skilled, experienced and loyal employees.

With this example, no longer can other telecom companies try to justify low-road labor policies on the basis of the supposedly lower standards of the competition. SBC is the competition.