Appendix C

Aspiring to Excellence: Comparative Case Studies of Public Sector Labor-Management Cooperation in New York State
Authors:  Nicole Blumner, Lindy Burt, Jon Gans, Lisa Goldberg, Kristin Guild, Young Sung Kim, Chang Kil Lee, Darth Vaughn, Mildred Warner
June 1998

Project Description

This project is part of a graduate course on local government restructuring in Cornell's Department of City and Regional Planning. Acknowledging the fiscal and legal pressures on local governments in New York State and the importance of front-line workers in service delivery, we have chosen to focus on the role of labor-management cooperation in efforts to improve county government functioning. As an example of success, we would like to examine how cooperation developed in your county and the role that it played in bringing about changes in service delivery or in workplace systems. We have selected counties that have implemented a combination of mutual-gains bargaining, labor-management committees, and/or Total Quality Management initiatives. We plan to interview local officials, union representatives, and managers in order to create a case study investigating the cooperative labor-management programs you have implemented.

Confidentiality

We would ideally like to discuss the details of this interview, and subsequent analysis of your case, as openly as possible. For that reason, we are asking for your permission to quote and paraphrase this interview in our project. We will provide you with a draft of our interview notes—including any quotes we would like to use—and, if you wish, a copy of the case study itself, for your approval. In addition, in order for our research to be more useful to others, we would like to include your name in our report as a contact. We may be reached easily to discuss any confidentiality concerns, at (607) 255-6647 or by email at the following addresses:

Nicole Blumner nb42@cornell.edu 
Lindy Burt mkb14@cornell.edu 
Jon Gans jag33@cornell.edu 
Lisa Goldberg leg8@cornell.edu 
Kristin Guild kag24@cornell.edu 
Young Sung Kim yk67@cornell.edu 
Chang Kil Lee ckl2@cornell.edu 
Darth Vaughn dkv1@cornell.edu 
Prof. Mildred Warner mew15@cornell.edu 

County:
Organization/Agency/Dept:
Perspective: Labor Management Official
Interviewer name:
Date:
Interviewee name:
Address:
Phone:
Fax:
Position:
Time started:

  1. What tools are you using to develop labor-management cooperation?
    1. Have you used a mutual-gains bargaining process?
      1. If so, what was the impetus behind it?
      2. Is the contract that resulted still in force?
      3. Do you expect mutual-gains bargaining to be used in the future?
    2. Do you have active labor-management committees in your county?
      1. How do they (does it) function (for what functions or around what issues)?
      2. Are they effective in solving workplace problems?
      3. If so, what types of problems?
    3. Do you have a TQM program?
      1. How does it work? What departments are involved?
      2. Are there mechanisms for implementing TQM committee recommendations?
      3. Have any TQM committee recommendations been implemented?
      4. Do you think the program is successful?
    4. Are there other efforts to engage labor in decision making?
  2. What are the necessary elements to build a cooperative labor-management relationship in local government in New York State?
    1. What previous conditions, if any, existed in your county that made cooperation possible?
    2. What challenges did labor and management face going into the process?
    3. What type of training preceded the effort?
    4. Who were the key players?
    5. How do perceptions of labor and management affect the process?
    6. Was privatization a factor in the decision to change the labor-management relationship?
  3. What goals do local officials, labor, and management hope to achieve through cooperation?
    1. How were these goals articulated?
    2. What do you think were the goals of the other key players?
    3. Were there any conflicts between goals of the different parties?
    4. So far, have goals been met by cooperative labor-management initiatives?
    5. Which programs have met expectations? Which have not met expectations?
  4. What impact does a successful cooperative program have on:
    1. future labor relations?
      1. Are there new relational systems in place?
      2. Permanent committees, new communication networks?
      3. Are grievances handled any differently? Are fewer or more grievances filed?
      4. Are there impacts on employee morale?
      5. Are employees encouraged to innovate?
    2. service quality?
      1. Are any objective measures of quality used?
      2. If not, how would you measure the effects on quality, if you were to do so?
      3. Are customers asked about their opinions of service quality?
      4. If so, have they remarked of any change in service quality?
    3. cost?
      1. Are there ways to determine whether the cooperative program results in cost savings?
      2. Were there substantial costs involved in the implementation of the program?
  5. What do you wish you had known about this process before embarking on it? What advice would you offer to others?
    1. Key lessons?
    2. Unforeseen problems?
    3. Were there any particular resources that you found valuable?
  6. Are there any available background documents (memos, contracts, newsletters) which you could provide us?

The information you provide is very valuable to us, and we appreciate your time. Thank you!