February 26, 2004
New HR chief says changes are afoot in the University’s labor relations
Editor’s note: Patricia Carson joined the UW as vice president for human resources in the fall. News and Information Director Bob Roseth talked with her recently about changes on the horizon for labor relations.
Q: What makes this spring special for relations between organized labor and UW management?
A: This is a time of real potential for change, and that change presents itself in two ways.
First, in 2002, the state Legislature passed legislation that created changes to civil service rules, with those changes taking effect in July 2005. The reform legislation presents opportunities for bargaining on issues related to wages, hours, working conditions and benefits, which has not been done by state agencies before. Institutions of higher education and other agencies have the opportunity for the first time to do full-range bargaining with represented units of employees. Formerly, compensation and classification were determined by the Legislature or state agencies.
Civil service reform potentially gives us the opportunity for more local authority. If we achieve that with the state, managing that authority with integrity will be very important for my team in Human Resources and Labor Relations.
There are about 10,000 employees at the University of Washington who are represented by collective bargaining agreements. Those employees work in many different classifications in our hospitals, the building trades, custodial services, administrative support, supervision, graphic communications, our police officers, in the UW libraries, even on the Thomas G. Thompson research vessel. Each one of them is a vital member of this community and the role each plays is essential to the ability of our University to serve the community, the region and the world with improvements in health, education, economic vitality, environmental quality and civic life and culture.
This is truly a defining time for UW employees, and the University is proactively approaching this opportunity. Since I joined the UW in November, one of my priorities has been creating a positive framework for negotiations that will allow all of us to pursue outcomes that will serve the objectives of our University, our employees and the needs of our community and state.
Second, and even more important, as I’ve been introduced and worked with many different people on upper campus, in health sciences and the medical centers, the labor-management relationship has been of keen interest. I think that there are many ways to develop and share some of our strengths and work on areas where relationships could be better, more constructive and more positive. I believe that positive change will be based on day-to-day interactions that evolve over a longer period of time, not just at those times when we are engaged in collective bargaining.
I’ve spent time meeting with labor leaders and University leaders, trying to build a broad understanding of the choices we can all make that will further this relationship, that will open communication and lead to better ways of working together in a collaborative manner. That, in and of itself, would be indicative of real change.
In both cases — in collective bargaining and in the longer-term project of changing the labor-management relationship — trust is essential. University leadership is committed to building a better relationship and we understand that this happens through everyday interactions and through work on joint problem solving. It will not happen by operating in a reactive mode.
Working in the best interest of the University, our employees and other stakeholders can help us all focus on a common mission that makes it very easy to exhibit the pride that is so clearly a major strength of our 20,000-employee University community. The kind of change I’m talking about may initially be hard work and may generate some skepticism. But that’s the challenge if we want to reap the benefits.
To get started, I’ve been working with four of our union leaders, who volunteered out of the larger group of union leaders, and together we’re planning an Open Forum Day. This will be a full-day labor management conference on March 5, for members of the University and union negotiating teams to talk about the labor-management relationship as we see it now and what our hopes are for the future. We’re going to be bringing in other public sector speakers who talk about how they transformed relationships in their labor-management world. They’ll also talk about the difficulties they needed to overcome. President Lee Huntsman will be one of our opening speakers, as will several of our union leaders.
Rather than going straight into negotiations, we’re saying, “Let’s take this time out. It’s important to listen and understand a variety of perspectives and possibilities.” This represents an interest-based approach that can serve us all very well.
Q: What is the schedule for collective bargaining?
A: The results of this bargaining will become effective in July 2005, under the new state civil service rules. The objective that we share with our labor teams is to complete negotiations and be in a ratification mode in September 2004. We will have at least 21 different agreements to negotiate. Our units vary in size from as large as 4,700 to as small as 18.
Q: Does the current financial climate make this more challenging?
A: I think that is a challenge. State funding is constrained, as everyone knows. We may not have the details on the economic parts of our package from the state until June or early July. Until we have that information, the negotiations will primarily be around work and policy rules. Once the state provides us with the economic data, our discussions will move to benefits and wages.
We know that finances are a challenge. We are going to be analyzing comparable salaries and benefits in the Puget Sound area for other, similar represented jobs, and how we are positioned as an employer, looking at the total cost of compensation. That will be important.
Q: What are the major issues in forging a new relationship between labor and management on campus?
A: The first issue we need to recognize is that currently the relationship is not always a comfortable one. In the best of all situations, discussion between labor and management should take place regularly and informally, and that is not always the case now. Regular, informal discussions between labor and management should be something that both parties seek out because by doing that, you’re improving the workplace, how work is accomplished and work quality. It’s that easy dialogue that is most important to improve — being willing to talk with greater frequency and with an open mindedness to listen.
Q: How do we transfer this kind of thinking and behavior to the many different units within the University?
A: We really need to think about how we fulfill the role of leadership within the university. We need to build into that role very clear responsibilities for working within the labor-management relationship and making that relationship productive. We need to give leaders the tools and the development assistance to do well in those roles.
Some of that comes from selecting people with the right leadership characteristics. Over time, you invest in and build strong leaders. We have many wonderful individuals that work as our supervisors and managers, but we haven’t created an overall construct or vision for the relationship between labor and management that we can share with the community. That has to happen. That’s a big part of my role.
