Pulling Together for Productivity: A

Union-Management Initiative at US West,

Inc.

September 1993

OTA-ITE-583

NTIS order #PB94-107562

GPO stock #052-003-01344-4
Foreword

D

uring the current legislative session, Congress will be considering a

variety of proposals to improve the competitiveness of U.S. companies.

Although some U.S. companies compete by using technology only to

simplify jobs and reduce labor costs, this Report is a case study which

points to an alternative that benefits both workers and the firm.

In this Report, requested by the Senate Subcommittee on Foreign

Commerce and Tourism and the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology,

and Space, OTA finds that the Home and Personal Services Division of U S

WEST, Inc. has increased revenues, eliminated unnecessary work, and

improved customer service. These improvements in business performance resulted from a partnership with the two unions representing front-line employees—

the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of

Electrical Workers.

By implementing changes in technology and work processes suggested

by joint union-management teams, the Home and Personal Services Division has

improved worker morale as well as business performance, while workers’ jobs

and wages have been protected. A broad reorganization of customer service work

designed by another joint union-management team will be implemented over the

next three years. This reorganization promises to greatly increase customer satisfaction, potentially maintaining revenues in the face of increasing competition

for residential telephone customers.

The title of this Report is intended to convey one of its central findings:

labor, management, and society at large must pull together in the United States,

or the social strains created by increasing domestic and international competition

could pull the Nation apart. Working together, companies and workers can put

the U.S. on the path to high-wage, high-productivity strategies.

d+- -

Roger C. Herdman, Director

. . .

Ill
Reviewers

Thomas Bailey

Associate Research Scholar

Columbia University

Rose Batt

Doctoral Candidate

Massachusetts Institute of

Technology

Debbie Bianco

Director

Federal Relations

Bell Atlantic Network Systems, Inc.

Kevin Boyle

Principal

Boyle and Associates (formerly

Communications Workers of

America Facilitator, U S WEST,

Inc.)

Richard Capiello

Business Manager

International Brotherhood of

Electrical Workers Local 2322

Lorraine Chickening

Vice President, Quality

Bell Atlantic Network Systems, Inc.

Beverly Clinch

retired (formerly Customer Service

Representative

U S WEST, Inc and member,

International Brotherhood of

Electrical Workers)

Karla Crabb

Area Vice President

Communications Workers of

America Local 7019

Timothy Dickens

Chief Steward

Communications Workers of

America Local 7011

David Dow

Steward

Communications Workers of

America Local 7908

James J. Dowdall

Vice President, Labor Relations

NYNEX Corporation

Rita Dozal

Director, Core Strategies

Home and Personal Services

Division

U S WEST, Inc.

Jane Evans

Vice President and General

Manager

Home and Personal Services

Division

U S WEST, Inc.

Debbie Goldman

Research Economist

Communications Workers of

America

Becky Hansen

Acting Director, Mass Markets

Mass Markets and Operations

Division

U S WEST, Inc.

Susan Hemphill

Steward

Communications Workers of

America Local 7203

Toni Howell

Customer Services Manager

U S WEST, Inc.

April Hunter

Customer Services Manager

U S WEST, Inc.

James Irvine

Vice President, Communications

and Technologies

Communications Workers of

America

William Ketchum

Vice President, Labor Relations

AT&T

Barbara Lephardt

Assistant to Vice President

Communications Workers of

America District 2

Arnold E. Manseth

Vice President, Labor Relations

U S WEST, Inc.
.—

Ray Marshall

Professor of Economics and Public

Affairs

University of Texas at Austin

Stephanie Mitchem

Customer Services Manager

U S WEST, Inc.

Winnie Nelson

Service Quality Consultant

U S WEST, Inc.

Janis Rothschiller

Customer Services Manager

U S WEST, Inc.

Ernest J. Savoie

Director, Employee Development

Office

Ford Motor Company

John Stepp

Principal

Restructuring Associates, Inc.

Jo Paz John Thorne

Steward Assistant General Counsel

Communications Workers of Bell Atlantic Network Systems, Inc.

America Local 7901

Joyce Trimble

Elisa Riordan Steward

Assistant Vice President Communications Workers of

Communications Workers of American Local 7102

America District 1

Cheryl Turnbull

Methods Design Specialist

U S WEST, Inc.

Howard Wial

Manpower Analyst

U.S. Department of Labor

P. Tyler Williams

Vice President, Labor Relations

Bell Atlantic Network Services, Inc.

NOTE: OTA appreciates and is grateful for the valuable assistance and thoughtful critiques provided by the reviewers. The

reviewers do not, however, necessarily approve, disapprove, or endorse this report. OTA assumes full responsibility for the

report and the accuracy of its contents.

v
Project Staff

Peter D. Blair, Assistant Director, OTA

Energy, Materials, and International Security Division

Audrey B. Buyrn, Program Manager

Industry, Technology, and Employment Program

Margaret Hilton, Project Director

Gretchen Kolsrud, Senior Associate

Contributors

Rose Batt

Howard Wial

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Carol A. Bock, Office Administrator

Diane D. White, Administrative Secretary

Anita Jackson

vi
1

2

3

4

5

contents

Summary and Policy Options 1

Principal Findings 2

Female Telecommunications Jobs 4

Policy Issues and Options 8

Labor, Management, and Unions 21

The Changing Fortunes of Unionism in the

United States 22

The Costs and Benefits of Unions 29

Employee Involvement Programs in Union

and Nonunion Settings 33

Do U.S. Workers Need More Voice? 35

Bunts, Singles, and Hitting for a

Home Run 21

Pressure on the Workers 38

Union and Company Pressures Converge 42

The Job Design Team: Process 46

The Job Design Team’s Vision: The Service

Consultant 49

Summary: Changing Customer Contact Jobs,

Changing Competitive Strategy 50

Interim Measures of Success 53

Measures of Success in Operation Bunts

and Singles 53

Benefits to the Company 53

Benefits to the Workers and Their Unions 55

The Treatment Timing Project 56

Progress in Job Design 57

The Phoenix Prototype-the Center for

Customer Service 58

Related Activities 59

Sustainability and Growth 60

Possible Implications of the CWA-IBEW-US

WEST Initiative 63

Growing Competition in Telecommunications 63

Possible Implications for Telecommunications

Companies 64

vii
. . -. .

BellSouth 64

AT&T 65

NYNEX 67

Bell Atlantic 69

A High-Skill Path for the Service Sector? 71

APPENDIX

A List of Acronyms and Glossary of Terms 75

INDEX 77

viii
Summary

T

his report describes a successful joint union-management initiative to improve customer service and productivity at U S WEST, Inc. The Home and Personal

Services Division of U S WEST, Inc. has formed a

partnership with its two unions-the Communications Workers

of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of

Electrical Workers (IBEW). By forming this partnership and

maintaining wages and benefits, U S WEST, Inc. has adopted a

high-productivity, high-skill strategy that differs from the

prevailing approach, both in telecommunications and in the

service sector of the U.S. economy as a whole.

In this successful partnership a U.S. corporation and the two

unions have gone beyond their traditional role of negotiating

wages and working conditions in adversarial collective bargaining. The unions have expressed workers’ needs and concerns to

the company in an ongoing dialogue. Through this dialogue, the

company and unions have reached a series of mutual decisions

that have protected union members’ jobs and reorganized their

work in a way that increases worker and customer satisfaction

and that benefits the firm.

In its 1992 assessment, U.S.-Mexico Trade: Pulling Together

or Pulling Apart?l

, OTA identfied several policy options aimed

at guiding the U.S. economy along a high-productivity, highskill path. Following such a path, the U.S. might compete in the

international economy on the basis of the skills and flexibility of

its workforce. Those policy options were grouped in three areas:

1) policies that would promote skills and technological knowand Policy

Options 1

“The only way American 

business is going to be

competitive is by having

a more skilled workforce

and changing the way

they organize work to

take advantage of

those skills and to

make workers more

productive”

William Brock

U.S. Secretary of Labor

1985-1987

1 U. S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment U. S.-Mem’co Trade: PuZfing

Together or Pulling Apart? OTA-ITE-545 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing

Office, October 1992).

1
2 | Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

how; 2) policies that would discourage low-wage

strategies; and 3) policies that would foster

worker participation and commitment.

This report, Pulling Together for Productivity:

A Union-Management Initiative at US WEST

Inc., builds on the 1992 assessment. Although the

competition faced by U S WEST, Inc. is domestic, rather than international, the company has

chosen to respond through a high-wage, highskill strategy. Because the participation and

commitment of workers and their unions has been

critical to the success of the Home and Personal

Services Division’s pursuit of a high-wage, highskill strategy, this report expands on the participative policy options from the U.S.-Mexico Trade

study.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

The Home and Personal Services (HPS) Division has increased revenues, reduced costs,

eliminated unneccessary work, and improved

customer service. Two long-term trends-an

increasing amount of uncollectible revenues

and lengthening customer waits to talk to customer service representatives—were reversed

during 1992 as a result of the partnership, and

the positive business results continued in 1993

(see table l-l).

The initiative has benefited the workers and

their unions. Worker morale and job quality

have improved, and jobs and wages have been

protected (in one job, wages have increased).

Rank-and-file union members are pleased that

the union has taken on a new role, increasing

communication and cooperation with management. As a result, rank-and-file members are

more active in their unions and organizing the

few nonsupervisory workers who do not already belong to the unions is easier than in the

past (see ch. 4).

Competition is increasing in residential telephone markets. The resulting pressures on the

company and job pressures on the workers led

initially to conflict in HPS. After a change in

Table 1-1. Chronology of Events in t he Home and

Personal Services Division of U S WEST, inc.

1987

1987

1990

1990

1991

1991

1992

1992

1992

1993

1993

U S WEST Communications created as a single entity

out of Mountain Bell, Pacific Northwest Bell, and

Northwestern Bell. Home and Personal Services

Division (HPS) created to serve residential telephone

customers.

HPS divides customer contact work into two jobsCustomer Service Representative and Credit Consultant.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA)

holds national marketing conference in Denver. CWArepresented employees of U S WEST, Inc. decide to

mobilize against what they called “sweatshop” conditions.

HPS business performance measures deteriorate.

Jane Evans assumes post of Vice President and

General Manager of HPS in April. In June, unions

present Evans with black balloons as part of mobilization; Evans asks unions to form partnership to change

working conditions and improve work processes.

In November, HPS, CWA, and the International

Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (lBEW) agree to

formal Memorandum of Understanding, protecting

workers’ jobs and wages while involving unions and

workers in Operation Bunts and Singles.

Joint union-management Bunts and Singles teams

and Job Design Team meet frequently. Process

changes suggested by Bunts and Singles teams are

implemented. Cross-training of Customer Service

Representatives and Credit Consultants begins in

preparation for implementation of job redesign.

U S WEST Communications and CWA agree to a

new, three-year contract in August. Contract calls for

joint union-management employee involvement and

quality committees at the corporate level and within

each business unit.

HPS business performance improves dramatically.

Opening of the Center for Customer Service, a

prototype of the Job Design Team’s vision, in downtown Phoenix.

Representatives from U S WEST Communications

and CWA, at the invitation of President Clinton, attend

a two-day seminar in Chicago on The Future of the

American Workplace. Business performance continues to improve.

Source: OTA, 1993.

management in 1991, and discussion within the

unions about what roles they should play, the

pressures led to a framework agreement for a

joint union-management partnership. This partnership has led to creation of about 30 joint
—.. ——

Chapter I-Summary and policy Options |3

union-management teams which developed

and helped implement incremental improvements in work flows. Another joint unionmanagement Job Design Team developed a

broader work reorganization. Both the incremental improvements and the broader work

reorganization involve a radical departure from

the company’s earlier efforts to improve quality

through narrowly defined measures of workers’

performance (see ch. 3).

Through the joint committees, workers played

an active role in improving computer software

systems, including those used to check customer credit and to distribute incoming customer telephone calls. With worker input,

software has been revised to allow greater

worker autonomy and improved customer service, combining the strengths of workers’ intellect and intuition with the data-handling capacity of the computers (see ch. 3).

The union-management partnership may be

sustained and expanded if potential conflicts

between the company’s plans for continued

centralization and downsizing and the unions’

desire to protect their members’ jobs can be

resolved. The Home and Personal Services

Division has been merged into anew unit, Mass

Markets and operations, which includes repair

and small business services, along with residential service. The joint union-management

Job Design Team in HPS has laid the groundwork for abroad work reorganization that could

help Mass Markets and Operations provide

greatly improved customer service. This work

reorganization is being tested in 1993 at a

prototype office in downtown Phoenix (see ch.

4).

Competition is increasing in many service

sector industries, and companies are faced with

a choice of either creating low-skill, low-wage

jobs or incorporating advanced technology and

increasing the responsibilities of workers. Service companies and unions that are interested in

taking a high-skill, high-wage approach may

find the successful union-management partnership at U S WEST, Inc. instructive.2

The joint success at U S WEST, Inc. adds to a

growing body of research suggesting that,

contrary to popular perception, the presence of

a union is usually associated with increased

productivity. But, when labor-management relationships are poor, unions seem to be associated with neutral or negative effects on productivity. 3 As unions begin to work more closely

with managements, they appear to encourage

effective types of worker participation initiatives (see ch. 2).

This case study is one of several examples,

including Xerox, Corning, and the Saturn

division of General Motors, in which unions

2 Other semice sector fms have had success with this approach. For example, one insurance company that created two kinds of broadly

skilled customer contact workers in 1980 found that productivity had doubled four years later, See U.S. Congress, OffIce of Technology

Assessment+ op. cit., p. 29.

3 D. Belmau ‘‘Unions, the Quality of Labor Relations, and Firm Performance, ‘‘ in L. Mishel and P. Voos, eds. Unions and Econom”c

Competitiveness (Armonk NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1992), p. 70.
.

4 | Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

and companies have moved away from their

traditional adversarial roles and have instead

worked together to increase company profitability and worker employment security. Research on two decades of worker participation

efforts suggests that the kind of broad approach

taken by these pioneering companies and

unions-e. g., combining gainsharing with employment security, extensive training of frontline workers, and eliminating layers of management—has a much greater impact on company

profitability than implementing a single form

of worker participation (see ch. 2).

Unionization levels in the U.S. have declined

dramatically over the past three decades, and

today unions represent only 12.7 percent of

private sector workers. Employer opposition is

one of the major factors contributing to the

decline in unionization. As unions become

increasingly involved in effective worker participation initiatives, the declining level of

unionization could limit the spread of such

initiatives (see ch. 2).

Unlike their counterparts in other major industrialized nations, the majority of U.S. workers

lacks any institution through which they could

engage in a dialogue with management to

improve productivity and quality. In other

nations, workers not only are more likely to be

represented by unions, but also have a second

channel of communication through works councils. These works councils, made up of worker

representatives and managers, are legally mandated and deal with a variety of nonwage issues

including work organization, technological

change, and training (see ch. 2).

Because worker involvement may lead to

sustained productivity improvement, but so

few institutions for worker involvement exist in

the U.S. economy, Congress may want to

consider strengthening unions and/or creating

works councils as complementary charnels for

worker voice.

FEMALE TELECOMMUNICATIONS JOBS

One of the joint union-management teams in

the Home and Personal Services Division of U S

WEST, Inc. has redesigned the jobs of the

predominantly female Customer Service Representatives. Workers in the redesigned jobs will

have more autonomy and enhanced skills to

provide more extensive customer service. This

broader job for mostly female workers runs

counter to the prevailing trends in telecommunications and in the service sector as a whole.

Since the late 1960s, almost all of the new jobs

in the national economy have been created in the

service sector. By 1992, 78 percent of all nonfarm

employees, or 85 million workers, were in the

service-producing sector.4 Service industries have

been characterized by low productivity growth,

low wages, and low levels of unionization over

the past two decades. Because it makes up most

of the national economy, slow growth in the

service sector was a critical factor in the slow

long-term productivity growth in the U.S. economy during the 1980s. National productivity

growth averaged less than 1 percent per year

during the 1980s. Following a brief upturn in the

early 1990s, national productivity growth fell

slightly in the frost quarter of 1993.5

Why is productivity growth so important?

Because, among other benefits, higher productivity permits employers to offer higher wages.

Throughout the 1980s, real wages and productivity stagnated in tandem. In the first quarter of

1993, with no growth in productivity, real hourly

compensation, after inflation, decreased slightly.6

The telephone industry provides a striking

exception to the rule of low pay and low

productivity in the service sector (see Box l-l).

4 Employmnt andEarnings, MY, ~W3, P“ 47”

5 Sylvia Nasar, “Factory Output Up in Quarter,” New York Times, vol. CXLII, no. 49,324, May 7, 1993, p. Dl,

6 Ibid.
.——

Chapter l-summary and policy Options |5

Box 1-1. High Productivity and Shrinking Employment

in Telecommunications

The telephone industry differs from other service sector industries in its high capital intensity and

its high rate of productivity growth.1 From 1951 through 1990, telephone communications (Standard

Industrial Code (SIC) Number 481 ) experienced average annual productivity growth of 6 percent per

year.2 In contrast, productivity grew at an annual average rate of only 0.1 percent in eating and drinking

places between 1958 and 1990 and at 0.5 percent per year in food stores between 1958 and 1990. In

1991, productivity y in telephone communications increased by 5.6 percent, while productivity in the total

U.S. economy, which is dominated by service-producing industries, grew only about 1 percent.

Productivity increases in the telephone industry reflect both the use of advanced technology and

a skilled workforce. Overt he past two decades, the introduction of direct dialing and electronic operator

systems drastically reduced the need for operators, while the use first of coaxial copper cable and later

fiberoptic cable increased the number of calls that could be transmitted over the network.3 The spread

of electronic switching and the increasing use of fiber optic cable have reduced the need for repair and

maintenance workers.

Despite increasing productivity, growing demand for telephone services continued to generate

new jobs in the industry during the 1970s and early 1980s. However, with saturation of markets,

introduction of labor-saving technology, and increasing competition following the breakup of AT&T in

1983, the number of jobs began to shrink. Total employment in telephone communications dropped by

nearly 20 percent between January of 1982, when it peaked at 1,082,100, and January of 1992, when

it reached 871,400.4

If current trends continue, the prospects for future employment, both in the telephone industry and

in the larger communications industry of which it is apart, seem bleak. The rapid growth of the cable

television industry created a spurt of jobs, increasing from 160,000 in 1975to 364,000 in 1990, but these

gains barely offset the job losses in the much larger telephone communications industry, so that total

employment in communications (SIC 48) grew only slightly, from 1,176,000 workers in 1975 to

1,311,100 workers in 1990. In the future, with saturation of cable television markets, the Bureau of Labor

Statistics projects slower job growth in radio and television broadcasting and cable television, averaging

only 0.9 percent per year. Taken together with projected job losses in non-broadcast communications

(most of which is accounted for by the telephone industry), BLS projects that employment will shrink in

the communications sector as a whole at an average annual rate of 0.9 percent between 1991 and the

year 2005.5

1 Mc~nWyGlo~ lnstit~e, Se~ce~cto~Pro~ctl~tY~shin@~, DC: McKinsey Global Institute, 1992),

p. E-3.

2 M. w. cu~q “producti~ty in industry and gov~n~nt, 1 m“A#cmth/yhWrF7eview, vol. 115, no. 6, June

1992, p. 51.

