NEW YORK, N.Y., Oct. 25, 2005 
The outlook was troubling for both the union and the employers in New York's  tile construction industry.

   The unionized market share of major construction work was shrinking. The level of antagonistic  rhetoric between union and management representatives rose to an alarming pitch.   So Local 7 of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, headquartered in Long Island City, N.Y., took positive action ¨C it sought  closer and more hospitable relations with management.

   The employers, members of the Greater New York and New Jersey Tile Contractors Association, embraced the union initiative, and signs of  cooperation began to emerge.  

   "Union and management realize that for survival, they have to work together to preserve and expand the work that is available to union contractors," said attorney Bruce Millman, who represents the contractors association. "For example, the union naturally wants compliance with its contract. At the same time, industry leaders recognize that union contractors who violate the contract are also a threat, because they compete unfairly with those who comply strictly with their union contract obligations."

   Millman, a principal in the labor/employment law firm of Grotta, Glassman & Hoffman, 650 Fifth Avenue, New York, has spent more than 30 years in the labor hotbed of New York City, leading contract negotiations at every level for large and small companies. His range includes representing  employers in the construction trades, the service sector, manufacturing, retailing, high tech, education and the healthcare industries.

    The new spirit of cooperation among the tile workers and employers  has already led to a revival of a long-dormant  contractual grievance process and an escalation of civility at joint meetings.

    "There's a real effort in those meetings to listen and not to yell at each other, and to see what the points of agreement are, rather than the  points of disagreement," said Millman.
   
    The coming-together is a marriage of necessity.

    Nationally, about 8% private sector workers are unionized a third of the total a quarter century ago. The major blame: globalization, outsourcing of jobs and a changing workforce, including a shift from  manufacturing to high-tech.

   While a recent Big Labor split involving the AFL-CIO may lead to more aggressive organizing efforts by the breakaway unions, there are also growing  signs of a shift by unions and management to deal with their problems through closer cooperation.

    Earlier this month, American Airlines paved the way for the formation of "leadership teams" in what has been described as the airline industry's greatest experiment in union-management cooperation in years. The teams are made up of union and management representatives that determine performance bonuses and make sure pension obligations are fully met.

    "Our strategy is...focused on continuing to improve our competitiveness...by having a constructive, collaborative working relationship with our people," American Airlines' Chief Financial Officer James Beer told Reuters.

   "Service Employees International Union (SEIU), 1199, and five New York nursing homes reached agreement in August to what they called a "landmark partnership" in a new contract  based on "mutual cooperation and respect."

   "1199 SEIU and Healthcare Associates have been able to turn conflict into a creative partnership that will provide stability for management and improved continuity of care for the patients," said a spokesperson for 1199 SEIU. The contract calls for significant improvements in health benefits, pensions and wages.

   In mid-October, General Motors, saddled with huge losses, hammered out an agreement with the United Auto Workers on a new contract that sharply pared health benefits. UAW President Ronald A. Gettelfinger and Vice President Richard Shoemaker.

   David E. Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, described the contract as representing labor's evolving role as "a partner and collaborator rather than an antagonist."

   The Supervisor Training Program, launched two years ago under a union-management cooperation agreement in the painting industry, has more than 300 trainers working to teach supervisors to more efficiently handle their assignments in an effort to ensure profitability of projects.

   Tony Singh, management co-chair and president of New Jersey-based Fine Painting and Decorating, has received much of the credit for the success of the program, which is a partnership between the International Union of Painters & Allied Trades and the Finishing Contractors Association.

   Attorney Millman said he has found that many labor leaders, particularly on the local level, have come to the conclusion that increased organizing efforts will not be sufficient to halt the decline in membership, "and what they really have to do is protect and preserve what they already have."

   An example of mutual cooperation that has survived the test of time is the relationship between the League of Voluntary Hospitals in New York and Local 1199, SEIU, Millman said.

   "It has been a cooperative relationship where the union uses it power as a huge political force to lobby for protection of jobs, for increased funding for hospitals, and in return, the employers have provided job security guarantees, training and a host of excellent fringe benefits that are rarely found in other industries."

   Looking to the future, Millman said cooperation holds the most  promise for success for both labor and management.

   "In the long run, the success of organized labor is going to be in maintaining what it has and that is going to happen  by cooperation, not by being overly aggressive with the relatively few private sector employers that employ their membership," he said.

   Grotta, Glassman & Hoffman is a national labor/employment law firm with more than 70 attorneys serving management-side clients in offices in New York City, Roseland, N.J., Melville, L.I., Los Angeles and San Francisco. Its roster of clients includes Fortune 500 companies, educational and healthcare institutions and not-for-profit organizations.

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