Negotiating trust in the San Francisco hotel industry

Article Abstract:

This article is based on the experience of twelve San Francisco luxury hotels and labor union leaders who worked to change their highly adversarial relationship in the direction of greater trust and employee empowerment. It demonstrates that a cooperative approach is the most effective way to change the restrictive work rules that can impede profitability and quality in a highly unionized workplace. The hotels in San Francisco determined that they could achieve significant improvements if they could remove some of the major work rule restrictions in their labor contracts. They formed a multi-employer bargaining group and entered into a joint study with their unions to discover how the work might be made more productive for the hotels and more satisfying for the employees. As a result of this study, both sides concluded that they could benefit from a complete redesign of the labor contract. They then bargained successfully for a new labor agreement that created procedures for obtaining increased flexibility in the work rules and increased employee involvement in the operations of the hotel. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Hotels & Motels, Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels, Hotels and motels, Labor organizations, Labor Unions, Labor Unions and Similar Labor Organizations, Negotiation, Negotiations, Labor contracts, Collective bargaining, San Francisco, California

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When does union-management cooperation work? A look at NUMMI and GM-Van Nuys

Article Abstract:

Spurred by the Japanese model, the U.S. automobile industry has been restructuring its industrial relations practices along lines that aim to build upon union-management cooperation. This new organization of work changes local work rules by replacing numerous detailed job classifications with only one to three broad classifications. Team work, job rotation, and continuous improvement programs are introduced to replace direct supervision as the mechanism for obtaining high productivity and quality. Greater employee involvement in decision making is supposed to improve worker satisfaction and increase productivity. This article examines the advantages and problems of implementing union-management cooperation by comparing the experiences of the NUMMI (Toyota-General Motors joint venture) automobile assembly plant in Fremont, CA with that of the GM plant in Van Nuys, CA. The article identifies the factors that facilitated cooperation in one case (NUMMI) and that seemed to block it in the other (GM-Van Nuys) and discusses the policy instruments that might enhance cooperative outcomes. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Management, Automobile industry, General Motors Corp., GM, Joint ventures, Toyota Motor Corp., New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.

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Developing skills and pay through career ladders: lessons from Japanese and U.S. companies

Article Abstract:

U.S. companies' adaptations of Japanese training practices typically have been concerned with increasing formal classroom training for incumbent workers. Research in large companies in Japan and the U.S. indicates that Japanese training systems primarily take the form of structured on-the-job training, embedded in long career ladders that simultaneously increase skill and pay for Japanese workers over their careers. Meanwhile, training in U.S. companies tends to be informal and sporadic and is embedded in short job ladders. U.S. firms can improve the efficiency of their training for non-exempt employees by providing structured on-the-job-training and creating career ladders that improve skills and pay over their employees' tenure. Such reforms can increase productivity, lengthen careers and increase pay for front-line workers without relying upon employment security policies or massive increases in firm or government expenditures. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Research, United States, Japan, Career development, Employee training

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