3 B-use it is so @t~-in@n~vq ~ch of the COst of pr~lng telepilone servkx cxmlesfrom OrOating and

maintaining the network. About 85 percent of labor costs are spent to lay cable and maintain the netwotk, while only

15 percent of iabor costs, including the iabor of directory assistance operators, varies with the amount of teiephone

traffio-McKinsey Giobai institute, op. dt., p. 3.

4 Bu~~~ Of ~~r ~atisticq unpu~ish~ @ta from Series EEU42481OO1.

5 M. L Carey and J-c. Fran~in, “industry output and job growth continues Slow into next Century,” Monthly

Labor Review, November 1991, p. 60.

Continued on nextpage
6 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Box 1-1. High Productivity and Shrinking Employment

in Telecommunications-Continued

The wild card in future communications employment is the developent of an information

superhighway, a nationwide telecommunications network that would be capable of transmitting

telephone calls, pay-per-view movies, interactive shopping and financial services, video games,

computer data, and educational programming to and from homes, businesses, hospitals, and

classrooms. If markets develop for this array of new communications services, new jobs would be

created. In addition, simply building and maintaining the massive new infrastructure required would

generate thousands of jobs.

Creation of an interactive network, with a fiber optic backbone supplemented by wireless systems,

high-speed digital switches, and digital compression, is already underway.6 Computer firms, cable

television companies, and telephone companies are forming joint ventures and testing consumer

response to such services in limited markets.7 The Clinton administration has proposed spending

approximately $1 billion on research to support development of a national interactive audio and video

network. However, critical issues of competition, costs, interconnectivity, privacy, and ownership of

information remain unresolved.

The seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) have proposed investing $125 billion

over the next seven years, increasing to $450 billion over the following 15 years in the development of

a nationwide information superhighway in exchange for freedom from current regulatory restrictions.8

Those restrictions prevent the Bell companies from offering long-distance services, conducting

research and development, manufacturing equipment, and from offering cable television programming

within their service areas. Cable television companies, long-distance phone companies, and publishing

firms oppose lifting the restrictions, arguing that it would allow the RBOCs to create new, multimedia

monopolies. However, the Communications Workers of America and the RBOCs point to a study they

commissioned which suggests that the companies would create about 1.68 million jobs-more than the

total currently employed in the communications sector-if the restrictions were lifted.

Inconsidering this proposal, it is important to note that not all of the 1.S8 million jobs would be new.

Some might otherwise be created by the long-distance or cable television companies. However, there

is little doubt that, if the RBOCsS made massive new investments in a nationwide interactive information

network, they would create a large number of new jobs, possibly providing new employment for surplus

telephone industry workers.

6 iJndertm High-Performance Computing Act of 1991, F% 102-194, Federal funds are being used to upgrade

existing Federal oomputer networks to bro@band capability as part of the envisioned national network See U.S.

Congress, Office of T@noiogy Assessment Advanced Network 7’bchno/oo—&w@round Paper, OTA-BP-TCT101 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Offioe, June 1993).

7 FCM ewpie, AT&T recently announced a trial with Vko~ the natiOn’S 12th-iargest Oatie televkion

systew testing videoawdsmand in northern California AT&T is also a partner with U S WEST, inc. and

Tde-Cornmunications, inc., in a Denver test evaluating consumer reqww to a 24-chanr@ ~y-p-~ew video

service. C. Sazycki, ‘6AT&T Pians Joint Test of Video System,” Wi?sM?@n Posf, June 2, 1993, p. F-1.

8 %eii Companies TeiiGore Government PoiicyChangssMkmid Aiiow$l 00 Biiiion increase in ‘infostructure’

Spending,” unpublished press reiease from the Communications Wxkers of America Aprii 15,1993.
Chapter l-Summary and Policy Options | 7

High productivity growth, averaging 6 percent

per year from 1951 through 1990, combined with

the bargaining power of unions, led to a median

nonsupervisory wage of $505 per week in 1990,

about twice the $250 median wage of nonsupervisory workers in other private service industries.7

However, the differential between wages in

telecommunications and other service sector industries are especially sharp in predominantly

female occupations, such as customer contact

employees in the Home and Personal Services

Division of US WEST, Inc., over 80 percent of

whom are female.8

Studies by the National Academy of Sciences

and the Census Bureau have shown that as the

percentage of females in an occupation increases,

average wages decrease, even in occupations that

are staffed by college graduates.9 In the unionized

telephone industry, such pay differentials have

been minimized.10 As a result, in 1990, nonsupervisory women employed in the telephone industry

earned close to the median weekly wage of all

full-time male workers in the economy ($462 per

week, compared with $485 per week), and earned

twice the median weekly earnings of all nonsupervisory women workers ($220 per week) in the

service sector.ll Thus, telecommunications jobs,

especially those which are primarily staffed by

females, can be seen as an island of highproductivity, high-wage work in a sea of lowproductivity, low-skill service-sector jobs.

In the growing nonunion part of the telephone

industry, a trend appears to be emerging. Companies have simplified and eliminated skilled technical jobs held mostly by males, while wages in

the remaining jobs, held mostly by minority

males and women, decline .12 This pattern is

similar to that in the service sector of the U.S.

economy as a whole. Service-sector firms are

increasingly relying on part-time and contingent

workers. Internal job ladders in service companies such as retail stores, banks, and telephone

companies have been dismantled, and the work of

those at the bottom (often primarily female) has

been simplified.13

Although they are currently highly paid, femaledominated jobs in the telecommunications industry may not remain so. Increased competition in

the industry-the same force that led to the

successful partnership at U S WEST, Inc.-has

led to a decline in unionization. Competitors in

local and long-distance telephone markets can

offer lower cost services both because they use

simpler, less expensive technology, and because

they are mostly nonunion, with lower labor costs.

Faced with such competition, AT&T and the

Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs)

have reduced union jobs and created new, nonunion subsidiaries. Taken together, the growth of

nonunion firms and the growth of nonunion

subsidiaries in the regulated telephone industry

7 R. Spalter-Roti and H. HartmanrL Women In Telecommunications: Exception to the Rule of Low Pay for Women’s Work (Washington

DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research 1992), p. 3.

8 Information provided by T. Huerter, U S WEST Communications, July 14, 1993. Nationally, about three-quarters of Customer Service

Representatives are female.

9 D. J. Treirnan and H. I. Hartman eds., Women, Work, and Wages: Equal Pay for Jobs of Equal Value (Washington, DC: National

Academy Press, 1981); Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, Money Income of Households, Families, and Persons in the

United States: 1987, Current Population Reports, Consumer Income, Series P-60, No. 162, February 1989.

]0 me pay dffmmtii-tk have not been el iminated; the 1990 wage for female workers was only 74.3 percent of the $622 median weekly wage

of nonsupervisory male telecommunications workers.

11 Sp~ter-Ro~ and Hartma~ oP. cit.! P. 18”

12 Sp~ter-Ro~ ~d HartKM~ op. cit., P. 18”

13 us< conDe5S, Offim of Tec~ology A5Kssment, /nrernariona/ Competition in Semices, OIA-ITE-328 (wz3Sh@O~ ~: U.S.

Government Printing OffIce, July 1987), pp. 227,286.
8 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

have caused the unionized share of the telecommunications workforce to shrink (see ch. 2).

In the future, if union strength continues to

decline, female-dominated telecommunications

jobs could become more like female-dominated

jobs in other service industries, requiring few

skills and paying low wages .14 However, the

success at U S WEST, Inc. points to a more

positive alternative for the future. In the Home

and Personal Services Division of U S WEST,

Inc., CWA and IBEW moved beyond simply

opposing wage differentials based on the gender

composition of occupations to actively working

with the company to increase the skills and,

potentially, the wages of female-dominated jobs.

If other unions and companies took a similar

approach, broadening the responsibilities and

skills of front-line workers, the productivity and

wages of predominantly female, service sector

occupations might increase.

POLICY ISSUES AND OPTIONS

In the current and upcoming legislative sessions, Congress may be considering a variety of

legislative proposals to involve workers in technology and competitiveness. Faced with growing

competitive pressures, companies are seeking

ways to involve workers in increasing productivity and quality. At the same time, the pressures on

workers and unions are leading many unions to

find ways to work with companies. And, some

labor relations experts believe that our current

system of labor law, grounded in the National

Labor Relations Act of 1935 and developed for

large-scale manufacturing enterprises, no longer

meets the needs of a national economy where

small firms and the service sector are increasingly

important. 15

Policy options that might address these issues

can be grouped into three broad categories: A.

Options to promote worker involvement in development and deployment of technology; B. Options to strengthen support for labor-management

cooperation; and C. Options to expand worker

voice (see Table 1-2). Policy options in the third

group that were included in OTA's previous

report, U.S.-Mexico Trade: Pulling Together or

Pulling Apart 16 

are noted with an asterisk.(*).

Issue Area A: Promoting Worker Involvement

in Development and Deployment of Technology

Congress may want to consider options to

involve workers in the development and deployment of advanced technology. These technologyfocused options, in combination with the options

to strengthen worker representative institutions

(Issue Areas B and C), could help create a new

synergy between workers and technology to

enhance competitiveness.

At US WEST, Inc., despite the increasingly

cooperative labor-management relationship, there

was very little worker or union input to the

deployment of new technology until quite recently. With union involvement, computer systems have been improved. For example, the joint

union-management Job Design Team designed an

interactive call distribution system, now being

tested, which allows workers to provide the types

of customer service they are most capable of

providing. This new system promises to better

balance the flow of incoming customer calls,

while increasing both customer and worker satisfaction (see ch. 4). However, in most companies

there are few avenues for worker participation in

14 For emple, ill the -% insurance, and real estate industries, where 85 percent of the nonsupemisory workforee is female, average

hourly earnings in April of 1993 were only $11.21 per hour, compared with average hourly earnings of $15.45 for telephone industry

worker+Employment and Earnings, vol. 40, no. 7, July, 1993, pp. 143, 145.

15 For example, see “Trade Unionism and Industrial Relations, ” by Thomas Kochan in Indusm”al Relations Research Association

Dialogues, vol. 1, issue 1, May 1993, p. 1.

16 U.S. Con=ess, ~lce of T~~ology Assessmen6 U.S. -Mem”co Trade, op. d., pp. 43-46.
-— —

Chapter 1-Summary and policy Options | 9

Table 1-2. Summary of Policy Options

This table includes policy options that appeared in OTA’S previous report, U. S.-Mexico Trade: Pulling Together or Pulling Apart? They are

noted with an asterisk (*).

Options Advantages Disadvantages

Issue Area A: Promoting Worker Involvement In Development and Deployment of Technology

1. Adopt the National Competitiveness Act Involving workers may increase the benof 1993 (S. 4/H.R. 820) as amended to efits of technology.

involve workers.

2. Adopt the Workers Technology Skills Increases workers expertise, encourages

Development Act (S. 1020). their cooperation in technology deployment.

3. Extend Federal technology and work Could improve productivity in services.

reorganization assistance, with worker involvernent, to the service sector.

issue Area B: Strengthening Support for Labor-Management Cooperation

4. Increase funding for the Federal Medi- Supports joint union-management comation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) mittees at the workplace, area, and indusgrants program, authorized in the Labor- try level and encourages their creation

Management Cooperation Act of 1978 (P.L. where they do not already exist.

95-524), and for the FMCS Preventive

Mediation program.

Issue Area C: Expanding Worker “Voice” for Increased Productivity

5. Establish Empioyee Participation Committees, where elected respresentatives would

consult with the empioyers on training, technology deployment, productivity improvement, and employment security.”

6. Establish rnuiti-empioyerEmpioyee Participation Committees in small firms and the

serivice sector.*

7. Extend union representation.*

7a Make discharge for unionactivity subject

to damage awards. ”

7b. “Instant” certification elections.*

7c. Permit supervisors to form their own

independent unions.*

7d. Foster “network unions” of workers in

vertically or horizontally linked firms.*

8. increase labor-management diaiogue by

expanding the list of “mandatory” subjects

of bargaining in the National Labor Relations Act.

Creates voice channels for workers not

represented by unions.

Improves job security and mobility ladders

for workers, while making it easier for firms

to locate qualified workers.

Expands channels for communication with

management and helps assure workers

that their interests will be protected if they

partisipate in productivity improvement programs.

Places rights to representation on a par

with other employment rights.

Reduces scope for confrontational campaign tactics.

Encourages supervisors to act as middlemen and team builders rather than

overseers.

Discourages suppliers from competing with

one another by cutting wages.

Promotes cooperation among workers in

companies that do business with one another.

Encourages employers and unions to discuss a broader range of business issues,

possibly leading to increased productivity.

Workers may lack expertise; worker input

could slow technology deployment.

Workers/unions may not want to cooperate

with companies. Could provide unfair advantage to companies whose workers or

unions receive expertise.

Size of service sector makes outreach

costly, difficult.

Helps only a few, unionized, firms.

Unions and employers might oppose.

Linking employers may be difficult.

Wages and/or job protections won by unions could reduce domestic and international competitiveness of U.S.-based

firms.

Could lead to costly litigation.

Some employers would object.

Higher-level managers might oppose losing authority over supervisors.

Shifting relationships among firms could

make it difficult to define network unions.

Use of “secondary pressure” could be a

blunt instrument for cementing relationships.

Both unions and employers might oppose

being required to negotiate over a broader

range of issues.

● For more discussion of these options see U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Asessment, U. S.-Mexica Trade: pulling Together or Pulling Apart?,

OTA-ITE-545 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, October 1992), pp. 43-46.
10 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

decisions about the development and deployment

of technology.

Option I: Adopt the National Competitiveness

Act of 1993 as amended to involve workers.

State and Federal roles in assisting small and

medium-sized manufacturing firms with new

technology have expanded over the past 10 years.

The National Competitiveness Act of 1993 (S. 4,

H.R. 820) would expand the programs of the

Technology Administration and its National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

within the Department of Commerce. Bills that

have passed the House of Representatives (H.R.

820) and been approved by the Senate Commerce

Committee (S. 4), would increase Federal funding

for development of new technology and for a

nationwide manufacturing extension system, linking State and Federal industrial extension services. These bills would also provide $240 million

during FY 1994-1995 to support development of

information infrastructure, such as the information highway discussed in box 1-1.

Recent amendments to S. 4 would direct these

Federal efforts toward better integration of hardware and worker skills. For example, the bill calls

for creation of a new Advanced Manufacturing

Technology Development Program directed by

the Commerce Department that will support

“technologies that build on and expand the skill

and experience of production workers. ’ The

amendments also call for inclusion of worker

representatives and labor unions on advisory

boards overseeing Federal technology programs.

Although including worker and labor representatives in decisions about new technology could

be time-consurning, and although workers may

lack the expertise to make optimal technology

discussions, the amendments to S. 4 might

improve technology deployment when viewed

over a longer time horizon. The amendments

require work organization to be an explicit subject

of extension work. Until recently, State and

Federal industrial extension programs focused

primarily on hardware, and were poorly linked to

other State programs aimed at helping companies

train workers and reorganize work for increased

productivity. 17 This provision of the bill will help

encourage Federal and State extension programs

to take a holistic approach to company competitiveness. State extension programs that have

involved front-line workers in developing plans

for introduction of new technology, such as the

Center for Applied Technology in Massachusetts,

have found that the approach benefits workers as

well as increasing company competitiveness.18

Option 2: Adopt the Workers Technology Skill

Development Act of 1993.

A bipartisan bill (S. 1020) under consideration

by the Senate Labor and Human Resources

Committee in September 1993 would attempt to

address some of the potential drawbacks of

greater worker and/or union involvement in

technology development and deployment. This

drawback is the unwillingness of some workers

and unions to cooperate with employers on

implementation of new technology, and the lack

of expertise they may bring to complex decisions

aimed at integrating hardware, software, and

human skills and abilities. Although large unions

like CWA and IBEW can organize themselves to

cooperate with management in a mutually beneficial way, and a large firm like U S WEST, Inc. can

provide its unions and workers with the information needed to improve technology, smaller

companies, local unions, and unorganized workers often need technical assistance. S. 1020 would

provide funds to educational institutions, labor

unions, worker organizations, and nonprofit

groups to educate their members about new forms

of work organization and the selection and

17 u,s. coWe~~, office of T&~olow ~~ssmen~ Worker Training: competing in t& New International Economy, 0~-~57

(Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing OffIce, September 1990), p. 148.

18 Ibid.
Chapter l-Summary and Policy Options I 11

implementation of new technologies. This educational process might encourage unions to become

less adversarial and to see the benefits of collaborating with firms. The funds would also be used

to link grant recipients with State and Federal

manufacturing extension services. One potential

drawback of such a program is that it would

provide funds to only a few worker and educational organizations, who would, in turn, help

only a few companies. This might place workers

and companies who had not received the technical

assistance at an unfair disadvantage. Nevertheless, enactment of this bill, which complements S.

4, might help to demonstrate the role of worker

participation in improving company competitiveness. Such demonstrations could, in turn, encourage similar efforts with private funding.

Option 3: Extend Federal technology and work

organization assistance to the service sector.

Federal and State technology and training

assistance have been focused primarily on the

manufacturing sector. However, as noted earlier

in this chapter, service sector firms provide most

Americans with their jobs today. Wages, career

ladders, and employment security in the service

sector are generally lower than in manufacturing.

Companies are generally smaller, making it

difficult for individual service firms to invest in

new technology, enhanced training and work

reorganization.

Congress may want to consider expanding

Federal technology and training assistance programs to the service sector. Such programs could

have a major impact on job quality, because the

quality of many jobs in the services is now so

poor. The drawback, however, is the high cost of

assisting the vast number of service sector fins.

In the much smaller manufacturing sector, extension programs to reach 7 percent of the Nation’s

small and medium-sized manufacturing firms

could cost about $500 million initially .19 The

service sector employs about four times as many

workers, so that the cost of reaching firms in this

sector might be about $2.0 billion; moreover,

given the small size of service firms, it might be

even greater. Given current Federal budget realities, a program aimed at the service sector might

be too expensive.

Issue Area B: Strengthening Support for LaborManagement Cooperation

Option 4: Increase Funding for the Federal

Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)

Grants Program and for its Preventive Mediation

Program.

Congress created FMCS as an independent

agency in the Labor Management Relations Act

of 1947, with the mandate to use mediation and

other forms of dispute resolution to promote

peace between organized labor and management.

Almost since its inception, FMCS has operated a

Preventive Mediation Program. In this program,

FMCS mediators help labor and management

resolve difficult issues, improve communications

and establish ongoing labor-management committees to deal with a variety of issues.

In 1978, as part of amendments to the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, Congress

approved the Labor-Management Cooperation

Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-524). The Act created

a grants program aimed at improving communication between labor and management in unionized companies and helping them develop joint

approaches to increased organizational effectiveness. Congress chose FMCS to implement this

grants program because of the agency’s success in

creating cooperative committees in the Preventive Mediation program.

Although Congress authorized $10 million for

the grants program, it has never been fully funded.

Throughout most of the 1980s, Congress appro19 us. conge~~, Offlce of T~~~l~gy ~s~smen~ U. S..Me~”co Tr~e, op. cit., p. 37; see &SO U.S. Congress, offIce of TdUIOIO~

Assessmen4 Competing Economies: America, Europe, and the Pacific Rim, OTA-ITE-498 (Washingto% DC: U.S. Government Printing

OffIce, 1991), p. 18.
12 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

priated about $1 million annually for the program.m.

In 1992, following the Bush administration’s

budget proposal, Congress appropriated no funds,

but in fiscal year 1993, funding at a level of

$750,000 was restored.

