TCRP H-16 [Completed]
A National Transit Industry Labor-Management Cooperation Program: New Paradigms for Labor-Management Relations in the Transit Industry of the 21st Century
| Project Data |
| Funds: |
$75,000 |
| Research Agency: |
Cornell University |
| Principal Investigator: |
Ronald L. Seeber |
| Effective Date: |
8/6/1998 |
| Completion Date: |
12/31/2001 |
| Comments: |
Completed; Three workshops conducted |
|
Transit agencies and their employees ordinarily utilize traditional approaches to labor-management relations, which frequently result in a lack of productive dialogue between the two parties on many issues of common importance. In instances where cooperative relations have been maintained, significant improvements in cost and quality have emerged along with improvements in the quality of work life and an overall decrease in the level of conflict in labor-management relations.
There is great need and demand from industry workers and managers to explore avenues of cooperation and to receive educational materials on this subject. There are currently no viable programs in place which offer this type of assistance to transit agencies and their employees. The proposed program will help to fill this void by providing vital resources for the developing of long-term labor-management cooperation programs and initiatives.
The purpose of this research is to improve labor-management cooperation in the transit industry by holding an initial national meeting, followed by several regional seminars. The overall objective will be to build on the National Transit Industry Labor/Management Cooperation Conference and Program, a well-recognized program financed by the Federal Transit Administration through the Amalgamated Transit Union, the largest core transit union in the United States. A primary focus and logical next step of this research program will be to review options and to make recommendations for developing new paradigms for labor-management relations in the transit industry of the 21st Century.
The national meeting will establish clear and measurable labor-management relations objectives and will set the parameters for the regional gatherings. Key areas of focus during the regional seminars will include criteria, issues, and techniques that contribute to or hinder effective labor-management partnerships in the delivery of transit service. While the development of objectives and parameters will be very important in launching this program, the regional events should be flexible enough to address regional issues and concerns and allow for the free exchange of ideas that is likely to occur.
Status: Three regional workshops have been held to date. The first workshop was held in Monterey, California, from November 3-7, 1999. The second workshop was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from June 13-16, 2000. The final workshop was held on November 14-18, 2001 in Phoenix, Arizona . The focus of the workshops was how to improve labor -management relationships.