Q: What steps need to occur to bring about this change?
A: First, before we start negotiations, I’m going to be working with my team of UW negotiators to broaden our thinking regarding how we contribute to the relationship. Some of it is very basic, like when we’re at the bargaining table how do we contribute or set the tone for productive discussion? How well are we listening and participating? Open Forum Day will be a chance to explore how both parties can do that.
Next, for the larger community, I will look to the top University leaders, to enunciate the principles and values of leadership in this changed environment. Those principles will become the foundation for creating a new framework for defining the role of a supervisor, and for the structure of the labor-management relationship on campus.
This will lead to education and development work that we’ll bring to all University leaders, creating something that’s interactive, classroom-based as well as reinforced with other tools and online learning. In the best of all worlds these leadership workshops are an opportunity to invite our labor partners in to share their experiences.
Q: What has been the reaction from labor leaders?
A: I am really pleased with the receptivity of labor to the idea of new possibilities and a fresh start. For me, establishing relationships with union leadership is a first step. Developing and sustaining credibility is essential. We have to be able to demonstrate over a sustained period of time that University leadership is committed, that our commitments are durable and that we truly want a stronger labor-management relationship for all represented employees. It is important that we have a relationship that is mutually constructive, positive, and productive for all of us.
Q: These kinds of changes could take time. How long?
A: This is a significant change and we’ll be sowing the seeds now for the kind of relationship we want three, four or five years from now. It’s very hard work and it’s often accompanied by cynicism: People don’t believe that anything will really change. But I have strong and positive views about what’s possible.
We need to take a long view and to recognize that small, individual successes, accumulating over time, are significant. With each group of leaders, both union and management, I’m looking for building blocks of success that can be shared because there are success stories within the university that we can learn from. We just need to spread those lessons further with a common message and use those good examples to stress the underlying values.
What we’re trying to achieve, with both labor and management, is a commitment to consider different ways of interacting. We want leaders to ask, “What can I do to ensure that my team of managers or supervisors is really working in a manner that is truly collaborative and respectful of the talents that exist within the team of employees?” It’s not going to be easy or fast, but I’m seeing great support from the University leaders that I’ve met in the past three months. People want to improve the relationship and work together differently. Certainly I’m seeing that with our union leaders as well.
Q: Are we going to see a lot of new training options for managers and supervisors?
A: We have had wonderful success with the Strategic Leadership Program (SLP), which has produced excellent results. Those who have been through it give it strong reviews.
But we’re going to need to do more. Maybe shorter courses or workshops that aren’t three to five days in length, devoted to looking at specific supervisory skills or the supervisor’s role in the labor-management relationship. We need to zero in on some things that are very specific to successful labor-management partnerships.
While we might build that in to an SLP program, there’s a real need to do more for our leadership population and to do it more quickly. We also need to go directly to supervisors and find out what their specific interests and needs might be and then address those in developing learning systems.
Q: We’ve talked a lot about the problems and challenges. What do you see as the important shared values that people bring to their work here?
A: This is, by any standard, an extraordinary University. People are so proud of the University and of working here. At times, however, they don’t feel a part of the whole, and they don’t feel that their work is valued. They should be coming to work and feeling proud of what they do, of what their team accomplishes, and understanding that every employee counts. For me, that’s one of the things on which I’d like to have collaboration. In the ideal world, every employee understands his or her role in the University’s mission, and every employee feels valued. That connects the overall pride in the University with pride in the individual’s work and what that person does that furthers the University’s mission.
I strongly believe it takes all of us, working together.
Q: What is your long range vision of the UW as a work environment?
A: My longer range vision is that the UW is an employer of choice, and we can measure that through processes like employee satisfaction surveys, employee retention data, less turnover, employee morale, and recognition opportunities. Our employees will be the ones who tell us that we’re doing the right things and that will help keep our momentum going. When publications list the top employers in the region or in the country, I want the University to be on that list.
Q: Where are we now in that vision?
A: We need to develop that core of values that I talked about earlier, because it lays the foundation for principles that apply throughout the university. When you begin to develop a new leadership model it must be consistent, whether you are in a medical center or a specific college, because our leadership will be working as a community of leaders with common goals and expectations.
When you analyze what being an “employer of choice” means, it is based on many factors, including the confidence that employees have in their leadership and how well they are kept informed. It is also based on employees having the tools they need to do their jobs, the kind of teamwork that exists in the workplace and the quality of recognition that exists. Employees who have the opportunity to have input into how work can be improved or how costs can be reduced are more likely to feel engaged and satisfied about their work. This is all a broader framework and not based on negotiations — it’s based on the work we can be doing together everyday. For me, that’s very important work yet to be done.
The kinds of things we’re talking about will serve us well in good times and bad times: It’s our compass for how we navigate and direct ourselves. In good times the compass may be easier to follow; in bad times you may have to steer hard. But it still gives us that direction and purpose. These things need to be sustained. Focusing on our employees helps to sustain the belief that we are a community that is collectively committed to the university’s mission.
Ultimately, I would be extremely excited to see a community of almost 20,000 employees that takes the time to acknowledge and recognize each other and the value that each employee brings to the workplace. We are a human chain that relies on everyone in that chain to get the job done, from faculty to hospital staff to building trades to administrative support to custodians. Everyone is important