Despite its limited funding, this small program

has been quite successful in encouraging sustained labor-management cooperation among grantees. An internal study by FMCS in 1987 found

that, on the critical measure of whether cooperative efforts continue once Federal funds are gone,

the program has succeeded: 75 percent of

worksite labor-management committees funded

by FMCS were still operational. A more recent

telephone survey found that, of the 115 grantees

funded between FY 1981 and FY 1989, 90

continued to exist.m

The impact of these small grants can be seen in

the current initiative at US WEST, Inc. In 1985,

a new group of internal union and management

“Organizational Change Consultants” at what

was then Pacific Northwest Bell (now a part of

U S WEST, Inc.) received a $50,000

grant to support their work. This Federal support

helped the consultants form joint committees

which developed new training techniques and

broader jobs for installation and maintenance

technicians, translating into increased sales for

the company and increased job security for union

members These early SUCCESSES, in turn, en- improve -

ncouraged the union and management to sustain

and develop the group. This same group, now

called Joint Venture Associates, provided the

union consultant who has played a critical role in

the current initiatives in the Home and Personal

Services Division (see ch. 3).

Congress may want to consider increasing

funding, perhaps up to the originally authorized

level of $10 million annually, for the grants

program. In addition, Congress may want to

increase funding for the preventive mediation

program. Currently, there are 204 mediators

located throughout the Nation, many of whom

spend their time on preventive mediation activities. With additional training as facilitators to aid

organizational change, they could form the core

of an expanded network of facilitators, modelled

on agricultural extension agents, who would help

companies reorganize work and increase productivity through labor-management cooperation.

These extension facilitators could provide support to State and Federal industrial extension

services if Congress chooses to expand the

mission of industrial extension services to encompass work reorganization, as called for in the

amendments to S. 4 (see Option 1 above).

Issue Area C: Expanding Worker Voice for

Increased Productivity

Several factors point to the potential benefits of

strengthening institutions through which workers

can communicate with management (see ch 2).

Labor unions, which represented 31 percent of

privately-employed U.S. workers in 1970, represented less than 13 percent of private sector

workers in 1992. At the same time, pioneering

unions and companies, including CWA, IBEW,

and U S WEST, Inc., are increasingly demonstrating that it is possible to move beyond traditional

adversarial labor-management relations and to

improve company productivity and workers’

employment security through cooperation. Recent research suggests that unions are generally

associated with higher productivity when labormanagement relations are good. Given these

factors, as well as the possibility of encouraging

labor-management cooperation through the policy options outlined in issue areas A and B above,

Congress may want to consider options to strengthen

existing institutions representing U.S. workers

(i.e., labor unions) and to foster new institutions

for worker representation.

20 Federal Me&”ation ~~ Concjjjatjon Semjce Grants Program: Fy ]981-FY 1989 (Washington, ~: FMCS, 1992), p. 4.

21 M. L. Hj.ltoG “union and Management: A Strong Case fOr Cooperation” Training and Development Journal, vol. 41, no. 1, January

1987, pp. 54-55.
While some observers note that the lack of

independent institutions representing workers

constitutes a growing “representation gap, ”22 two

decisions by the National Labor Relations Board

have made the status of employer-initiated worker

participation institutions uncertain, In one case,

the NLRB ruled that employer-initiated unionmanagement committees were illegal because the

committees were created to avert a union organizing drive23, and, in the second case, because the

union was not involved in the creation of the

committees. 24 These NLRB decisions are rooted

in the National Labor Relations Act, which made

employer-sponsored unions, prevalent in the 1920s

and 1930s as employers sought to avoid union

organizing drives, illegal.

To examine alternatives for involving workers

in increasing national competitiveness, and because of the legal uncertainties arising from the

NLRB decisions, the U.S. Departments of Labor

and Commerce have created a Commission on the

Future of Worker-Management Relations. The

10-member commission, chaired by former Secretary of Labor (under President Gerald Ford)

John Dunlop, was commissioned in March of

1993, and is to report back to the Secretaries of

Commerce and Labor by May 1994. Its mission

is to address the following three questions:

1. What (if any) new methods or institutions

should be encouraged, or required, to enhance

Chapter I-Summary and Policy Options 113

workplace productivity through labor-managment cooperation and employee participation?

2. What (if any) changes should be made in the

present legal framework and practices of collective bargaining to enhance cooperative behavior,

improve productivity, and reduce conflict and

delay?

3. 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?25

To fill the U.S. representation gap, Congress

may want to consider a number of policy options,

which the Commission may also study. These

include creating a new mechanism for worker

voice-employee participation committees-and

strengthening the existing worker representation

institution-labor unions. (Options 5 through 7

below are drawn from U.S.-Mexico Trade: Pulling Together or Pulling Apart?)

Option 5: Create Employee Participation Committees. 26

In a recent report, OTA found that no more than

10 to 15 percent of U.S. firms had made a serious

commitment to worker participation.27 And, even

in these firms, employer-sponsored joint committees sometimes are short-lived. In nonunion

fins, and in firms where unions are left out of

worker participation processes, workers may not

22 The term was coined by P.C. Weiler, Governing the Workplace: The Future of Labor and Employment J!.Uw (Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press, 1990).

23309 NL,RB NO. 139, Dec. 16, 1992.

24 ~ Jme 199’3, he~~~ thats~ safe~ committees ad one fitness co~tt~creat~ by the DuPont company were illegal because

they were dominated by management and dealt with issues that should have been the subject of bargaining with the union. Frank Swobo@

‘‘DuPont Must Disband Workplac@ Committees,’ The Washington Post, Business, ‘Ibesday, June 8, 1993, p. D1. In December 1992, the NLRB

ruled that Electromatio% Inc., a nonunion firm in Indiam, had violated federal labor law by creating five action committees to discuss

absenteeism no-smoking policy, communication network, pay progression, and attendance bonuses. Richard N. Block “Employee

Participation Plans and the NLRA: Toward Making (Some) Sense from Electromatiou ” in Industrial Relations Research Association

Dialogues, op. cit., p. 1.

25 { ‘Co~sslon on tie Future of Worker/Management Relations Mission StAement, ’ (unpublished document from the U.S. Department

of Labor).

26 see us, ConWe5~, office of T~-mo]o~ Assessmen~ u, S. Me~”co Tr~e, op. cit., pp. Aq-a for further di5cU55iOn Of thiS OptiOn.

27 U.S. ConWess, Office of Technology Assessment U. S.-Mem”co Trade, Op. Cit., p. 43.
. . —.-

14 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

feel free to express their ideas within a managementinitiated committee. Another problem is that

worker participation processes are often aimed at

improving productivity. Lacking employment

security, workers may be unwilling to contribute

to improved work processes that could put them

out of a job.

To encourage more firms to involve their

workers, Congress might call for creation of

Employee Participation Committees (EPCS). These

entities would be somewhat similar to works

councils, which exist in most industrialized European countries (see ch. 2). There, workers in an

individual plant or firm elect representatives to

the legislatively mandated works councils.

In the U. S., EPCS might be given specific

consultation rights on business matters that affect

workers—such as training plans, design and

implementation of technology, company investment decisions, and plant and office locations.

These business decisions, which have a profound

effect on workers’ wages and employment security, are not usually subject to negotiation with

unions during collective bargaining (see option 9

below).

EPC representatives at each workplace could

be elected by vote of all employees (excluding top

managers). In unionized companies, union representatives might serve as EPC representatives. In

a multi-establishment firm, a company wide EPC

could be established, and workers could elect

representatives to this larger council on a plant-byplant basis or on a proportional basis from major

occupational groups. Elected representatives to

the EPC would need time off the job and the

financial resources to be effective.

The EPCS discussed in this option would be

consultative. In Europe, both the scope of works

activities and the depth of their power varies.

Where there are strong unions, as in Germany,

works councils are forbidden to strike or bargain

over wages. Where there are neither strong unions

nor other governmental structures to promote

uniform wages within industry sectors, works

councils powers are more like those of unions. For

example, in Spain, works councils have the right

to collectively bargain and to strike.28

In all European countries, works councils have

rights to consultation on matters such as major

new investment plans, acquisition and product

market strategies, work organization, use of

technology, and personnel issues. However, in

countries with strong labor unions, works councils enjoy deeper powers of co-determination.

This means that the councils must agree to

changes in wage-setting policies, allocation of

working hours, leave and vacation plans, and

other matters. Countries that give works councils

co-determination rights also provide mechanisms

for peacefully resolving disputes. These include

assignment of the dispute to special joint grievance committees, to an outside arbitrator, or to a

labor court.29

If Congress did choose to encourage or create

EPCS, the law would have to be carefully drafted

in a way that would not require employers to

create “employer-dominated worker organizaions,’ which are illegal under the National Labor

Relations Act. For example, the law could be

written to stipulate that, if a minimum percentage

of workers (perhaps 20 percent) in a single

workplace wanted to create an EPC, they could

petition the NLRB, which would hold an election

for worker representatives to the council.30 In that

case, EPCs would only exist in firms with strong

grass-roots demand for a council. Alternatively, if

the law were written to require creation of EPCS

at all companies with more than, say, 25 workers,

28 J. Rog=~ and w.s~=~t ‘Wo~~ce Rep~sen@tion oversew: The Works Councils story, ’ paper presented at WO~ Under

Different Rules Conference, Dirksen Semte Office Building, Washington DC, May 7, 1993, pp. 3-4.

29 fiid<

M J. R. Bel~cq ‘~n~~hployee Inforrnationand Consuhation Rights, “ inJ.F. BurtorL ed.,Industn”alRelationsResearchAssociation

Sen”es: Proceedings of the Forty-Third Annual Meeting, (h4ad.isoq WI: Industrial Relations Researeh Assoeiatioa 1993), p. 141.
it would be a mandate to employers and workers,

and both parties would have to staff the new

entities.

U.S. employers would probably oppose creation of EPCS as an intrusion on their right to

manage t-ho business. European employers routinely resisted legislatively mandated works councils, at least initially. However, once employers

there began to accept the works councils, the

councils helped to build increased trust between

employers and workers. The works councils also

increased information flows within the firm, and

helped to diffuse advanced technologies and new

forms of work organization. Works councils in

Europe also help administer government regulations, such as those governing workplace health

and safety .31

U.S. workers and unions might also oppose

creation of EPCS. A recent analysis of BLS data

confims the anecdotal evidence of layoffs and

declining job security for U.S. workers during the

1980s.32 Fears that discussions in the EPCS might

lead to productivity improvements that el.irninated their jobs might prevent many workers from

participating actively in works councils. Improved adjustment programs for displaced workers33 might help to overcome such fears. Unions,

too, might oppose EPCS, viewing them as a threat

to organized labor because they would provide an

alternative form of worker voice. However, the

rise of works councils in Europe does not appear

to have contributed to the decline in unionization

in Spain and France, while works councils in

Germany and Italy appear to have increased union

membership.w

Chapter l-Summary and Policy Options I 15

Option 6: Create multi-employer Employee Participation Committees in small firms and the

service sector .35

Institutions for worker representation could fti

an important role in small firms and in the service

sector of the economy. As noted above, wages are

low and upward career mobility is limited in

much of the service sector. Because individual

f- are so small, investments in recruiting and

training workers and work reorganization are

difficult to make. At the same time, worker

turnover is high, and employers often have

trouble finding qua.Med workers.

As discussed above, unionization is very low in

the service sector. One reason is that the traditional process to recognize a union-the election—

is too slow in high-turnover service sector fins.

One option to increase worker voice while

improving worker training and encouraging work

reorganization in services would be to create

multi-employer, geographically-based Employee

Participation Committees (EPCS).

Multi-employer EPCS would differ from single

fm works councils because they would involve

workers in promoting cooperative efforts across

fms rather than helping a single fm compete.

They could help link fms both vertically (between large companies and their suppliers ) and

horizontally (between small fms in the same

industry), and could encourage the formation of

industry and trade associations.

Such linkages of both workers and fms would

allow fms to share the costs of greater investments in training, technology deployment, and

work reorganization. At the same time, they could

31 Jap~ ~dat~ Worker health and safety committees within plants to perform a similar function. J. Rogers and W. S@eeCk ‘‘Workplace

Representation Overseas: The Works Councils Story,” paper presented at Working Under Different Rules conference, May 7, 1993,

Washington DC. p. 14.

32 K. s~mon md H. wijd, “IS Job Stability Declining in the U.S. Economy?” unpublished paper, July 1993, p. 1.

33 policy Optiom for a compreh~ive worker adm~ent pro~~ me out~~ fi u.s..~exico Trade, op. cit., p. 33. StX idSO U.S. CO~@S,

Off3ce of Technology Assessment, After the Cold War: Living with Lower Defense Spending, OTA-ITE-524 (Washington DC: U.S.

Government printing CMce, 1992), pp. 41-46.

~ Rogm and s~~~ 1993, op. cit.! P. 48.

M See us. CoWss, ml= of TechuoIoH Assessmen~ U.S.- h4em”co Trude, op. cit., pp. 46-47 for ~m discussion of ~oPtion.
. . .—

16 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

provide workers with upward mobility across

firms to help overcome the limited availability of

internal job ladders within service sector fins. A

model for this exists in the unionized construction

industry, where collective bargaining contracts

set aside a portion of negotiated wages for

apprenticeship and journeyman training. Contractor associations and unions jointly manage these

negotiated training programs, which provide

skilled workers to all participating fins.

Multi-employer EPCS

36 might be based on

broad occupational groupings, such as retail food

service workers, custodial workers, and clerical

workers. The NLRB could supervise elections to

the EPCS from all establishments in a local area.

Alternatively, the EPCS could be workerinitiated; if a certain fraction (say, 10 percent) of

employees within a broad occupational group

requested formation of an EPC within their

geographical area, the NLRB would supervise an

election of representatives.

U.S. employers would probably oppose creation of multi-employer works councils. Small

firms and service sector firms in the U.S. typically

operate quite independently of each other. Many

owners of small firms choose not to join trade or

industry associations, and might not see any

benefit from linking their workers with workers in

related fins. Unions might also oppose multiemployer EPCS for the same reason that they

would oppose single-employer EPCs—because

they would provide an alternative vehicle for

worker voice.

Option 7: Extend union representation.

Although consultative EPCS would extend and

help institutionalize worker voice and participative management, they would not perform the

functions of independent labor unions. For example, works councils in Germany are part of a

mandated system of co-determination which involves unions as partners with companies at all

levels, from the worksite to the board of directors.

There, works councils support collective bargaining between companies and unions by relieving

the bargaining process of tasks to which it is not

well suited.37 Similarly, in the U. S., collective

bargaining in the auto, steel, and telecommunications industries has led to creation of ongoing

joint union-management institutions which deal

with worker training, occupational health and

safety, employee involvement, and other issues.

However, like the German works councils, these

institutions are seen as an adjunct to, rather than

a substitute for, traditional labor unions.

Reaffirrmin g the Wagner Act’s protection of

workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively could encourage unions to work more

closely with firms in increasing productivity.

Today, many union leaders and rank-and-fde

members are reluctant to participate in productivity-increasing joint activities because of the

fear that such activities will reduce the number of

union jobs. Currently, the law and its implementation make organizing new members very difficult

(see ch. 2). If unions saw that the law and its

enforcement made it possible to organize new

members in new companies and industries, they

might be more willing to work with firms, even if

one result might be downsizing. If Congress

chose to reaffirm the Wagner Act, it could do so

in a variety of ways.

Option 7a: Make discharge for union activity

subject to damage awards .38

At present, the only remedies available to

workers fired for pro-union activity during a

certification campaign are reinstatement and back

36 ~~ Pwagqh is dHNVII from Howard Wial, “The ~er@g~g anizational Structure of Unionism in Imw-Wage Services,’ forthcoming

in Rutgers L.uw Review, vol. 45, no. 4, Summer 1993.

37 J, Rogas and WT. s~~~ “Wo@~ce Repre~n@tion @ersem: me wor~ COUXXilS Story,” paper present~ at work@ Under

Different Rules conference, Washington DC, May 7, 1993, p, 5.

38 See U.S. Conmss, HW of Technok-jgy Assessment U.S. -Mm”co Trude, Op. cit., pp. 45 fOr Wer dis~ssion of ~oPtiom
pay. Discharged workers have no right to sue for

damages because of the loss of a house or car, nor

can they collect punitive damages. This is in

contrast to the steady broadening of employees’

legal rights to sue in cases of wrongful dismissal

and in other cases, such as employment discrimination, violation of the right to privacy, and age

discrimination. This option, which would increase the penalties for labor law violations,

might prevent the use of discharge to deter

workers from forming unions.

Option 7b: Instant elections.39

Holding union certification elections shortly

after unions filed petitions—perhaps within five

days, as in British Columbia and Nova Scotia—

would reaffirm the right to organize. In considering this option, Congress would have to decide

whether employers should continue to have a

central role in workers’ decisions to form an

independent union. If employers felt that their

constitutional rights to free speech to employees

had been violated, they might be allowed to

request the NLRB to delay counting the ballots

while their charges are being investigated. Such

delays in counting of the ballots would not have

the negative impact on union attempts to organize

that current delays do.

Option 7c: Extend the protections of the NLRA to

supervisors .40

In participative workplaces, such as the Home

and Personal Services Division of U S WEST,

Inc., the supervisor’s role undergoes a dramatic

shift. Instead of sergeants on the company’s side

in an adversarial setting, first-line supervisors act

as team builders, facilitators for problem-solving,

and skills development. But, if supervisors are

part of management, they can be forced to

implement negative policies that discourage worker

cooperation. Allowing supervisors to form their

Chapter l-Summary and Policy Options | 17

own, independent bargaining units would insulate

them horn higher management and might encourage the transition to more participative organizational practices.

At U S WEST, Inc., both higher-level management and unionists agree that first-line supervisors need to play a bigger role in the growing

number of joint initiatives. Management and

unionists are working well together, but supervisors are often left out. They are expected to adopt

their new, cooperative role, but are given little

guidance and support. If they had their own union,

they might be more naturally drawn into the

cooperative process of work reorganization.

Option 7d: Foster network unions of workers in

horizontally and vertically linked firms.41

The telephone industry is becoming part of a

larger, predominantly nonunion, communications

industry. While this trend holds the promise of

increasing communications among, and the productivity of, companies, people, schools, and

hospitals throughout the Nation, its impacts on

workers are uncertain. To give employees of the

rapidly developing interactive media industry as

well as employees in other industry sectors, such

as those comprised of many small supplier firms,

more representation and more security, Congress

could encourage the formation of network unions.

As tighter relationships between telephone, cable

television, and computer companies blur their

separation, worker representation might also become more unifled.

One way to promote this would be to permit

unions and firms to sign contracts that would bar

joint ventures with, or investments in, companies

that refuse to stay neutral in union certification

campaigns. For example, the cable television

industry, which is involved in several joint

ventures with unionized telephone companies,

has opposed union organizing attempts.

39 see us. coWe~s, office of T~Wolo~ Assessment, U.S. Me~”co Tr~e, op. cit., pp. A5W for fllllher dkCUSSiOn Of ~S OptiOn.

40 See us. CoWss, ofim of TechoIo~ Assessmen4 U. S,-IUem”co Trude, op. cit., p. 46 fOr tier ~scussion of ~oPtiono

41 See U,S. Conwss, office of Technology Assessment U.S. -iUem”co Trade, op. Cit., p. 46 fOr tier @cussion of W oPtion.
. .

