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There are many roles in life that don’t come with an operator’s manual: parenting, marriage, juggling work and going back to school, to name a few. But that’s no longer the case with being a union representative on a Labor-Management committee (LMC).
The Union Education Trust has developed a new training for union leaders: “Let’s Get Ready: The Role of the Union Leader in Labor-Management Committees.” It will be offered in several locations around the state this fall.
“This training is just for bargaining unit leaders to show them how a union member models behaviors to achieve goals,” said Gerard (Rocky) Jolly, UET Trustee. “Working together, we can create win-win situations.”
Labor-Management committees have long been a source of improving agency performance and service (see accompanying article). The Labor-Management training that has been taken by the joint committees for many years has been highly effective in enabling the teams to work together toward these goals.
The new training program offered by UET will focus on educating local union leaders and bargaining unit members who are participating in statewide health and safety, statewide agency specific and local institutional or district Labor-Management committees. Anyone participating on any Labor-Management committee can participate and the trainings will be offered around the state.
It will feature: -preparing chapter leaders and committee members to effectively participate in Labor-Management Committees;
-improving the dynamics of Labor-Management committee meetings;
-learning the steps you can take to help establish the union vision for the Labor-Management committee;
-using effective group problem-solving processes, such as interest-based problem solving, to improve the labor-management relationship and help your chapter make decisions;
- exploring ways to enhance the quality of services you can deliver to your membership;
-understanding how to use effective approaches to influencing others;
-successfully implementing the work of the Labor-Management committees; and
-effectively addressing dysfunctional and adversarial behaviors.
A number of the Labor-Management committees have been in place for years and experience natural turnover of members. This training will help them in their new roles, explained UET Trustee.
“As we bring new people in, they aren’t sure what to do,” Trustee said. “They aren’t used to having an equal say and an equal footing.”