Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 25, 1993 TAG: 9305250159
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Reich spoke at the opening session of the Commission for the Future of Worker-Management Relations, created to determine whether labor laws need revision to permit workers and managers to work together more effectively.
Examples of such cooperation and employee participation include work teams and quality circles that give employees a voice in workplace operations.
The 10-member commission is headed by John T. Dunlop, former labor secretary in the Ford administration. It includes three other former Cabinet members and representatives of business, labor and academia.
Reich said American industry no longer can rely on the mass-production methods of 20 years ago, when managers dictated business operations, and conforming to strict procedures was essential.
Because of new technologies and niche markets both at home and abroad, businesses now require greater flexibility and the ability to customize products to gain a greater competitive advantage, he said.
"These days, I believe, we need a structure that generates collaboration, flexibility and cooperation," Reich said.
"You may not agree precisely with my diagnosis," he said. "But it seems to me that given the changes in our global economy . . . the changes in our work force . . . we need a search for better ways."
"It is no longer sufficient for managers simply to try to cut payrolls or lower wages," he added. "It is no longer sufficient for workers to demand an adherence to rigid classifications and work rules. It's no longer sufficient to allow litigation . . . as the primary vehicle for labor and management to solve their disputes."
The commission was asked to answer three questions:
What, if any, new methods or institutions should be encouraged or required to enhance work-place productivity through labor-management cooperation and employee participation?
What, if any, changes should be made in the legal framework and practices of collective bargaining to enhance cooperative behavior, improve productivity and reduce conflict and delay?
What, if anything, should be done to increase the extent to which workplace problems are directly resolved by the parties themselves, rather than through recourse to state and federal courts and government regulatory bodies?
by CNB