18 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

At present, labor-management contracts that

would prevent such joint ventures are illegal

under Section 8(e) of the Taft-Hartley amendments. The only exception under this law is a

clause that permits a union and an employer in the

construction industry to agree that the employer

will ‘‘cease doing business with any other person” (meaning nonunion contractors). This

clause might be extended to other industries,

including communications.

With such a policy change, workers in the new

multimedia industry might choose to form unions, which could help promote the increased

training and work reorganization that lead to

increased productivity and higher wages.42

Option 8: Expand the scope of collective bargaining.

U.S. unions have been interested in playing a

bigger role in company decisions at least since

World War II. Following increased cooperation

during the war years, management representatives to the President’s National Labor Management Conference in 1945 proposed that ‘‘certain

specific functions and responsibilities . . . are not

subject to collective bargaining, ” and union

leaders rejected this proposal. After a wave of

strikes in 194546, management granted major

economic concessions to unions, but refused to

concede on the management rights issue.43

Unions grudgingly accepted their limited role,

which was made more acceptable by the fact that,

during the post-war era, profits, productivity and

wages were all increasing. Some unionists now

prefer to bargain only over wages, hours, and

working conditions. They see their role as protecting their members from management decisions, rather than participating in those decisions.

However, other unionists are working with companies through a variety of joint committees and

ongoing nonprofit institutions, such as as the

CWA-IBEW-AT&T Alliance for Employee

Growth and Development, a joint training institution. These joint committees and institutions are

usually created in collective bargaining.

At U S WEST, Inc., collective bargaining was

expanded beyond the usual, three-year contract.

In November 1991, outside the normal time frame

for triennial, company-wide contract negotiations,

the Home and Personal Services Division, CWA,

and IBEW negotiated and reached agreement on

a Memorandum of Understanding which established the broad parameters of a joint partnership

(see ch. 3). This Memorandum of Understanding

was in addition to the contract provisions negotiated by the parties in 1989, which remained in

force.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, companies are required to provide information to

unions and to bargain with unions on only three

subjects—wages, hours, and working conditions.

On only these subjects must the employer and

union bargain “to impasse’ with the possibility

of a strike if agreement cannot be reached. But,

these three subjects do not reach the heart of the

many business decisions-on plant location,

introduction of new technology, mergers, acquisitions, and layoffs-that have a great impact on

most workers’ employment status.

Congress may want to consider expanding the

mandatory subjects of bargaining. Three subjects

that might be included on the list are introduction

of new technology, plant closings and layoffs, and

training. Requiring employers and unions to

negotiate over these subjects might also enhance

union organizing (see options 7a-d above). Unions that were involved in the broader issues

affecting workers might be more attractive to

potential new members than those that stick to the

narrow, bread and butter issues that have made up

42 ~ Apfi~ 1993, wages for nompiWV workers in the cable television industry averaged $10.92 pa hour, comPar~ to av~ge wages

of $15.45 per hour in telephone cornmunications--=%pioyment andEarnings, vol. 40, no. 7, July, 1993, p. 143.

43 s, Bar@ $~~ and S@leUfionism: ~ A&quate Basis for Ufion @b?” in G. Strauss, D. GaUagh~, and J. Fiorito, d., The

Stare of the Unions (M.adisoxL Wisconsin: The Industrial Relations Research Associatio~ 1991), p. 353.
Chapter I–Summary and Policy Options 119

the basis for U.S. unionism. CWA has found at

U S WEST that its broader role makes it

more attractive to new members. A more drastic

change would be to eliminate the current distinction between mandatory and permissive subjects,

and make all subjects mandatory.

This option represents a radical departure from

U.S. tradition. Although unions have begun to

play a much larger role in companies such as U S

WEST, Saturn, Corning, and Xerox, most companies reserve their right to make decisions through

management rights clauses in collective bargaining contracts. Many U.S. managers have experienced unions primarily as adversaries, and see

them as interfering with, rather than helping to

enhance, profitability. At the same time, some

unionists may prefer to remain adversarial, while

other union members and leaders may feel they

lack adequate resources to participate in business

matters. However, the growing number of successes, such as the joint venture between HPS,

CWA, and IBEW, may slowly begin to change

management and union attitudes toward each

other. These successes offer a promise that U.S.

firms and workers will begin to pull together in a

way that sustains long-term productivity throughout the economy.
Labor,

Management,

and Unions 2

T

his chapter provides context for the case study discussed

in the following chapters and for the policy options that

have been outlined in chapter 1. The cooperation of two

unions, the Communications Workers of America (CWA)

and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers @EW),

with the management of U S WEST, Inc. has been critical in

improving profitability at that company.

The chapter describes the changing fortunes of unionism and

its decline in the workforce as a whole and in the telephone

industry in particular. Some of the key laws and judicial

decisions that have affected the ability of workers to organize are

briefly summarized. The chapter then turns to some of the costs

and benefits of unionism, and notes that the available evidence

does not support the notion that unions are antithetical to

technological change or responsible for such recent macroeconomic problems as declines in national levels of productivity or

employment. These problems have arisen during a period of

rapid decline in unionization.

At the level of the individual firm, unions are associated with

reduced profits. However, unions are generally associated with

higher productivity. The reasons for the link between unionization and higher productivity are unclear. For decades, U.S.

unions focused primarily on winning wages and benefits for

workers through adversarial collective bargaining and periodic

strikes.2 However, since the 1970s, unions have become increasingly involved in joint union-management efforts to increase

1 R. Marshall, ‘‘Work Organization, Unions, and Economic Performance,” in Unions

and Economic Competitiveness, (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1992), p. 287.

2 B. Bluestone and I. Bluestone, Negotiating the Future: A Labor Perspective on

American Business (New York NY: BasicBooks, 1992), p. 16.

“...histricalexperienc

in the U.S. and abroad

is that work organization

choices are closley

related, and have

important implications

for, other economic and

social policies. ''1

Ray Marshall

U.S. Secretary of Labor

1977-1981

21
22 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

worker participation. Recent research suggests

that such worker participation initiatives are more

likely to create sustained productivity and profitability improvements for companies when a union

is involved.

The chapter notes that, although unions are

usually associated with higher productivity, when

labor-management relationships are poor, unions

are associated with neutral or negative impacts on

productivity. Thus, the quality of the labormanagement relationship appears to be the primary influence on how the presence of unions

impacts company performance.

The chapter ends with a discussion of whether

workers need more ways to engage in dialog with

management.

THE CHANGING FORTUNES OF UNIONISM

IN THE UNITED STATES

In the U. S., workers have formed labor unions

primarily to change the balance of power between

management and labor. U.S. unionism has waxed

and waned since the last century. A 10-year

boom-and-bust cycle began with the boom of

crall unions in the 1880s and ended with a very

steep decline in union representation in the 1920s.

The onset of the Depression, accompanied by

disillusion with big business and its leaders,

changed the social and then the legal climate early

in the 1930s and set the stage for another round of

union growth. Congress passed the NorrisLaGuardia Act in 1932 and the National Labor

Relations Act (NLRA; also known as the Wagner

Act) in 1935 (box 2-l). John L. lewis created the

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), broadening unions beyond the craft unionism of the

American Federation of Labor (AFL). Under his

leadership and that provided by other highly

effective organizers, labor unions grew again.

With President Roosevelt’s imprimatur, labor

became associated with the Democratic party and

the unions took on some of the voter organizing

roles of faltering big city political machines.

After World War II, unionism declined again.

The electorate was disillusioned by inflation and

shortages. There were massive strikes, and in

1946, after 14 years of Democratic control, the

Republicans gained the majority in both Houses

of Congress. Congress passed the Taft-Hartley

Act in 1947, which outlawed the organizing

methods such as secondary strikes that had been

successfully used in the 1930s, and which made

the establishment of new unions more diffilcult

(see box 2-l). By making secondary strikes and

mass picketing illegal, Taft-Hartley reinforced

the weak enforcement provisions of the Wagner

Act. The judicial system also restricted union

activities. In the 1969 Boys Market case the

Supreme Court ruled to limit the legal period for

strikes to the interval between contracts. In

Gateway Coal v. United Mine Workers in 1974,

the Court further restricted the justification for

walkouts (box 2-1).3

As shown in figure 2-1, union membership in

the U.S. declined gradually from 1950 to 1975

and then began to drop more sharply. The

percentage of all unionized private sector workers

fell from 31 percent in 1970 to 12 percent in 1989,

and the percentage of unionized blue collar

workers fell from more than 50 percent to less

than 25 percent in the same period.4 In 1992, only

11.5 percent of private nonagricultural wage and

salary workers belonged to labor unions, while a

slightly higher 12.7 percent of these workers were

3 The above discussion draws heavily on T. Geoghegan Which Side Are You On? (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1992).

4 R. Freeman, "Is Declining Unionization of the U.S. Go@Bad, or Irrelevant?’ in Unions and Economz”c Competitiveness, (Armonk,NY:

M. E. Sharpe, 1992), p. 143.

5 Under the NLRA, majority unions are legally required to represent all workers within a bargaining unit whether or not they are union

members. In right-to-work states or where negotiated as part of the bargaining agreement, individuals within the unit may choose not to join

the union and not to pay dues. Thus the fraction of workers represented by unions is higher than the fraction of workers who are members. The

percentages are from Employment and Earnings, vol. 40, no. 1, January 1993, p. 239.
——-. .——

Chapter 2–Labor, Management, and Unions |23

Box 2-1. Major Laws and Judicial Decisions Affecting Organization of Workers

in the United States Since the 1930s1

1932 Norris-LaGuardia Act

Severely limited the power of Federal courts to issue injunctions in cases involving strikes and other

labor disputes. Prohibited enforcement of yellow dog contracts (pledges signed by workers that they

would not join a union as a condition of employment). This Act facilitated the growth of the labor

movement in America by eliminating earlier penalties that might be suffered by workers who participated

in strikes, sit-ins, etc.

1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA; also known as the Wagner Act)

Established the right of workers to form unions, and created the National Labor Relations Board

(NLRB) to oversee administration of the new law. Empioyers could stiil choose to voluntariiy recognize

a union when a majority of workers favored one, and the new law provided a mechanism for resolving

disputes when the position of the majority vis-a-vis representation by a union is in question. in such

cases, the law requires campaigns and representation elections run by the NLRB in which workers vote

whether or not to be represented by unions. The NLRB certifies a group of workers as an appropriate

bargaining unit for election purposes.

This law specifies and prohibits unfair labor practices including employer interference with the right

of workers to organize, establishment of empioyer-dominated organizations (e.g., company unionsinternal groups organized and controlled by management), discrimination against union members,

refusal to bargain, and discharge or discrimination against workers who file charges of violations of the

act.

Sanctions for violations of this law are limited: enforcement requires petitions to the U.S. Court of

Appeals. A worker fired for union activity is only due back wages, reduced by any wages that the NLRB

determines that the worker should have earned in any jobs worked during the period before he or she

is owed reinstatement (and it is incumbent on the worker to seek another job.

1 Drawn from B. Bluestone and 1. BluestOne, fffegotiathg 7%e Futufe: A Labor %rs~tlve on A~*~

Business (New York, NY: Basic Books, 1992), R. B. Freeman and J. L. Medoff, MWatf30 Unkms Do? (New Yorlq NY:

Basic Books, Inc., 19S4), and T Geoghegan, V#ich Side Are You On? (New YW NY: Penguin Books, 1992).

(Continued on next page)

represented by labor unions,5 Union losses have early 1950s, followed by less decline in recent

been particularly great in the Midwest with the

decline of such heavily unionized industries as

steel and machinery. Losses in the Chicago area

alone in the 1980s totaled more than 50,000 union

members.6

Unionization in the telephone industry has

followed a different pattern from the national

trends, with mass organizing in the late 1940s and

years. Organizing began in the late 1800s, led by

the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

(NBEW), the predecessor to today’s International

Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). The

NBEW organized telephone operators as well as

the telephone linemen whose skills were similar

to those of the electrical utility and electrical

construction workers that made up the majority of

6 T. Geoghegan, Which Side Are You On? (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1992), pp. 232-3.
. . . . . .

24 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Box 2-1. Major Laws and Judicial Decisions Affecting Organization of Workers

in the United States Since the 1930s-Continued

Over the last two decades, employers have increasingly disputed union representation. Election

campaigns, union certification by the NLRB following elections, and achievement of a collective

bargaining contract have all taken an increasingly long time.2

1947 Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act)

Outlawed mass organizing, including mass picketing, and secondary strikes (strikes against a

business that is not the strikers' employer) outlawed closed shops (workplaces requiring that new hires

already be members of a specific union) and allowed states to pass right-to-work laws. Created the

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), an independent Federal agency, to promote labor

peace. Made unfair labor practices enforceable against unions as well as employers. Required the

NLRB to seek injunctions from the courts for union violations. Penalties were substantial-treble

damages and jail. Collective bargaining agreements were now considered legal contracts, making

unions responsible enforcing compliance of their members with the terms of the agreement. Suits

could be brought against unions whose members went on strike when an agreement containing a

no-strike clause was in force.

This law made methods used in the 1930s to organize major industries such as steel and

automobiles illegal.

1959 Landrum-Griffin Act

Mandated democratic practices in unions by requiring elections at fixed intervals. Guaranteed

union members opportunity to nominate candidates and run for office and prohibited use of union funds

to support electlon of a particular candidate. Required disclosure of union finances and constitutional

provisions, as well as disclosure of the financial status of union leaders.

This Act mandated democratic practices within unions but neither facilitated nor inhibited efforts

to organize workers into unions.

1969 Boys Market Case

Supreme Court ruled to enforce no-strike clauses in contracts, even if these clauses were only

implied. Effectively, Boys Market made strikes by union workers illegal except in the brief period

between labor contracts (which are generally negotiated for three- or four-year periods).

1974 Gateway Coal v. UMW

Supreme Court continued the trend of Boys Market. Required miners to continue working even

when there are safety lapses. Walkouts allowed only in emergency conditions.

.

2 [n ~nt~~ t~ 1~~, Ww ~~em~yers ag~ ~ ~Wnt dections, most employers now demand

stipulated eleotions. Stipulated elections require the NLRB to resolve unfair iabor practbe chaliengestothe eisotion

at the national ievei, and most take more than two months to complete. Riohard Prosten and Sheldon Friedman,

“HOW Come One Team WI Has to Piay With its Shoelaces Tied Together?” paper presented to the industrial

Relatbns Researoh Association Spring Meeting, Seattle, Wash., Aprii 29,1993.
—.—. . . . . . .

Chapter 2–Labor, Management, and Unions |25

Figure 2-1. U.S. Union Density 1950-1992

Nonagricultural Wage and Salary Workers

25-

F 20-

8&Q_ 15-

10-

“~

5-

1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990

SOURCE: J. Rogers and W. Streeck, “Workplace Representation

Overseas: The Works Councils Story,” paper presented to the Working

Under Different Rules Conference, Dirksen Senate Office Building,

Washington, DC, May 7, 1993. Data from Troy and Sheflin, Appendix

A: Employment and Earnings.

its membership. 7 However, organizing was

slowed due to internal divisions within the union

between 1908 and 1914, and by the antiunion

backlash following World War I.

During the 1930s, in response to organizing

drives by the IBEW and unions affiliated with the

CIO, American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T)

and many of the local Bell telephone operating

companies created internal employee associations, or company unions. After passage of the

NLRA, independent telephone unions challenged

the existence of these associations before the

NLRB and won. For example, an NLRB ruling in

the early 1940s ordered the dissolution of the

Southern Association of Bell Telephone Employees.

8 Subsequently, employees of most of the

companies voted to join unions affilated with the

National Federation of Telephone Workers (NFTW).

Although the NLRB certified these unions, the

companies refused to bargain with them. Finally,

in 1947 the NFTW launched a nationwide strike

against the Bell System, and the companies

agreed to negotiate. After the strike, the NFTW

changed its name to the Communications Workers of America (CWA). By 1950, most nonsupervisory workers in the telephone industry were

represented by unions.

Today, unionization in the telephone industry

remains quite high compared with the national

average. CWA represents about 410,000 telephone workers nationwide, while the IBEW

represents about 82,500. As shown in figure 2-2,

these totals reflect a decline from representing 63

percent of the workforce in 1983 to 47 percent in

1991 (the percentage of workers who were union

members fell from 56 percent in 1983 to 43

percent in 1991).9 This decline reflects both the

rapid growth of nonunion telephone companies

since divestiture, and the creation of nonunion

subsidiaries by AT&T and the RBOCs as they

enter unregulated business markets. The decline

is not due to a change in occupational structure

toward more supervisory workers who are not

eligible to join unions under the NLRA. As shown

in figure 2-3, the percentage of employees in the

telephone industry counted as nonsupervisory

held constant from 1983 to 1991.

Although unionization has declined in all

major industrialized countries, union density

levels in Europe and Canada reached much higher

levels and declined much less than in the U.S.

(figures 2-4 and 2-5). Union membership is

especially high in some of the Scandinavian

countries, Unionization of nonagricultural workers stood at 85 percent or more in Sweden,

Finland, and Denmark and 61 percent in Norway

in 1986-87. In comparison, union membership of

nonagricultural workers in the U.S. dropped from

31 percent in 1970 to 17 percent in 1986-87.

7" The Electrical Workers Story. ” (Washigton, DC: International Brotherhood Of Electrical Workers 1990), P. 22.

8 R. Batt ,‘Work Reorganization and Labor Relations in Telecommunications Services: A Case Study of Bell South Corporation” draft

paper prepared for the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 1993, p. 17.

9 The data set used to obtain these figures are described in B. T. Hirsch and D. A. MacPherson ‘‘Union Membership and Coverage Files

from the Current Population Surveys: Note, ” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol. 46, no. 3, April 1993, pp. 574-577.
26 I Pulling Together for Productivity y: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Figure 2-2. Contract Coverage and Union Membership Densities in the

Communications Industries, 1983 and 1991

Membership Density

Contract Coverage Density

Membership

Contract Coverage

Density

Density

Membership Density

Contract Coverage Density

Telegraph mlsc

I 1983

Radio broadcast TV cable

1 ❑ 1983

1991

I

1 !

I 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 I 1 1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Percent

SOURCE: Deseribed in B. T. Hirsch and D. A. MaePherson, “Union Membership and Coverage Files from the Current

Population Survey: Note,” /ndustria/ and Labor Relations Review, vol. 46, no. 3, April 1993.

Union membership has also declined somewhat

in Japan but the drop is considerably less than in

the U.S. As figure 2-5 shows, union membership

in Japan dropped from 35 percent in ‘1970 to 28

percent in 1986-87.10

Several factors, including changing industry

structure and workforce demographics, employer

opposition, and weak penalties for violation of

labor laws, have contributed to the steep decline

in union membership in the U.S. over the last 20

years. Changing industry structure has contributed to the decline as major U.S. manufacturing

industries that were heavily unionized, such as

autos and steel, shut down plants and laid off

workers, while traditionally nonunion service

industries and occupations grew. At the same

time, unions have traditionally been dominated

by men, whereas the workforce is increasingly

female. However, numerous studies have found

that shifts in industrial and occupational structure

and employment of women account for no more

than one-quarter to one-third of union growth or

decline in the U. S., Canada, Japan, and the United

Kingdom.ll The membership of CWA is slightly

more female than male.

