Labor and management: working toward a common goal

  • Published
  • By Jillian Speake
  • 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, New Mexico --  Senior leaders from Kirtland's largest organizations met with representatives from the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2263 March 5 to hold the first partnership committee meeting in several years here.

The newly re-formed partnership committee plays a large role in increasing military readiness, mission accomplishment, customer satisfaction, quality of work environment, empowerment and performance, while taking into account the interests of both labor and management.

The committee, four members of Local 2263 and four members of the senior staff representing various units on base, provides a forum to work together as a team with a common focus.

"As we work through the upcoming challenges of drawing down our personnel and resources, this forum will be critical to doing things right for both our Air Force and our people," said Col. Terrence Feehan, Nuclear Weapons Center commander.

To ensure a sound relationship is built between labor and management, the committee agreed to the following guiding principles: Value and respect for all members of Team Kirtland and AFGE Local; identifying and focusing on common interests and shared problems; sharing information freely and openly in the decision-making process; building mutual trust by treating each other as equals and appreciating everyone's distinct roles and responsibilities; giving priority to sustaining the agreement, and fostering the development of a nonadversarial atmosphere to enhance open discussion.

The committee will meet quarterly to address several management and labor topics including policy-level issues affecting the civilian workforce, developing solutions to workplace issues, providing training to management on dispute resolution and evaluating progress and improvement for organizational performance.

"This committee will help ensure management decisions are fully coordinated with the union prior to implementation so that the best decisions can be made the first time," said Colonel Feehan. "Members of Local 2263 have shown tremendous leadership in this initiative and I look forward to our continued positive relationship."