Labor-Management Cooperation Program

The Labor-Management Cooperation Program was implemented in fiscal year 1981 under authority of the Labor-Management Cooperation Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-524) and has provided money and technical assistance for the operation of 191 labor-management committees in the United States and its territories. These labor-management committees operate at the plant level, on a community or area wide basis, and in public sector organizations at various levels. The Service's goal for this program is to encourage joint, innovative approaches to collaborative management-labor relations and innovative problem-solving.

Committees funded under this program are not limited to any particular activity. Recent committees have addressed health care cost containment solutions, area economic development, ADA compliance, total quality management in the public sector, company co-management, skills training and employee ownership.

All committee rules, regulations, criteria and instructions are revised and republished annually in the FMCS Application Solicitation/Program Guidelines under which applicants compete. The following information is included in this publication:

Preliminary scoring of each application is done by an independent FMCS Grant Review Board chaired by the Director of the Office of Labor-Management Grants and Projects. Final selection is made by the program director.

Since 1981, FMCS has awarded more than $12.5 million to over 200 labor-management committee grant applicants. The Service has received 845 applications requesting more than $63 million over the same period.

FISCAL YEAR 1995 FUNDING SUMMARY

PLANT COMMITTEES

TODD Pacific Shipyards/Pacific Coast Metal Trades (Seattle, WA)

$46,249 to improve productivity and reduce costs through joint adoption of new shipbuilding technology in an effort to rapidly respond to new technological requirements.

Shell Oil/Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers (Houston, TX)

$33,750 to increase the number of employees working jointly on health and safety issues from 18 to 400 by creating 50 health and safety teams.

Niagara County Association for Retarded Children/American Federation of Teachers (Niagara Falls, NY)

$15,716 to improve communications between labor and management still impacted by a strike in 1992.

AREA COMMITTEES

Labor-Management Council for Economic Renewal (Taylor, MI)

$69,451 to create an ISO/QS 9000 Advocacy Project that will promote joint efforts geared toward the development of company competencies through continual upgrades in workforce skills and technology.

Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (Springfield, IL)

$38,000 to enhance cooperative efforts in Illinois by providing additional skills training to all existing area committees in the state and increasing the number of companies and agencies using cooperative work strategies.

La Crosse Area Labor-Management Council (La Crosse, WI)

$36,965 to support the establishment of an area committee which will promote the development of cooperative initiatives in local companies.

INDUSTRY COMMITTEES

United Mine Workers/Bituminous Coal Operators (Silver Spring, MD)

$100,000 to assist the new Labor-Management Positive Change Process jointly agreed upon after the bitter seven months' strike in 1993 by establishing model joint committees in at least six operations.

Building and Construction Trades Department AFL-CIO (Washington, DC)

$100,000 to establish a standardized training program for health and safety in the construction industry that is recognized by all 15 construction unions of the Department which will allow for the uniform certification of workers and eliminate duplicative training.

Cornell University/League of Voluntary Hospitals/1199 National Health and Human Services Union (New York, NY)

$100,000 to develop a Citywide Health Care Committee to jointly explore such issues as training, new job responsibilities, alternatives to layoffs and cost cutting measures while overseeing the creation of at least three hospital committees.

Service Employees International Union Local 79 (Detroit, MI)

$91,336 to initiate a multi-employer effort that will produce joint employee training, education and certification programs as well as a continuous quality improvement process in the building maintenance field.

New England Laborers' Health and Safety Fund (Hopkinton, MA)

$99,975 to develop and test a model joint program to reduce job site injuries and unsafe working conditions through the use of Hazard Identification Teams on construction projects.

Southern Paper Industry Labor-Management Council (Birmingham, AL)

$100,000 to jointly examine and report on the best practices of plants, companies and union locals in achieving mutual gains in the southern region of the paper industry.

Northeast Ohio Construction Labor-Management Council (Cleveland, OH)

$50,430 to expand the Safety Incentive Program as well as improve the competitive position of union construction.

PUBLIC SECTOR

University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics/1199W United Professionals for Health Care (Madison, WI)

$82,598 to enable licensed nurses and hospital administrators to jointly plan and develop the technology for a new information system designed to improve health care and control patient costs.

New Jersey State Judiciary/American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (Trenton, NJ)

$35,601 to provide joint committee training to over 7,000 former county court personnel whose jobs are transferred under State authority.

Maryland Mass Transit Authority/Amalgamated Transit Union/Office and Professional Employees International Union/AFSCME (Baltimore, MD)

$100,000 to develop a high performance unit using the concept of Total Quality Management as a process for enhancing business oriented, customer-driven approaches to the delivery of transportation services.

PUBLIC SECTOR EDUCATION

Connecticut Department of Education/American Federation of Teachers (Meriden, CT)

$100,000 to improve teacher and student productivity among the state's 17 Regional Vocational-Technical Schools by improving conflict management skills and reducing violence in the schools.

California Foundation for the Improvement of Employer-Employee Relations (Sacramento, CA)

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Last modified: February 09, 1998