10 R. Marshall, ‘ ‘Work organization, Unions, and Economic performance, ‘‘ in Unions and Economic Competitiveness, (Armonk NY: M.

E. Sharpe, 1992), p. 298.

11 G. N. Ctison ~d J. B, Rose, “me Macr~ete rminants of Union Growth and Decline,’ in G. Strauss, D. G. Gallagher and J. Fiorito,

eds., The State of the Unions (Madi.sou Wisconsin: Industrial Relations Research Association 1991), p. 16.
Chapter 2–Labor, Management, and Unions I 27

Figure 2-3. Percent Nonsupervisory Workers in the

Communications Industries and in Telephone Alone

100,

90

{

80-

70-

60-

50-

40-

30-

20-

10-

0’

■ 1983 ❑ 1991

Communications Telephone

SOURCES: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,

Supplement to Employment and Earnings, August 1989, pp. 207-208

for 1983 data; U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,

Employment and Earnings, August 1992, p. 143 for 1991 data.

One hypothesis is that the difference between

the U.S. and other countries in unionization rates

might be due to less interest in unions among U.S.

workers. For example, surveys show that Canadian workers express a higher overall demand for

unions than their U.S. counterparts.12 However,

the same surveys show that about 70 percent of

the difference in unionization rates between the

two countries can be explained by lack of

supply—that is, a large fraction of U.S. workers

express a desire for union jobs, but are unable to

obtain them. That there is an unmet demand in the

U.S. for union membership is confirmed in other

survey research showing that union representation is desired by 30 - 40 million nonunion

American workers, compared to the approxiFigure 2-4. Trends in Unionization, 1970-1988

Europe, Japan, and the U.S.

90

80

70

,*

s 60 1

3

1

30

20

10 u s

1970 1975 1980 1985 1988

NOTE: Europe includes Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France,

Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the

U.K. Last shown U.S. union density is for 1990.

SOURCES: J. Rogers and W. Streeck, “Workplace Representation

Overseas: The Works Councils Story,” paper presented to the Working

Under Different Rules Conference, Dirksen Senate Office Building,

Washington, DC, May 7, 1993. Labor force data from The Economist,

Book of Vital Statistics, 1990, pp. 194-195; union density data form J.

Visser, ‘Trends in Union Membership,” OECD Employment Outlook,

July 1991, pp. 97-134.

mately 16 million workers who are now members

of organized labor. When the question is framed

more as a query for or against representation

rather than desire for union membership per se,

the number of workers who feel they suffer from

a representation gap grows to about 80 million.13

Comparisons of unionization with Canada are

particularly interesting, because the two countries

share a similar culture and living standards, and

because their economies are closely linked.14

Although union representation in the two countries followed a similar trend from the 1920s

through the 1950s, Canada did not follow the

]2 w. c. ~dd~~, ‘cufio~mtion fi c~~ ~d be ufit~ states: A ‘r’~e of Two co~~es, ‘‘ in D. Card, ‘‘Small Differences that Matter:

Labor Market Institutions, Policies, and Outcomes in Canada and the United States,” paper presented at Working Under Different Rules

Conference, Dirksen Senate Offke Building, WashingtoXL DC, May 7, 1993, p. 21.

IS See J. Rogms and W. Streeek, “Workplace Representation Overseas: The Works Councils Story,” paper presented at Working Under

Different Rules Conference, Washington, DC, May 7, 1993, p. 2, footnote 3 for the polls providing data that support these statements.

14 D. cad, ~~s~ Dfiere~~~ ~t ~tter: ~~r M~ket ~ti~tions, Poficies, and Outcomes in canda and the United StWeS, ” Op. Cit.,

p. 1.
28 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Figure 2-5. Nonagricuitural Union Membership as a Percentage of All Nonagricultural

Wage and Salary Employees from 1970 to 1986/7

—

100

i

g. ■ 1970

80

70

60 1

40

1

30

20

10

0 I

Us.

❑ 1979

—II 1986/7 –-

iI,:,: Canada

II —

U.K. Germany Denmark

SOURCE: R. Marshall, “Work Organization, Unions, and Economic Performance,” in Unions and Economic

Competitiveness (London, England: M. E. Sharpe), 1992, p. 298.

subsequent pattern of sharp decline in the U.S.

During the 1960's through the 1980s, union

representation in Canada continued to rise, and by

1989, Canadian union density was 36.2 percent,

double the U.S. rate. The divergence in unionization rates is due to differences in labor laws,

employer opposition, and union organizing activity between the two countries.15 The Canadian

system relies largely on signed membership cards

for union recognition. Where a vote is necessary,

it is expedited. In contrast, the U.S. certification

process requires election campaigns, which can

be lengthy.

In the U. S., employers can delay elections; for

example, by disputing the union’s definition of

the bargaining unit, which must be accepted by

the NLRB before workers can vote on whether or

Japan

not to unionize. Analysis of about 200,000 NLRB

elections between 1962 and 1991 (more than 95

percent of the representation elections held in this

period) showed that union victories dropped on

average about 2 percent/month through the first

six months of delay. When less than a month

elapsed between filing and election, the union

won 57 percent of the elections; the percentage

dropped to 47 percent when the election occurred

between five and six months after petition.l6 Free

speech rights give employers access to workers

both individually and in groups to argue against

unions whereas union organizers can be prohibited from entering the property of employers

whose workers they wish to unionize.17 In a

recent Supreme Court decision (Lechmere), employers have been allowed to deny organizers

15 MWhy, 1988; ~~n and Rose, 1990, cited in Chaison and Rose, op. cit., P. 21o

16 R. ~osten ~ds.Fri_ c ‘How co~ OW Te~ still ~S TO Hay Witi Its sh~~ces Tied ‘Ibgether?, ” paper presented at bdushhl

Relations ResearchAssociation Spring Meeting, Seattle, Wash., Apr. 29, 1993, p, 7.

17 R. Pmsten and S. FriedmarL 1993, Op. Cit., p. 12.
Chapter 2–Labor, Management, and Unions I 29

access to areas of company premises open to the

general public, such as shopping center parking

lots.

Penalties for employers who violate the Wagner Act by firing workers because they express

support for unionization are light-such workers

are entitled only to back pay reduced by an

amount that the NLRB determines the worker

should have earned in any jobs the worker obtains

in the period before reinstatement. One recent

estimate is that 1 in 20 of those who express

support for the union is fired.18 Finally, union

victories in elections do not invariably result in

collective bargaining contracts. After election of

a union, 22 percent failed to secure such an

agreement and a further 13 percent were only

briefly covered.19

THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF UNIONS

Orthodox economics holds that unions reduce

market allocative efficiency by driving wages

above free market levels, which in turn reduces

employment below free market levels.20 However, most recent studies find unions are associated with higher productivity, offsetting at least

some of the costs of the higher wages that result

from collective bargaining. Neutral or negative

effects on productivity associated with unions

generally occur when labor-management relationships are poor. Thus an important factor in

evaluating the costs and benefits of unions

appears to be the relationship between workers

and management; the quality of that interaction

influences whether a union will enhance or

diminish productivity.21

Although collective bargaining increases wages

beyond market levels, some analysts argue that

some market inefficiency may be an acceptable

price to pay for the social benefits that unions can

provide. Among these are the tendencies of

unions to stabilize the workforce by lowering

turnover and to foster savings because union

workers tend to favor fringe benefits such as

pensions and health insurance. Unions tend to

lower wage inequality associated with racial or

gender differences, between labor and management, and across firms involved in similar business,

22 As noted in chapter 1, male-female wage

differentials in the unionized telephone industry

are much lower than in nonunion service sector

industries.

Another effect of unionism is reduced profits,

whether or not wage increases are offset by

increases in productivity.

23 Futher, expenditures

for R&D, a significant factor in future competitiveness, have been found to be lower in union

plants. One reason for the reduced R&D expenditures may be that unions are more common in less

research-intensive industries; or it could be that

the lower profits associated with union plants

mean that fewer dollars are allocated to R&D.

18 PC, Wefim, Governing the workpl~~e: TheF~f~re ~f~borandEmployment ~W, (Ctiridge, Mass.: Fkv~d u~VerSi~ PRXS, 1990),

p. 238 or 239.

1P R. Prosten and S. Fnedmaq 1993, Op. Cit., p. 15.

20 me effect of ~om on wages ~s been ~1~ be ‘ ‘monopoly wage’ face of ~o~sm and it has been contrasted with the Collective VOiCe

face of unionism. (See R. B. Freeman and J. L. Medoff, What Do Unions Do? (New York NY: Basic Books, Inc., 1984)). Monopoly wage

terminology is not used here because unions do not meet the criteria of true monopolies. (See Lipsky and related discussion in P. A. Greenfield

and R. J. Pleasure, “ ‘Representatives of Their Own Choosing’: Finding Worker Voice in the Legitimacy and Power of Unions, ” draft for

inclusion in B. Kaufman and M. Kleiner, eds., Employee Representation: Alternatives and Future Directions (Madison: Industrial Relations

Research Association 1993, p. 18.)

21 D, Belmaq ‘‘Utions, tie Quality of Labor Relations, and Firm PeIfO~~Ce, ‘‘ in L, Mishel and P.B. Voos, eds., Unions and Economic

Competitiveness, (ArmordG NY: M. E. Sha.rpe, 1992), p. 70.

22 See R. B Fr=~ and J. L, Medoff, w~t D. unions Do? mew Yo&, ~: Bmic BOOkS, kc., 1984) ~d R. B. Freeu 1992, Op. Cit.,

pp. 143-169.

23 D. Bel~~ $ ‘unions,the Quality of Labor Relations, and Firm peIfOMXMce, “ in Unions andEconomic Competitiveness, (Armo~ NY:

M. E. Sharpe, 1992), p. 70.
30 | Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

The effects of unionism on nonunionized

workers appears to be x-nixed. That the social

benefits of unionism spread beyond unionized

plants is clear from some of the Japanese transplant auto companies. One way that management

counters attempts to organize some of the transplants is to provide the same wages and benefits

found in UAW plants. Thus, in highly unionized

areas, the effect of unions on wages tends to spill

over to workers who are not unionized. One

estimate is that wages of nonunion workers in the

same geographic area increase about 5 percent for

every 10 percent increase in those who are

unionized. On the other hand, there is also some

evidence that nonunion females and nonunion

minority males experience higher levels of unemployment and/or lower wages in a unionized area.

The net effect of unionization on the nonunion

workforce is unclear.24

It has been argued that unions inhibit introduction of new technology, but the available evidence on this point is negative. The presence of a

union seemed to have no effect on technological

innovation in textile machinery, computerized

technology, microelectronic applications, or advanced manufacturing technology, based on data

collected in the U. S., Britain, and Canada.25

There is no evidence that unions have been

responsible for recent U.S. macroeconomic problems of unemployment and inflation. Indeed,

these have increased while union membership has

declined. 26

A significant benefit that a union can provide

is a channel of communication with management;

that is, a collective voice for workers.27 A t

minimum, this communication may provide means

to resolve differences and an alternative to

quitting the job when a worker is very dissatisfied. In the best situations, a union gives workers

a means to work cooperatively with management

to solve workplace problems.

Over the past two decades, unions have increasingly used their worker voice role to improve their members’ employment security and

wages by cooperating with companies for improved competitiveness. Such cooperation is a

departure from unions’ traditional adversarial

role in collective bargaining, and some union

leaders continue to view management as the

enemy. Nevertheless, joint labor-management

programs have now been established at approximately half of all unionized workplaces.28 Embracing the collective voice role, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union has

helped Xerox rebound from near bankruptcy to

win the Malcolm Baldridge quality award in 1988

and double its share of the U.S. copier market by

1992.29 The American Flint Glass Workers, in a

partnership with Corning, have dramatically improved ceramics quality. The UAW, in cooperation with NUMMI and Saturn, is producing

high quality cars and gaining U.S. market share

(see box 2-2). The CWA-IBEW-US WEST

initiative described in the rest of this report adds

to the growing number of successful unionmanagement partnerships.

~ R. B. Freeman and J. L. Medoff, 1984, op. cit., pp. 158-161.

25 J. H. K&fe, ~ ~~ u~o~ fider Tw~olo@c~ -e?” ~ um”o~ a~Econo~”c Conlpetifiveness, (London, England: M. ~.S-,

1992), p. 112-124.

26 R FKKXIMq 1992, op. cit. p. 154.

27 ~wmn ~d Medoff, op. cit., p. 6.

28 E. Appel~~ ~d R. Bat~ Hjgh-Pe@~nce work system: A~rican Models Of workplace ~an~or??ldoll, (wdlk@OQ ~:

Economic Policy Institute, 1993), p. 51.

29 U.S. COW., ~lce of T~Jmolo~ As~ss~nt, U.S,.MGico Tra&: p~ling Together or Pulling Apart?, OTA-~545 (v?mhillgt(l~

DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, October 1992), p. 44.
—

Chapter 2–Labor, Management, and Unions ! 31

Box 2-2. NUMMI and Saturn: Two Successful Worker Participation Initiatives

California-based New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) arose from an auto plant closed

by General Motors Corporation (GM) in 1982 because it was not competitive. The Fremont, California

plant’s productivity ranked among GM’s poorest, quality was low, and absenteeism, drug and alcohol

abuse high. Strikes and sickouts closed the plant four times between 1963 and 1982 and the grievance

backlog often numbered more than 5,000. In a joint GM-Toyota venture, the plant was reopened in 1984

to produce Toyota Corollas under the Nova name. Under an agreement with the UAW signed in

September 1983, 85 percent of the workers were selected from those laid off from GM-Fremont. By

1986, productivity at NUMMI exceeded that of any GM plant and nearly equaled Toyota’s Japanese

plant. Quality was also the highest among GM plants, approximating the Japanese level.

Critics of union-management cooperation at NUMMI have described the system in 1988 as

management by stress.1 They argued that Toyota controlled the joint venture, that team leaders were

selected by the company based on their attitudes and willingness to convince workers to adopt company

goals, that the pace on the assembly line was too fast, and that the company put undue pressure on

workers to achieve perfect attendance. Their study of the plant also suggested that union

representatives lacked adequate time to conduct union business and that the problem-solving

procedure (which is used instead of a grievance procedure) worked in favor of management.

Despite these criticisms, the majority of UAW--represented NUMMI employees continue to support

the joint venture. Today, absenteeism has dropped from between 20 and 25 percent to between 3 and

4 percent, while participation in the employee suggestion program has grown from 26 percent in 1986

to 92 percent in 1991. The fraction of workers describing themselves as satisfied or very satisfied2 in

response to company surveys has risen steadily to more than 90 percent.

The contradiction between the criticisms and workers’ apparent satisfaction may be explained in

part by several factors. First, management has honored its commitment to a no-layoff policy included

in the original contract with the UAW. In 1988, poor sales of the Nova brought capacit y utilization down

to 60 percent. Instead of being laid off, workers were given training.3 The Nova was phased out, and

the plant began building Corollas, Geo Prizms, and, beginning in late 1991, Toyota trucks. This kind of

employment security was a welcome change to the workers who were laid off between the closing of

the GM-Fremont plant in 1982 and the opening of NUMMI in 1984.

Second, the union protested management’s selection of team leaders, and union and management negotiated a joint union-management selection process, based on objective tests and

performance criteria. Finally, and perhaps most important, management recognizes that sustained

productivity and continuous improvement depend on workers’ motivation. As a result, management and

union continually discuss and negotiate decisions, primarily at the shop floor, but also at higher levels

of management.4 Thus, although the work is highly structured and standardized, along the lines of

Taylorism,5 worker motivation has been maintained. This is because analysis and structuring of the work

1 M. Parker and J. Slaughter, Chooshg Skfes: Unbns and the Team Concept (Boston, Mass: *uth End

Press, 1988), p. 100.

2 p. S. Adier, “Ti~-And-hfotion Regained,” Harvard BuWess l?evbw, Jan.-Feb. 1988, p. 99.

3 Ibid., p. 102.

4 ibid., p. 108.

5‘~ay&ism,” or the ~entific ~nage~nt of work Invoives bre~ng a job Into simple steps that can b8

performed in standardized ways. The terms derives from the time-and-motion studies conducted by Frederick W.

Tayior in the early 1900s.

(Continuedon next page)
32 I Pulling Together for Productivity y: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Box 2-2. NUMMI and Saturn: Two Successful Worker Participation Initiatives+ontlnued

is done by workers who have been trained by industrial engineers in techniques of work analysis and

improvement rather than by the engineers alone.6

The Saturn car is the product of GM’s first new division in 66 years7 and was a bold gamble,

proclaimed at its inception as “the key to GM’s long-term competitiveness, survival, and success.”8

Saturn was explicitly undertaken to leapfrog the competition posed by Japanese auto makers. In this,

it faced formidable obstacles, not the least of which was widespread belief among Americans that

Japanese cars greatly exceeded the quality of cars made by American companies.g

In both NUMMI and Saturn, worker participation and Involvement are emphasized. In both

companies, workers are grouped in teams that are responsible for organizing their work and setting

standards for its accomplishment. In both, the number of job classifications is drastically reduced (from

about 100 to 4 at NUMMI), as are management perks. workers at both plants are also assured a high

level of job security.l”

Saturn has gone much farther than NUMMI in changing traditional labor-management relationships in the auto industry. Fundamental to this change is the greatly expanded role of the union, the

United Auto workers(UAW). While at NUMMI union participation occurs mostly on the shop floor, at

Saturn it occurs at all Ievels of management. Team Ieader Saturn are elected by workunitsorthmugh

union designed elections while at NUMMI they are selected by union and management.11 Even

formulation of the plan that led to Saturn involved extraordinary union participation beginning with the

GM-U/WV Study Center that was formed in 1983 to identify new ways to build small cars in the U.S. The

study group, or Committee of 99, consisted of 55 union members selected by the UAW and 44 from GM

management. The group spent a year reviewing both technical questions and labor-relations issues in

the U.S., Germany, Japan and other countries and developed the plan submitted to the GM Board and

the leadership of the United Auto Workers that outlined production of the Saturn car.12

At the Saturn plant, the Committee of 99 implemented changes that covered the range of

automotive industry corporate culture-from human resources to engineering. Innovations included

consensus management, a platform system that replaced the traditional assembly line, a continually

negotiable agreement that replaced the standard, fixed termination date collective bargaining

agreement, and job security guarantees for at least 80 percent of employees. Union involvement in

decision making is pervasive and includes hiring of workers as well as managers, training, engineering

design decisions, selection of suppliers and subcontractors, selection of dealerships, development of

advertising and marketing strategies, and recall decisions. All workers receive financial and cost

6P. S. Adler, q). dt, p. 97-103.

7 E. Coh~-RoWnthal, Khlenting Labor-Management Cooperation Toward Revenue and Growth,” ~~fhnd

ProducWtyl?evlew, Auturrm 19S5, p. 394.

8 J. B. Treese, “Here Comes GM’s Saturn,” Business *A@ 9, Igwt p. ~.

~ [~d.

10 R. Marsh~[, ‘t~rk organ~ation, unions, and Economic performance, ill u~b~s W?d ~@!1017?/0

ConpetWeness, (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1992), pp. 302-305.

11 Ibid, pp. 304.

12 B. B{~~~e and 1. Bl~~~e, ~~t&t/~ tfi ~utu~:A ~r~~s@ot/vw on Amdcan &J~tWSS (hkW

Yodq NY: Basic Books, 1992), p. 192; E. Cohen-Rosenthal, “Orlentlng bbor-Management Cooperation Toward

Revenue and Growth,” ~at/ona/~rMwtlvl~Retiew, Autumn 19S5, p. 394.
.— —— —

Chapter 2–Labor, Management, and Unions |33

information, which enables everyone to participate in developing ways to increase efficiency and

revenue generation.

