The Defense Department has done a good job of creating labor-management partnerships at its most senior levels but must expand them to more individual military bases, said Rudy de Leon, deputy Defense secretary, at the American Federation of Government Employees national convention in Orlando, Fla. last week.
"We have made great progress in partnering, but we still have work to do together because there are places where partnerships are in the early stages of development. We also need to consider additional means to strengthen our partnerships, including thinking together about how labor-management relations can and should play a role in improving our organizational performance and meeting our program goals," de Leon said in an Aug. 21 address at the American Federation of Government Employees national convention in Orlando, Fla.
The partnerships were established by a presidential executive order in 1993 as way to increase communication and improve relations between government executives and workers. The Defense Department has launched 550 partnerships over the past decade covering more than 225,000 employees.
Among the most successful partnerships, de Leon said, is the one forged between labor and management at the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Ind. Since 1998, the Crane partnership has saved about $20 million and shed 160 jobs with no involuntary separations.
"Together, the employees and managers at Crane are looking across their support functions and product lines for ways to streamline operations to save money....[The areas reviewed include] everything from financial management to public works to the way they conduct their research and development and demonstrate these new technologies," de Leon said.
de Leon said DoD's future goal is for Crane to be the norm, not the exception for labor management partnerships.
The AFGE convention also featured leadership elections. Bobby Harnage was elected union president for a second term. Harnage has held his position since 1997.
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