Labor Relations 

Managing labor relations and negotiating collective bargaining agreements are complex processes that exist between two opposing interests. The relationship between management and labor can be destroyed if you allow communication to stop or worse yet, if you allow all communication to be negative and/or confrontational. The daily, weekly, monthly process of meeting, communicating, solving grievances, and discussing long-term goals and successes are all critical to having some level of trust and harmony. If you have succeeded in creating shared goals and harmony, it could all be destroyed by the process and or the results of a collective agreement. The future of your organization could depend upon a positive labor management relationship and successful contract negotiations. This has always been a difficult and stressful experience, but the globalization of the economy has made labor management relationships and labor contract                                                                           negotiations even more difficult.

Vision Manufacturing Consulting can help you prepare for negotiations, presenting proposals and counter-proposals, costing demands and offers, strike contingency planning, selecting the right labor attorney, labor law issues, and help to craft the right strategy. We will help you select the management negotiating committee which is one of the most underrated aspects of negotiating a successful labor contract. We will be at the negotiating table, as part of your management negotiating committee. Our consultants have negotiated many labor contracts with the UAW, USWA, Teamsters, and Carpenters and Joiners. We have negotiated contracts, negotiated to impasse, negotiated effects bargaining, negotiated concessionary bargaining, and have testified in front of the National Labor Relations Board.

The most important benefit of working with Vision Manufacturing Consulting is that we will align your negotiation strategy with your business strategy.  We understand how integrated all the functional areas of a manufacturing company are, so your negotiation strategy needs to consider all functional areas of the company, to drive bottom line results and improve profitability.  Do you need to reduce and consolidate job classifications? Do you need to implement Lean Manufacturing? Are you utilizing multiple machining opportunities?  If the goal is to get a contract, we need to remember there is life after the negotiations are over and that needs to be seriously considered. Challenging the union in a positive way, ultimately improving labor-management relations is an excellent path to improved long-term profitability.

It is important to understand the culture, environment, and history of previous labor contracts. Many organizations do not understand what an undertaking labor negotiations will be. Finally, most organizations do not do the preparation work that will allow them to be successful in negotiating a labor contract. The preparation for the next labor contract should start the day after completing a contract.  Vision Manufacturing Consulting can guide you through the entire process, helping with your day-to-day labor relations, contract negotiating preparation, negotiations at the bargaining table, during strikes, and post contract implementation activities.  Let’s build a management-labor vision together.