As one pair of researchers summarized the Saturn experiment, “Nothing on the American scene

in the field of Iabor-management relations compares with the Saturn project’s sharp departure from the

traditional mode of collective bargaining. Among the most penetrating modern day experiments in joint

action at almost every level of managerial decision-making, it represents the most far-reaching

innovative development in all U.S. industry.”13 Some analysts believe that the Saturn system, with

worker participation at all levels, is more like worker participatory systems in Europe, and more viable

in the U.S. than the Japanese-modeled system at NUMM1.14

One measure of success of Saturn is that in the year15 after the car went on sale it ranked sixth in

customer satisfaction, just below luxury cars costing three times as much.16 In the 1992 Customer

Satisfaction Index (aJ. D. Powers survey), Saturn was rated the best domestic nameplate in customer

satisfaction and third among all nameplates.t7 Despite the company’s sales success, the high costs of

the advanced technology used in the plant, and high start-up costs made the division a net loss to GM

until recently. In May 1993, Saturn achieved its first monthly operating profit.18 Saturn management is

determined to have the division at least break even, if not make a profit, during 1993.

13 B. Blltestone and I. BlueStone, Mgotiatlng the Future: A La&or PerspecWe on Amekan Bu@ness (New

Yom NY: Basic Books, 1992), pp. 200-201.

14 R. Marshall, op. cit., p. 305.

15 Saturn cars went on sale in October 1990. Jack O’Toole, U/W/ Advtsor for People Systems, Saturn

Corporation, telephone interview, June 10, 1993.

16 D. Wodrti, “AtSaturn, What VWrkers Want Is . . . Fewer Defects,” Business W&4 Deo. 2, 1990, p. 117.

17 Jennifer B. Graham, Community/Media Relations, (kWpOrate Communioatkms, Saturn @rporathn,

telephone interview, June 10, 1993.

18 N. Ttn-tplirl, “GM’s Subsidiary Is Fighting for its Future,” VVa//SfreetJourna/, vol. 226, no. 116, June 16,

1993, p. B-4.

EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT PROGRAMS IN agement. Overall, these approaches to increasing

UNION AND NONUNION SETTINGS

Over the last several decades, the search for

sustained productivity growth and profitability

has driven both union and nonunion companies to

try a variety of approaches to involve their

workers in increasing productivity and quality.

These approaches have included financial incentives, tr aining programs, and a variety of worker

participation programs, including job redesign,

quality of worklife programs, quality circles,

socio-technical systems, and total quality manworker motivation and participation have caused

only modest improvements in company performance, and have never spread widely across the

national economy .30

Recent research suggests that the disappointing

results of worker participation programs thus far

may be attributed to their limited scale and depth.

For example, skill-based pay, profit-sharing, and

guaranteed employment security might motivate

workers to contribute their ideas and effort, but

without intensive training, they may lack the

qo T. Bailey, “Discretionary Effort and the Organization of Work: Employee Participation and Work Reform Since Hawthorne”

(unpublished paper for the Sloan FoundatiorL 1992), p. 25.
34 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

skills to make a large contribution to company

performance. And, if the company fails to also

reorganize work, even highly skilled, motivated

workers may lack an appropriate vehicle through

which to make their contribution.31

Another factor in the lack of effectiveness of

most such experiments may be that redesign and

other worker participation programs in most U.S.

companies are directed by management, with the

help of technical experts, but with little or no

input from front-line workers .32 One recent study

identified two different types of worker participation: consultative, which gives workers a voice in

management decisions; and substantive, which

allows workers to make decisions over certain

production issues. This study found that worker

participation initiatives were more likely to produce long-lasting productivity increases when

they involved substantive rather than consultative

arrangements. 33 The presence of a union may

encourage this more substantive worker participation.

Another study confirms that most employee

involvement programs are ineffective; however,

the presence of a union seems to increase their

effectiveness. This work used a nationally representative random sample, stratified by size, of

more than 1,000 large and small firms the U.S.

machinery and metalworking sectors. The study

used three indicators to evaluate the effects of the

presence or absence of employee participation

programs, the presence or absence of unions, and

whether the firm was single or multibranch. The

three indicators were: employment security of

production workers; access of blue collar workers

to acquisition and use of skills associated with

new technology-a measure of access to training;

and, efficiency as measured by lower machining

time per unit of output. Across the two types of

firms, they found that unions had either a neutral

or positive effect on employment security while

employee participation programs decreased employment security. Employee participation programs had a positive effect on training only if

unions were also present in the firm On the

critical question of whether manufacturing performance improved as a result of employee

participation, they found that such programs

made both single and mulitbranch firms less

efficient, adding a third more production time per

unit of output compared with plants having

neither employee participation programs nor

unions. The presence of a union offset the adverse

effects of employee participation programs; the

combination of a union and an employee participation program approximated the base case in

both single and multibranch firms with neither

unions nor employee participation programs.

Unions alone significantly enhanced efficiency in

multibranch firms but had little effect in single

plant firms.34

The researchers noted that employee participation programs tend to be found in large, multi-unit

organizations, perhaps to counter the effects of

excess bureaucracy. However, they hypothesize,

the collaborative employee participation programs themselves become part of the bureaucratic

structure, taking time away from productive work

without producing new methods and thereby

adding futher to costs.

Another study supports these findings about

the positive effects of unions on company performance. The study reviewed the literature on a

variety of workplace innovations affecting work

organization and employee compensation. The

31 Ibid., pp. 32-39,

32 J. Mc, “WIIO Desi~ work: Organizing Production in an Age of High Technology,” Technology and Society, vol. 12, 1990, p. 316.

33 D, ~v~ and L.D. ‘I@q “Participatio~ Productivity, and the Firm’s Environment “ in A. Blinder, cd., Paying for Productivity

(Washington DC: Brookings Institution 1990), pp. 203-204.

34 M+ R. Kelley ~d B. fi~u t ‘Unions, T~~olo~, ~d ~~r.mgem~t coo~mtioq’ in unio?Is and Econonu”c competitiveness,

(Lxmdom England: M. E. Sharpe, 1992), pp. 247-277.
——— -..

innovations included quality circles, quality of

worklife programs, team production systems,

gainsharing, profit-sharing, and employee stock

ownership plans. The researchers found that team

production systems and gainsharing tended to

have the strongest positive effects on company

performance, while employee stock ownership,

profit-sharing and quality circles tend to be least

effective. 35 The more effective forms were more

likely to be found in unionized companies. Only

one of the less effective innovations, profitsharing, appeared to be more common in a

nonunion environment.36,37

Employee involvement programs have tended

to focus on cost containment, but employees can

also make a positive contribution to revenues by

aggressively seeking sales, making suggestions

for new products, and engaging in other activities

that promote business growth.38 As discussed in

chapter 4, joint union-management commitees at

U S WEST have developed new products and are

looking for new markets. In addition, the Saturn

automobile manufacturing company described in

box 2-2 supports the potential value of fully

involving workers in all corporate activities up to

and including strategic planning.

DO U.S. WORKERS NEED MORE VOICE?

An individual worker in the United States has

few options when dealing with management.

Chapter 2–Labor, Management, and Unions | 35

Only for workers with exceptional skills is the

sole threat available, that of quitting, a significant

one. Unions give workers an alternative to

quitting when they find the conditions set by

employers unacceptable by providing a collective

voice to argue for better wages, hours, or working

conditions.

In most advanced industrial nations, including

Japan and most Western European countries,

labor unions as mechanisms for collective bargaining over wages are supplemented by a second

charnel for worker voice that institutionalizes

rights of workers to collective participation in

fins’ broader production concerns and facilitates

communication between labor and management.

Inmost European countries, these second charnel

mechanisms take the form of legislatively mandated works councils.39

There are several reasons to think that U.S.

workers have inadequate voice, beyond simply

pointing to the small percentage of the workforce

that is represented by unions and the lack of any

type of second channel mechanism. Some observers believe that, as one of the fundamental rights

in a democratic society, workers should be able to

participate in decisions that exert a major influence over their working lives. However, features

of current U.S. labor law sometimes prevent such

participation. In addition, the primary weapon at

unions’ disposal in an impasse with employers is

35 G~~~ad ~rofit.~~g ~ bo~ bonus ~~~ Wherecoprate g~Me s~d ~~ employees. me bonuses are wOn Company

profits in profit-sharing. In gainsharing, they are based on other measures of performan ce, such as improved productivity or quality. For more

extended deftitions of these and other forms of workplace innovation see the glossary in A. E. Eaton and P. B. Voos, ‘‘Unions and

Contemporary Innovations in Work Organization Compensation+ and Employee Participatio~ in Unions and Economic Competitiveness,

(Armonlq NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1992), pp. 208-210.

36A, E, Eaton andp. B. VOOS, ‘ ‘Unions and Contemporary hmovations b work mgtition, Compensation and Employee Participation

in Unions and Econom”c Competitiveness, (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1992), pp. 173-215.

37 Eaton ~d Voo.s ~onducred an extensive @ySis of me fitera~e. me measmes of eff~tiveness vfied widely, depending on ~OSX used

by the primary researchers. Examples are reduction in the number of labor hours to build a car, reduced supervisory labor, and cost savings

from work area and work redesign. Details are provided by Eaton and Voos.

38 E. Cohen-Rosen~, ‘~enting Labor-M~g~ent Cooperation Toward Revenue and Growth, ” National Productivity Review, Autumn

1985, p. 385.

39 J. Rogers and w. s~~c~ “workp~ce Representation Overseas: The works COUIICilS StO~, ” paper p~sented to he ‘ortig ‘rid=

Different Rules Conference, Washington, DC, May 7, 1993, pp. 1-2.
36 | Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

the right to strike, while workers in a nonunion- small establishments.40 Options to increase worker

ized firm can only quit. Both threats are often voice are discussed in chapter 1.

ineffective, especially for low-wage workers in

@R. J. Adams, ‘Universal Joint Regulation: A Moral Imperative, “ in Industn”alRelations Research Association Sen”es, Procee&”ngs of the

Forty-ThirdAnnual Meeting, Dec. 28-30, 1990, Washingto~ DC, pp. 319-323.
Bunts,

Singles, and

Hitting for a

Home Run 3

u

rider a Federal consent decree designed to eliminate the

former national telephone monopoly, AT&T was divested of its local bell operating companies in 1983.

Seven Regional Holding Companies, RHCs, including

U S WEST, Inc., were created. Each RHC owns a

Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) to provide telephone

services. To prevent the re-emergence of telephone monopolies,

the consent decree prohibited the RBOCs from several activities.

Although some of these restrictions have been lifted, the RBOCS

are currently prohibited from manufacturing telecommunications equipment, from providing long-distance service, from

conducting research and development, and from providing video

programming in their local service areas.

US WEST, Inc. includes both an RBOC-U S WEST

Communications-and four much smaller unregulated subsidiaries involved in international ventures, cellular communications, financial services, and marketing resources (such as

Yellow Pages). A total of 63,707 people were employed by U S

WEST, Inc. at the end of 1992, and about 39,600 of these were

covered by contracts with CWA and IBEW.l Most of the

unionized workers are represented by CWA, but about 700 are

covered by IBEW contracts.

Almost all of the unionized workers are employed by US

WEST Communications. The one exception is U S WEST

Direct, a subsidiary that publishes White and Yellow Page

directories and employs about 500 union workers.

U S WEST Communications operates in 14 western States. It

is made up of three regions, which were formerly Bell Operating

"W3 will be extremely

sensitive to our existing

customers, because we

know that our greatest

strength lies in holding

onto our $8 billion

revenue stream. ”

Tom Bystrzycki

Vice Presdent

MaSS Mfukts snd @Cll!tiOIIS

u S WEST communications

1 Michael H. Cimini, Susan L. Behrmanq and Eric M. Johnsow “Labor-Management

Bargaining in 1992,” Monthly, vol. 116, no. 1, Janwuy 1993, p. 25.

37
38 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Companies. The Eastern Region, formerly Northwestern Bell, includes Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota. The central

region, formerly Mountain Bell, includes Idaho,

Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico,

Utah, and Arizona. The Western region, formerly

Pacific Northwest Bell, includes Washington and

Oregon.

U S WEST is highly profitable with what was,

until recently, a guaranteed revenue stream from

its regulated telephone monopoly. Although the

company reported a net loss of $614 million due

to a change in accounting for projected retiree

health care and disability payments in 1992,

profitability returned in 1993.2 During the first six

months of 1993, U S WEST, Inc. earned $586.9

million in income, up 2.9 percent from the first

half of 1992, and earnings per share of $1.41, up

from $1.39 the previous year.3 The company has

steadily increased dividends and the value of the

company’s stock has more than doubled since

divestiture.

The future earnings growth of US WEST

Communications is threatened by saturation of

telephone markets and increasing competition for

local telephone service. Eight billion of the

corporation’s $10 billion total revenues in 1992

came from basic telephone services provided by

US WEST Communications. Regulators in 35

States allow long-distance companies to compete

for intra-State toll traffic, and new technology

will soon make it easier for customers to choose

long-distance carriers, rather than staying with

the local RBOC. At the same time that they face

increasing competition from long-distance companies, a September 1992 FCC ruling requires the

RBOCs to allow competitive access providers

(independent telecommunications companies) access to their networks, by allowing them to

co-locate their equipment in the RBOC central

office switching facilities. Other competitors

include cellular companies and cable television

companies (see box l-l). These competitors can

offer lower cost services both because they use

simpler, less expensive technology, and because

they have lower labor costs (most are nonunion).

Residential customers served by the Home and

Personal Services Division (HPS) generated $3

billion of U S WEST Communications’ $8 billion

in 1992 revenues. The company’s customer

surveys show that a large percentage of residential customers would switch to another company

if it were available because they are dissatisfied

with current service. Management estimates that

the cost of wooing back a customer who has left

the RBOC is four times as high as keeping that

customer in the first place.

US WEST, Inc. has responded to growing

competition for residential customers with a

three-pronged strategy: improving customer service; reducing unit costs, both through work

reorganization and by downsizing; and entering

new markets. The most important new markets

involve moving beyond basic telephone services

to broadband transmissions of interactive audio

and video messages (see box l-l.)

Front-line workers in HPS are critical, not only

to the new service quality and productivity

partnership, but also to sales of new products.

Customer contact workers in HPS sell voice

messaging, caller identification, and other enhanced telephone services. New products such as

these generated approximately $136 million in

1992, a 30 percent increase over 1991.4

PRESSURE ON THE WORKERS

U S WEST’s initial approach to managing its

customer contact workers involved all three parts

of the strategy mentioned above. About threefourths of customer contact workers are employed

2 U S WEST Annual Report, 1992, p. 5.

3 U S WEST, Inc., ‘‘Second Quarter Report, Quarter ended June 30, 1993,’ p. 1.

4 US WEST Annuul Report, 1992, p, 5.
—

Chapter 3–Bunts, Singles, and Hitting for a Home Run | 39

by the Home and Personal Services Division,

which employs about 5600 people overall. Although after divestiture, customer sales and

service was increasingly important, and although

national forecasts5 project substantial job growth

in telecommunications sales personnel over the

1991-2005 period, the Home and Personal Services Division reduced its workforce through

attrition during 1989 and 1990.

In addition to downsizing, HPS tried a variety

of approaches to increasing the productivity of its

customer contact employees. These included

measuring worker performance using narrowly

defined performance indicators and restructuring

jobs. Although these approaches did not improve

business results, they did increase stress levels in

the workforce, which, combined with a change in

management in HPS and strong, active unions,

ultimately led to a partnership.

The functions of customer contact personnel at

U S WEST have changed over time.6 Prior to the

unification of three former Bell companies into

U S WEST Communications in 1987, the

structure of the business offices in the 14-State

region varied. Some split sales and collections

into different jobs, whereas in others these two

functions were combined in a universal customer

service representative (CSR). With formation of

HPS as a single entity in 1987, the company

decided to standardize the split between sales and

payments. Business offices, also called customer

service units, were divided into two groups—

Residential Marketing Centers (RMCS), where

CSRS focused on sales, and Credit Management

Centers (CMCs) staffed by credit consultants

(CCs) who focused on billing, defaults, and past

due accounts (see figure 3-1).7

The company’s decision to standardize the CC

job and the CMCs reflects the traditional approach to work organization in the regulated

telephone industry, which aims at improving

efficiency by specializing each workers’ tasks.8

The decision also resulted partly from worker

dissatisfaction. g Some CSRs were unhappy with

the pressure to quickly sell a variety of products

and with the lack of timely information and

training to help them sell. They also disliked the

pressure to stay available to a constant stream of

incoming customer calls routed to each worker by

the Automated Call Distribution (ACD) system.

In addition to meeting sales quotas, CSRS were

expected not to deviate from weekly work schedules (even if the deviation involved spending

more time with a customer when the worker was

supposed to be on a scheduled lunch break), to

negotiate collections according to complex guidelines, to minimize both the length of each call and

the paperwork time needed away from customers

after each call, and to answer a variety of

questions regarding bills and service. First- and

second-level supervisors measured workers compliance with these expectations by listening in on

phone calls with employees and by checking

computerized databases to see the status of each

workers’ sales and collections activities and their

compliance with work schedules. Supervisors

also verbally instructed workers to return quickly

from breaks and to remain available to calls from

the ACD. The company’s expectations of the

5 George Silvestri and John Lukasiewica, ‘‘Occupational Employment Projections, ’ Monthly Labor Review, vol. 114, no. 4, November

1991, p. 65 and “Industry Output and Job Growth Slow into Next Century,” Ibid., p. 53.

6 Based in large part on a telephone interview with Rita Dozd, Director, Core Strategies, Home and Personal Services, U S WEST

Communications, April 20, 1993.

7 More recently, HPS has created yet another specialized customer contact job, which involves credit screening. This is discussed further

below.

8 Rose Bat4 ‘‘Work Reorganization and Labor Relations in Telecommunications Services: A Case Study of BellSouth Corporation

unpublished paper, June 1993, p. 14.

g Linda Amnbruster, GVA Co-chair, Job Design Team, pem.onal communication April 15, 1993.
40 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Figure 3-1. Evolution of Corporate Business Units, Job Titles, and Job Functions

LEGEND

= m

1987

/

\ \

‘“’=,= /-

Facilities Assignment Center

) \ \

1993

Late 1993 Job reconfigurabon in Phoenix

Local implementation of vision; local job reconfiguration

Future years Continuing modification and refinement

1 Vadou ~ame~ have been u~ ]nduding customer cr~it mr~u adcustomer credit Authorization Center.

SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment.
Chapter 3-Bunts, Singles, and Hitting for a Home Run 141

workers were reinforced in semi-annual performance appraisals. Workers who failed to meet

standards were put on a plan of action, which

required either improving their numerical performance or facing the possibility of dismissal.

In 1987, the new CC job was expected to be

easier and less stressfi.d than the CSR job, because

the CCS would not be expected to meet sales

quotas, and because they would spend less time

being available to customers. The company

thought that the CCS would spend more time

making outbound calls to customers whose bills

were in arrears and in processing accounts by

computer and paper records. In the late 1980s,

HPS was also focusing primarily on sales. Because the CCS would not generate revenues

through sales, and because the job was expected

to be less stressful, the new job was given a lower

rate of pay than the CSR job. In some locations,

workers were given a choice between the two

jobs. However, in other locations, depending on

staffiig needs, workers were simply assigned to

the new job. Some workers were required to

continue doing sales work in the RMC, while

others were assigned to do collections work in the

new CMCs.

Following its creation in 1987, the CC job

quickly changed iiom the initial vision. Customers with payment problems did not wait for a call

horn U S WEST, and soon CCS were accepting a

stream of inbound calls, as well as initiating calls

to obtain payments.

By 1991, HPS was in trouble on many of its

business performance measures, and it was apparent that its overall management strategy was

having unintended consequences. For example,

when performance appraisals for both supervisors

and flont-line workers were based on minimizing

the average length of time of incoming customer

calls, some business office managers directed the

CSRS to telephone the business office and immediately hang up to bring down the average call

length.10 And the separation of the RMC and

CMC did not work as expected. The CSRS found

themselves answering billing inquiries from those

to whom they were trying to sell additional

services, and the pressure to sell resulted in sales

to persons that the CSRs suspected were likely to

be poor credit risks.

Due to such sales and the lack of any credit

screening process for new customers, HPS found

that uncollectible payments, representing bills

that remained unpaid for months, had tripled over

the previous five years, reaching a peak of nearly

$61 million in 1991. New employees were

applying for transfers almost as soon as they were

eligible to transfer to another job title (usually

after six months).ll The job was viewed as an

undesirable but necessary stepping stone toward

better work in U S WEST. Absenteeism was high,

in part because of the pressures on the workers.

The high turnover and absenteeism, combined

with downsizing, caused HPS access, or availability to customers, to decline. The company

changed the measure from average length of

incoming customer calls to percentage of calls

answered within 60 seconds. By whatever measure, availability to customers was declining each

year, and in 1991, only 50 percent of calls, on

average, were answered within 60 seconds.

As a result of a new focus on collections and the

joint union-management partnership, the jobs of

customer contact workers changed again in 1992,

and are currently in a state of flux. The jobs as

they existed in downtown Phoenix in early 1993

are described in box 3-1.

10 Wfie Nel~oq Semice @& co~~t, U S ~ST, ‘‘Understanding the Abolishment of b~pef’fOMlllll ce Appraisals: A

Summary of Dr. W. Edward Deming’s Theories Applied to Annual Performance Appraisals in Home and Personal Services, ” unpubhshed

paper, Phoenix, Arizona, no date, p. 5.

11 &la Crabb, *M vice Presideng CwA ~~7019, prsc)ti communicatio~ Dec. 8, 1993.
42 | Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Box 3-1: Current Customer Contact Jobs at U S WEST Inc.

In 1991, the Home and Personal Services Division (HPS) of U S WEST, Inc. created a new,

specialized customer contact job, establishing Customer Credit Approval (CCA) groups, where

customer contact workers checked the credit histories of new telephone customers and handled some

of the billing-related questions that had been directed to Customer Service Representatives (CSRs). As

a result, in Phoenix and other large cities there are now three specialized customer contact jobs. They

are: the traditional CSR, who works in a Residential Marketing Center (RMC); the Credit Consultant

(CC), who works on payments in a Credit Management Center (CMC); and a group of workers that runs

credit checks in a Customer Credit Authorization Center (CCA).1

In the RMC, CSRs sit in sound-dampening cubicles, answering phone calls.2 Each CSR has a

computer terminal at his or her workstation. A sign overhead indicates how many customer calls are

waiting for a response. On busy days, there maybe as many as 100 calls in queue, while slow days may

see the number drop to zero. CSRs perform a variety of tasks, including new service and change of

service orders, responding to billing inquiries, and arranging for disconnections and transfers of service.

Billing inquiries and new service orders are the most frequent tasks. The complexity of the work is

revealed in the steps needed to respond to new service orders. The CSR must access different

computer databases, give a full disclosure of the alternative Iongdistance carriers, update credit

information (such as the customer’s place of employment), determine the customer’s needs, sell

additional services if possible, set the service delivery date (this may require checking a computer

database), quote the correct prices, assign a phone number (which sometimes requires a call to the

Facilities Assignment Center (FAC) to obtain a number), verify the order with the customer, and, finally,

send the order for new service through a computer to various workers in the Network and Technology

Services division, who establish service.

1 Even where State regulatory commissions have not approved creation of CCAs, this specializedjobetists.

For example, in Des Moines, Iowa, specialized Credit Consultants run credit cheeks after service has been

established, working in a Credit Verification Center (CVC).

2 the following paragraphs are based on the minutes of the Job Design Team, a site visit to U S WESTS

downtown Phoenix office, on Feb. 18, 1993, and interviews with CSRS.

UNION AND COMPANY PRESSURES from mugs to Thanksgiving dinners (each addiCONVERGE tional volume in sales would add one more

Customer contact workers, both nationally12 item—such as a pumpkin pie-to a free dinner),

and at U S WEST, have reported high stress which some unionists refer to as trash and

levels. This results from pressure to sell; increas- trinkets. Workers feel they have little control over

ing work volumes; myriad, narrowly-defined their work, because the Automated Call Distribuperformance measures; and a feeling of having no tion system (ACD) automatically routes a new

control over their work. At U S WEST Communi- call to each CSR as soon as he or she is off the line

cations, the downsizing in 1989 and 1990 added with a customer.

to already large work volumes. High sellers are In the late 1980s, union activists employed by

currently rewarded by sales incentives ranging AT&T began to organize national marketing

12 charley Richardson, “Impacts of Changing Technology in the Telephone Industry: Presentation and Initial Analysis of the Responses

to a Questionnaire Distributed at the CWA Commercial Marketing Sector Conference,’ unpublished mimeo from CWA, no date.
Chapter 3–Bunts, Singles, and Hitting for a Home Run 143

Box 3-1: Current Customer Contact Jobs at U S WEST Inc.-Continued

In the CMC, CCS accept incoming calls and make outbound calls to customers with payment

problems. Atypical incoming call is from a customer who is unable to meet payment terms on an overdue

bill. The CC accesses computerized billing systems to check the customer% balances and negotiates

new terms. The new payment schedule, and any payments received, must be entered into the computer.

The CC job changed dramatically during 1992. Today, the CC is allowed to negotiate the payment terms

with the customer.3 In t he past, t he CCS were evaluated on t he number of errors they made in adjusting

customer balances accurately. However, because such errors were due primarily to variables under the

control of management, such as the quality of training, HPS discontinued this and all other annual

performance appraisals in early 1992.4

In the CCA, customer contact workers accept incoming calls from customers requesting new

service, as well as transfers from CSRS who have determined that the potential customer has no prior

credit history with U S WEST. The worker obtains information from the customer, and checks this

information wit h computerized credit bureaus. Although the process seems straightforward, it is made

difficult by the fact that customers will sometimes invent new names and addresses as they seek

telephone service. If the worker is unable to verify the identify of the potential customer, the worker

directs the customer to fax, or bring in person, proof of identification. These customer contact workers

are sometimes jokingly referred toast he Sherlock Holmes group, because they try to separate fact from

fiction.

Despite some changes in the jobs as a result of the work of the joint process improvement teams,

some workers interviewed in early 1993 still reported stressful working conditions. One CSR described

her job as having golden handcuffs, referring to the relatively high pay and benefits combined with the

constant pressure from first-line supervisors to receive more customer calls.

3 Rita Dozal, Director, Core Strategies, Home and Personal Services, U S WEST Communications, Personal

communication, Feb. 25, 1993.

4 Winnie Neison, “Understanding the Abolishment of Annuai Performance Appraisals: A Summary of Dr. W.

Edward Deming’s Theories Appiied to Annual Performance Appraisals at Home and Personal Services,”

unpublished mimeo, Phoenix, Ariz., no date, p. 3.

conferences, held in conjunction with CWA’S decided to mobilize against what they perceived

annual conventions, to discuss the problems as the sweatshop conditions in the business

caused by sales pressures, monitoring of workers, offices, putting pressure on U S WEST Commuand other job pressures .13 CWA Local 7777, in nications in preparation for contract negotiations

Denver, agreed to host a marketing conference in in 1992.14

the fall of 1990. Because of the local’s location, As union discontent grew, the company

and because of the high levels of dissatisfaction launched a nationwide search for a new manager

among U S WEST customer contact workers, this of HPS, who could turn the division around. Jane

conference included a separate breakout meeting Evans assumed the post of Vice President and

for U S WEST workers. The U S WEST group General Manager of HPS in April 1991. Evans

13 George Kohl, Research Director Economist, and Debbie Goldman Research Economist Communication KIIII~@iOIM

Workers of America, interview, Feb. 17, 1993.

14 Karla Crabb, Area Vice President CWA Local 7019, interview, Dec. 8, 1992.
44 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

expressed her desire to work with the union and

soon joined the Employee Involvement Quality

Council (EIQC), a joint union-management board

overseeing all employee involvement activities in

HPS. At Jane Evans’ first EIQC meeting, in June

of 1991, the unions sent her a bouquet of black

balloons and asked her to change the “sweatshop’ ‘ conditions in the RMC and CMC. Her

response was to ask the union representatives to

the EIQC15 to become her partners in changing

those conditions.

That summer, Evans called top management

together, and they agreed to focus their efforts on

reducing uncollectible and improving availability to customers. Working with Lockridge Associates, a Boston consulting firm, Evans decided to

try to make incremental improvements in work

processes, rather than trying to completely overhaul HPS. She and the consultants dubbed these

incremental process improvements Bunts and

Singles, because of their focus on small achievements, rather than on home runs. She and other

top HPS managers began to create joint workermanager process improvement teams. However,

the unions had no formal role in these teams.

CWA and IBEW were hesitant to accept

Evans’ proposal of a partnership. The local

presidents on the EIQC were concerned about the

future of their members’ jobs and wages in the

face of increasing competition and felt that

participation in making incremental process improvements might eliminate their jobs.16 They

also wanted to ensure that nothing they did with

HPS would weaken the job and wage protections

that they had obtained throughout US WEST

Communications in their 1989 contract. They

consulted with their union bargaining agents who

had negotiated the 1989 contract, and then created

an ad hoc committee to help them draw up

guidelines for a joint process that would benefit

the union as well as the company.

At a September 1991 EIQC meeting, the local

presidents brought the guidelines to Evans, with

the full expectation that there would be no

partnership because she would not agree to what

they thought were impossible demands. These

included a guarantee that no workers would be

laid off or downgraded because of the Bunts and

Singles processes. The local presidents also

wanted to be sure that the other union locals and

rank-and-file union members were in support of

such a partnership, and stated that there would be

no formal partnership without a ratification process.

To the unions’ surprise, Evans agreed to meet

every demand. On the critical issue of employment security, Evans had already taken a different

approach from the rest of U S WEST Communications. She believed she could reduce costs

through work reorganization (primarily through

the Bunts and Singles process), and that if

downsizing were necessary, it could be handled

through attrition, given the high turnover rates in

HPS. As discussed further in chapter 4, HPS

stabilized staffing levels in 1991 and added

positions in 1992.

On Nov. 6, 1991, the company and unions

agreed to a Memo of Understanding formally

initiating a joint union-management Operation

Bunts and Singles (see table 3-l.) The following

day, the union members of the EIQC presented

the memo to a meeting of all local union

presidents and the company and union bargaining

agents who had negotiated the 1989 contract. The

local presidents took the proposed memo back to

their locals, and all of the CWA and IBEW locals

voted to support it. After this ratification process,

the memo took force. As shown in table 3-1, the

agreement assured that there would be no layoffs

or pay downgrades as a result of the process, that

the terms of the collective bargaining agreement

would not be changed, and that the unions would

15 At titbe,~-enuy, he don rn~~ were R~ Ro~~, fiesid~t of tie ~wnix l@, Kula Floyd, President of tkPortlMM

local, Randy Warner, President of the Salt Lake City local, and Jim Mahoney, President of the St. Paul, Minnesota local.

16 ~s ~mpphis won a conve~ation with Reed Roberts, presiden~ CWA ~~ 7719. J~ IT~ 1993.
Chapter 3–Bunts, Singles, and Hitting for a Home Run |45

Table 3-1. The HPS-CWA-IBEW Memo of Understanding

MEMO OF UNDERSTANDING

NOVEMBER 6, 1991

RE: Operation Bunts & Singles

The Home and Personal Services Market Unit has asked CWA to enter into a joint process to redefine

the work done by the H&PS Service Representatives, Credit Consultants and their support groups based

on customer needs. As that work is redefined, the jobs as they exist today may be redefined as well.

As a condition of Union participation, H&PS has agreed to the following parameters:

All activities related to Bunts&Singles will be done jointly including, but not limited to, Union involvement

at all levels of aspects of the process, the collection and sharing of data and equal input into the decision

making process.

As part of this process, no activities will be permitted which violate or circumvent the collective bargaining

process and/or agreements.

While we will continue to discuss issues such as benchmarks and appraisal systems in an effort to

ensure equity for those who work at H&PS, it is clearly understood that those decisions will not be

negotiated.

H&PS guaranteed that no bargaining unit positions will be eliminated, downgraded or surplused

because of Bunts and Singles, nor will the pay or seniority status of any bargaining unit employee be

negatively affected.

All CWA/lBEW Locals will have equal access to all activities and information to ensure that their input

is included as part of the process and their particpation-where desired-ensured.

A joint, center point of contact will be established to ensure timely, ongoing communications with the

Locals, and the managers.

As part of this process, the H&PS EIQC will contract with Change Agents appointed by the Locals to

handle overviews and assist with the process, All Union participants on all teams will be appointed by

the Locals they will represent. Once appointed, they will contract with the Unionists appointed by District

7 to the H&PS Employee Involvement Quality Council regarding this contract as well as Union

Parameters, expectations and goals, established by the District 7 EIQ policy.

The term of this contract shall be for one year (September 1992) at which time the parties, in conjunction

with the Bargaining Agents, will decide on the renewal of this agreement.

Source: Home and Personal Services, U S WEST Communications

be partners with the company in redefining the

work to improve customer service.

As a result of the Memo of Understanding,

which was renewed on Jan. 11, 1993, and is now

in force until January 1994, the process improvement teams that had already been created were

made joint union-management committees.

With strong support horn both top management and the unions, Operation Bunts and Singles

grew rapidly. An important part of the operation

was monthly “group grope” meetings, which

were later renamed sharing rallies, where the

process improvement teams met with other teams

to share their successes and learn horn each other.

As discussed in chapter 4, there are now 32 joint

committees working to improve a variety of

processes in HPS.

Because of HPS interest in reducing uncollectible revenues, 13 joint Bunts and Singles teams

have worked to achieve this objective. For

example, in the summer of 1991, the company

had already created a Credit Culture process
46! Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Employees participate in a skit as part of Operation

BUntS and Singles, the joint union-management

agreement to make incremental improvements in

work processes.

improvement team to look into the feasibility of

running credit checks on new customers. Initially,

this team had many management representatives

and just one union member. The team helped

create the first Customer Credit Authorization

Center (CCA) in downtown Phoenix. Workers

there check computerized credit bureau information as well as company payment records to

determine what level of service to provide to new

customers (see box 3-1). Following the signing of

the Memo of Understanding, and the decision to

expand the CCAs beyond the initial one in

Phoenix, the Credit Culture team was restructured

to include equal numbers of company and union

representatives (each party appointed its own

team members) and to be led by union and

company co-chairs. As a joint entity, the team

helped expand the CCAs to major cities in all

States where regulatory commissions allow them.

THE JOB DESIGN TEAM: PROCESS

While most of the Bunts and Singles teams

looked at specific elements of the jobs of HPS

employees, the joint Job Design Team (JDT) took

a more global approach, which sometimes incorporated the process improvements from the other

teams and at other times rejected them as they

developed a clean sheet job redesign.

In early 1992, HPS appointed six management

representatives to the JDT, while CWA and

IBEW appointed eight union representatives.

Both union and management team members had

front-line experience in customer contact jobs.

CWA chose Linda Armbruster, a steward from

Local 7777 in Denver, while HPS appointed April

Hunter, a labor relations manager, as co-chairs of

the team. At the JDT’s first meeting, on Jan. 21

and 22, 1992, Jane Evans and Reed Roberts,

President of CWA Local 7019 and a member of

the EIQC, spoke to the new group about the

EIQC’S goals for the job redesign.

Redesigning the work of customer contact

employees took much longer than expected,

because of the time required to build trust

between unionists and managers. Although the

EIQC hoped that the JDT would have a new job

or jobs in place in time for contract negotiations

in August of 1992, the team’s work took much

longer. It was not until December 1992 that the

JDT finalized its vision of the redesigned jobs and

began planning to disseminate that vision throughout the company and the unions.

Two facilitators helped build trust on the job

design team as it met throughout 1992 and in

early 1993. Kevin Boyle from CWA brought

seven years of experience and training in joint

union-management processes to the JDT, while

Winnie Nelson, a US WEST Service Quality

Consultant, brought technical expertise in methods of quality improvement.

By its third meeting, in February 1992, the JDT

had established its purpose:

CWA, IBEW( and H&PS through mutual cooperation, creativity, trust and employee involvement will jointly design satisfying, safe, and

secure customer contact jobs which will give

valued employees an environment to provide
Chapter 3–Bunts, Singles, and Hitting for a Home Run! 47

Table 3-2. Goals of the Job Design Team

JOB DESIGN GOALS

Effective and up to date technology and tools to support the worker and enhance education and stills.

All existing (2-92) CMC, RMC, and TMC offices are open with potential for additional locations and

personnel doing the work we design.

A safe job in an ergonomically sound workplace:

Communication-one system for U S WEST.

Each employee will assess their own needs for career and job development and have resources

available to fulfill those needs.

HPS employees are multi-skilled with highest wages to match the high skills of the customer contact

employees.

Diversity of work is built into the job.

Employees will have flexibility to meet family and personal needs.

All occupational jobs that we as a Job Design Team design will be bargained for regardless of the

environment in which they reside and through our collective efforts non-members will recognize the

added value of Union membership, thereby encouraging 100% membership.

Employees have unlimited decision-making power which enables them to provide superior customer

service.

No sub-contracted customer contact jobs within HPS.

Reward systems promote continuous improvement.

Source: Home and Personal Services Division. U S WEST Communications

superior customer service resulting in the growth

of our business and our unions.~

The JDT also developed a list of goals for the

redesign (see table 3-2) reflecting both the unions’ concerns about employment security and

the unions’ and company’s mutual desire to

improve the quality of customer service. The

group slowly developed the ability to reach

decisions by consensus. 18 Meeting locations rOtated to minmize travel time for the members

who came from throughout the 14-state region,

and the team visited RMCS, CMCS, and CCAS in

each city where it met.

Two events in early 1992 greatly helped build

the trust between union and management members of the JDT. First, the company decided to

eliminate individual performance appraisals, and

Winnie Nelson, the company co-facilitator of the

team, wrote and widely disseminated a paper

explaining this decision. 19 Second, the JDT began

to move toward a job redesign that would

integrate the sales and collections tasks that had

17 Job Design T- mutes from Feb. 27-28, Colorado-Westin Hotel, Denver, Colo., unpublished mimeo.

18 April Hunter, Customer Sales Manager, U S WEST Commtimtiom, “WeekTen Written Assignment’ unpublished paper for Decision

Making Course, University of Phoenix, Jan. 22, 1993, p. 2.

19 Wtie Nelso~ ‘‘Undem~fig the AMlishment of Annual Performance Appraisals,” nO &te, op. cit.
48 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

been split in 1987. This direction confirmed Jane

Evans’ belief that collections, and hence the work

of CCS, was important, and she decided to upgrade

the wages of CCS to the CSR level. The upgrade

was made even before the collective bargaining

talks scheduled for August of that year, because

data showed that the joint process improvement

teams had already increased company revenues

(see ch. 4) to the point that HPS had the additional

funds needed to make the pay upgrade. These

actions resolved issues the union had been

unhappy about for years, and made union and

management members of the JDT aware that their

joint decisions would be taken seriously.

The JDT took a Socio-Technical Systems

(STS)20 approach to job redesign, identifying the

technical and social systems within which all of

the customer contact workers-CSRs, CCS, and

Telemarketing Sales Representatives-operated.

The technical systems included an extensive list

of tools used on the job. The social environment

included the workers’ primary relationships with

the customers and secondary relationships within

the company. The JDT then mapped each step in

the work process of CSRS and CCS, and analyzed

variances to identify sources of quality problems.

The team learned that technological variances

that they could not control greatly affected their

21 For example, When ability to serve the customer.

the call routing system continues to direct calls

after the office is supposed to be closed in the

evening, it forces CSRS to work late. When it

occasionally doesn’t open up on time in the

morning, the call routing system makes customers angry. When the SONAR database is slow,

both the CSR and the customer become irritated,

the CSR maybe required to take notes on paper,

and overall customer response is slowed. When it

is down entirely, some CSRS, who are unfamiliar

with paper procedures, may not be able to issue a

service order at all. Other CSRS can process an

order, but the lack of the database prevents the

service order from being transmitted to the

network group. Breakdowns and slowdowns in

other databases cause similar problems for CCS.

The JDT did not try to fix the existing

variances, leaving that task to the joint process

improvement teams (see ch. 4). Instead, the JDT

tried to identify both improved technological

systems and the skills and resources workers

would need to provide high-quality customer

service despite at least some inevitable variances.

22 As the of work of the JDT became more

complex, the group split into four subteams

focusing on technology, training, work design,

and variances and impacts.

Although the technology subgroup of the JDT

left most correction of existing software systems

to other joint process teams, in one case the

subgroup helped to improve a new software

system before it was implemented.23 In 1992, as

Customer Credit Authorization centers were being

expanded to other cities based on the success of

the Phoenix trial, workers in these centers were

required to use separate computer terminals to

check credit bureau databases. As part of the

company’s planned deployment of Intelligent

Work Stations (lWS) throughout the 14-State

region, a new credit checking program, called

BACAS, was purchased. Although BACAS was

20 STS originated in the work of Trist and others who reorganized work in British coal mining in the 1950s and 1% OS. The STS perspective

considers organizations to be made up of people (the social system) using tools, techniques and knowledge (the technical system) to produce

goods or services valued by customers (who are part of the organization’s external environment). William A. Pasmore, Designing Effective

Organizations: The Sociotechnical Systems Perspective (New York: John Wiley and SOnS, 1988), p. 1. In theory, STS seeks a joint optimum

between people and technology, but in practice those versed in STS sometimes lack the technical knowledge to optimize the technology side

of this joint optimum. J. Alic, op. cit., 1990, p. 308.

21 Job Design Team “Meeting Minutes, June 23-26,1992,” unpublished memo from U S WEST.

22 April Hunter, “Week Ten Written Assigmnent," 1993, op. cit., p. 1.

23 This paragtaph is based written materials provided by David DOW, Steward, CWA Local 7908, and member of the technology subgroup

of the JDT
Chapter 3-Bunts, Singles, and Hitting for a Home Run 149

purchased because it would allow the integration

of the credit checking function with other work

processes on a single IWS terminal, as originally

written, BACAS was poorly integrated with these

other databases. In addition, BACAS did not

allow workers to override the credit rating it

assigned. Through discussions in the JDT and the

EIQC, the company and union agreed to let the

JDT make the final decision on whether or not

BACAS would be implemented, and arranged for

a joint union-management team to develop and

implement trials and refinements of BACAS. As

a result of those trials, the software was revised to

better integrate with existing computerized databases, and to provide information to workers,

helping them make a credit decision, rather than

dictating that decision to them. The JDT then approved company-wide implementation of BACAS,

a process that took place during 1993.

THE JOB DESIGN TEAM’S VISION:

THE SERVICE CONSULTANT

Rather than develop a single, uniform new job

or jobs, the JDT chose to present a vision of the

new marketing worker, or, as they called it, the

Service Consultant. By using the STS approach,

they had developed an ideal technical system and

an ideal organizational system, involving a broader

restructuring of several jobs in addition to the

CSRs and CCS. Their ideal technical system was

expensive, while the ideal organizational system

called for a radical change in the traditional

relationships between front-line marketing workers and their first- and second-level supervisors.

Finally, the JDT saw that, with rapid technological and organizational change, the optimum

design of 1992 might not be appropriate by 1997.

Because they realized that such drastic changes in

technology, work organization, and labormanagement relationships could not occur uniformly throughout HPS, they chose to develop a

vision.

The JDT’s vision seeks to overcome two of the

greatest problems felt by workers in the current

jobs—strict supervision and lack of diversity.24

The Service Consultant (SC) job would operate in

a universal work environment, somewhat like that

of CSRS before 1987, but would differ in that the

SC would continually choose which types of calls

to respond to, and, ideally, from what geographical region those calls would be taken. The

envisioned work unit would be a team with a

common commitment to respond to changing

customer demand throughout the day. For example, current CSRs often face a flood of new

service orders on Monday mornings, as customers

have moved into new houses on the weekends. In

the redesigned job, all of the workers—including

those who now do only collections work— would

know of the flood of calls. Thus, the work could

be better distributed. At the same time, a SC who

felt for whatever reason that she or he was

incapable of dealing with those requests on a

Monday morning could instead run credit checks

or answer billing inquiries.

The key to the greater variety in the new job is

a work distributor, which would both accept all

incoming calls initially and provide real-time data

on the types of calls coming in to each SC. The

work distributor would be an interactive form of

today’s Automated Call Distributor, which would

allow feedback from the worker, rather than

simply directing work at the worker. In the vision,

the SC would log on to the work distributor,

indicating what types of call he or she would

accept. Depending on the SC’s choices and

customer demand, the SC could change the types

of calls being accepted throughout the workday.

Current CCS, who chose in 1987 not to do sales

work would not be forced to do so as Service
———

50 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Consultants. 25 However, they could help respond

to a Monday morning flood of new service orders

by providing dial tone with the aid of new

technology included in the vision. After providing dial tone, the SC would notify an outbound

sales group, such as the current Telemarketing

Center in Denver, who would call the customer to

verify that the needed services were present and

try to sell more products and services.

The work distributor is important not only to

the greater variety of tasks, but also to optimizing

the work of the Service Consultants. The JDT

learned that many calls coming into the RMCS,

CMCS, and CCAs were misdirected calls that

should have gone elsewhere in the company. The

work distributor will catch such misdirects and

direct them to the correct place, thus minimizing

the drain on the customer contact workers’ time.

The Job Design Team’s vision affects several

other jobs (see table 3-3). As noted, the SC would

have the ability to establish dial tone, as well as

other types of telephone service that are currently

provided by translation specialists in the Recent

Change/Memory Adminstration Center (RC/

MAC). The SC would be able to assign phone

numbers to customers, a function currently performed by plant line assigners in the Facilities

Assignment Center (FAC). In addition, the SCS

are to have the technological capability to talk

directly with technicians in the field, bypassing

the dispatchers. In the vision, this capability

would only be used in special cases, such as when

a customer has just returned home to receive the

technician, and the technician is still in the

neighborhood. Finally, the Service Consultant

would be able to perform simple repair tests for

the customer, a function now performed by

Maintenance Loop Testers (MLT) who are part of

US WEST Communication’s Network and Technology Services division.

SUMMARY: CHANGING CUSTOMER

CONTACT JOBS, CHANGING COMPETITIVE

STRATEGY

As shown in figure 3-1, customer contact jobs

at U S WEST had become increasingly specialized since 1987, due to specialization of jobs

combined with centralization of work. When

marketing offices served small localities, workers

could handle a variety of marketing and billing

tasks. Now that a few offices serve whole States

or multi-State regions, workers perform specialized functions, handling only marketing, billing,

or credit verification (see box 3-1). The Bunts and

Singles process began to reverse that trend toward

narrow, specialized jobs by encouraging workers

to take a broader view of how best to serve

customers through the process improvement teams.

Implementation of the JDT’s vision (see ch. 4)

will make an even more dramatic change, adding

much more variety to the work. CSRS will be part

of a work unit that handles more than marketing,

providing end-to-end telephone service to customers. They will interact with, and perform some

of the functions of, a variety of technical and

support personnel, making their work more satisfying while improving customer service.

In addition to adopting a competitive strategy

that relies more heavily on worker and union

participation, the company is aggressively entering new markets. In early 1993, U S WEST, Inc.

announced plans to invest $2.2 billion that year,

and a total of up to $13 billion over the next five

years, in a broadband transmission network within

its 14-State service territory.26 A few months

later, in May 1993, the corporation announced

plans to purchase 25 percent of Time Warner

Entertainent, which includes cable holdings, a

movie studio, and the HBO cable channel, for a

price of $2.5 billion.

n Sfik]y, ~ent CSRS who chow not to do billing work would not be required to in the Vkiom However, they would know Of incoming

bill questions, and might choose to help out if there were a large number of such questions coming in.

26 Jim Grisenti, U S WEST Communications, “Gathering Storm: Competition Comes to Load Exchange,” WEST To&y, vol. 6, no. 6,

March 8, 1993, p. la.
Chapter 3–Bunts, Singles, and Hitting for a Home Run 151

Table 3-3. The Job Design Team’s Vision

A new “universal” work environment

The new environment calls for a “work unit” concept, with cross-functional front-line and support teams

working together to meet all of the needs of residential customers in a specific geographic area.

Although these teams may span different departments (e.g., HPS and NTS), they have a

common customer focus and shared goals.

The customer interface

Customers will still contact the front-line employees or Service Consultants through today’s channels

(e.g., by telephone, via correspondence). As new technologies become available (soft dial tone fallouts,

voice response applications), the front-line workers will serve customers through these channels as well.

Service Consultants are advocates for customers

Service consultants are self-determining and autonomous in their work assignments, staffing, and

training. The service consultant receives real-time data on total work unit performance and customer

account activity. This provides flexibility, allowing the service consultant to make proactive decisions on

how to best provide superior customer service and meet the current customer demand and operational

needs in the work unit.

Service Consultants decide distribution of work

In the new environment, service consultants choose the specific types of customer calls they want to

work on and have the skills and training to handle. Ultimately, the work will be distributed based on the

type of systems log-on used by the Service Consultant.

Outbound calling for sales and service

To ensure availability to customers, some orders will be processed simply to provide dial tone. These

orders could be handled by new employees learning the technical functions of the job prior to learning

the sales function, or by Service Consultants who are primarily billing experts. These orders will flow to

an outbound sales group that wiII call back after service was established to ensure customer satisfaction

and explore sales opportunities.

Improved cross-functional coordination

Employees in all departments associated with service orders or repair tickets will have improved access

to each other. This will improve coordination, improve response times, and provide “seamless” customer

service.

Expanded role for team leaders

As decision-making and accountability structures move toward the front line, management roles will

migrate toward team resource roles. Ultimately, union and management personnel WiIl provide

requested feedback, career counseling, and act as sounding boards for decisions, rather than being

involved in direct, day-today supervision of the group.

A “learning” workplace

As discretionary authority moves to the front line, additional skills in information handling, reasoning,

computation, data analysis, and computer competency will be needed. This calls for a new learning

paradigm, where training and teaming are integral parts of the work environment. Training will be

immediately available, continuous, and provided by subject matter experts at the point where the

transaction is taking place.

Technology: a key front-line tool

New technologies will support service consultants, be flexible, and provide immediate, real-time

information. Technology will be used as a tool to meet customers’ needs and service consultants will be

involved in technological decisions that affect their jobs,

Front line provides input to other departments

Two-way communication channels and suggestion systems will be implemented to ensure all

departments have a direct feedback link to front-line ideas, issues, concerns. In addition, interdepartmental calls to the front line will not impact incoming customer calls.

Source: Adapted from Don Baltzer and Lisa Greene, “Union and HPS Leadership Support Job Design Vision” U S

WEST Today: Special Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 1-3.
.— .—

Interim

Measures of

Success 4

A

s described in chapter 3, Operation Bunts and Singles

began in 1991, expanded throughout 1992, and by

February 1993 included 32 joint union-management

teams involved in a variety of human resource projects

aimed to enhance the relationship between U S WEST and its

customers, increase revenues, and improve employee satisfaction (see table 4-l). Most of these projects sought incremental

improvements, or, in the idiom of baseball, bunts and singles.

The Job Design Team had a broader mandate that was initially

framed as an attempt to improve an entire job, that of the

Customer Service Representative, and evolved to encompass all

jobs along the customer interface. The Job Design Team project

sought a home run for U S WEST.

This chapter begins by describing the business improvements

in the Home and Personal Services Division (HPS) resulting

from Operation Bunts and Singles. Next, the chapter describes

the results of some of the individual process improvement teams,

demonstrating how the contributions of these many incremental

changes led to overall business improvements. The second half

of the chapter describes the initial stages of implementation of

the Job Design Team’s vision for the far more complex task of

redesigning customer contact jobs.

MEASURES OF SUCCESS IN OPERATION

BUNTS AND SINGLES

Benefits to the Company

The improvements in HPS’ performance in 1992 when

compared with 1991, and the improvements to date in 1993,

indicate that Operation Bunts and Singles has been a success as

measured against the two goals HPS’ top management established in the summer of 1991. These goals were to reduce the

53

“,... company union

partnerships in the

Home and Personal

Services Division have

produced tangible

results”

Jane Evans

Vice President and General Manager

Home and Personal Services Division

U S WEST (Communicatons
. . . -. — -

54 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Table 4-1. Operation Bunts and Singles Teams

Segment/Sponsor Team name/Process

Cross-functional CSM Service Improvement Project

EIQC Job Design

Process Management (PDC)

Movers and Shakers Credit Limit

(new customers and Customer Assistance (CPE)

residence changes) Credit Culture Core Team

Soft Dial Tone

Customer Complaint Handling

Master Card/ViSA

Knowing Customers Who Move

Service Delivery

Communicating Effectively

Core Services Unbilled Toll

(steady customers)

Call Type Codes

Credit Classifications

English Language Bill

Simple Bill/Bill Improvement

Written Customer Communication

final Bill/Outside Collection Agency

Carrier Toll Adjustment

Full Toll Denial

Treatment Timing

Voice Response

Denials in Error

Garbage Referrals

Voice Link

Customer Payment Options (PA)

Residential Repair

Call Handling/Billing

Big Spenders Network Marketing

(heavy residential users- Frontline Communications

faxes, modems, etc.) Quality Call Back

growing volume of uncollectible bills and to

improve availability to customers. By early 1993,

HPS Vice President and General Manager Jane

Evans was able to report to employees that their

efforts, especially through the joint process teams,

had reduced 1992 uncollectible by $20 million

compared with 1991. As for customer availability, calls answered within 60 seconds increased

by 10 percent from 1991 to 1992.

The downward trend in uncollectible continued in 1993 with a further 34 percent decline

measured over the frost five months of the year.1

April 1993 uncollectible were the lowest recorded in any month for several years. Declines in

uncollectible have a direct positive effects on

profits. Customer availability will become more

important as competition for residential customers grows; the upward trend seen in 1992 has

continued in 1993.2

An indicator of employee satisfaction is turnover among Customer Service Representatives

and Credit Consultants. Turnover among Credit

Consultants dropped from 13.5 percent per year in

1991 to 11.8 percent in 1992. Among Customer

Service Representatives turnover dropped from

20.1 percent per year in 1991 to 15.0 percent in

1992. For the first quarter of 1993, turnover in

both groups of employees was the lowest yet

seen, less than 1 percent.3 The reductions in

turnover suggest that new customer contact workers no longer apply for immediate transfer out of

what they until recently described as sweatshop

conditions. However, the turnover data must be

interpreted with caution because they may arise in

part from the fact that downsizing has reduced

opportunities to transfer into other job titles.

Nevertheless, it seems likely that joint process

improvements have also increased worker satisfaction. For example, the joint union-management Credit Culture Team’s decision to create the

Customer Credit Approval operation should have

reduced workload and stress on CSRs by reducing

pressure to sell to customers without regard to

whether or not they were creditworthy.

1 Telephone int~iew wi~ AmIS Gibson, Staff Manager, U S WEST Communications, hlC., J~e 28, 1993.

z Telephone intaiew with Rita Dozal, Director, Core Strategies, Home and Personal Service+ U S WEST Communications, June 18,

1993.

s Data provided by Tim Huerter, Manager, Human Resources, U S WEST Communications, April 27 and 29, 1993.

4 Based on interviews with various unionists in 1993.
Benefits to the Workers and Their Unions4

The foremost benefit to the workers was the job

security they obtained through the written guarantee in the Memo of Understanding (see ch. 3 for

more detail on the memo). The memo guaranteed

workers their jobs through January 1994 and will

likely be extended. Home and Personal Services

is the only division in U S WEST Communications with such a guarantee. As noted in chapter

3, Jane Evans believed that unit costs could be

reduced by improving work processes. HPS

stabilized totaI employment 1evels in 1991. To

improve availability to customers, HPS added

250 staff positions during 1992 and this higher

staffing level will continue through 1993. In

contrast, most other divisions of U S WEST

Communications downsized during 1992. The

added positions in HPS provided new jobs for

some of the workers whose jobs in other divisions

were eliminated. Joint process teams have also

begun to create new work for HPS, enhancing

long-term employment security. For example, the

Twelve Thirty Team has created and is marketing

a new U S WEST credit card.

Since the memo, no jobs have been downgraded and wages have been maintained. Indeed,

the pay of Credit Consultants has been increased

to equal that of Customer Service Representatives, a change that reflects new corporate recognition that collections are as important as sales,

Individual performance appraisals for nonsupervisory workers have been eliminated. The

appraisals had caused many grievances because

the workers felt they were unfair. Dissatisfaction

with the performance appraisal system was one of

the key issues that led to the unions’ decision to

mobilize against what they perceived as the

sweatshop conditions in the business offices in

late 1990 (see ch. 3). In its decision to eliminate

the performance appraisal system, the company

noted that most of the factors affecting worker

— —

Chapter 4-interim Measures of Success 55

performance were under management’s control,

that the narrow performance measures used often

led to unintended consequences (including poorer

customer service), and that individual performance appraisals discouraged the kind of teamwork

that the Job Design Team envisioned for future

customer contact jobs.5

Customer contact jobs in HPS have become

more interesting on several levels. For example,

Credit Consultants no longer follow rigid guidelines and instead negotiate flexible schedules

with customers who find themselves in a financial

bind and are unable to make an on-time full

payment of their telephone bill. For the majority

of workers whose jobs have not yet been redesigned, simply the opportunity to participate in

joint Bunts and Singles teams provides more

variety to the work and increases the awareness

that their opinions are taken seriously. The

smaller group of customer contact workers whose

jobs have changed more dramatically in a pilot

project to implement the job design team’s vision

(discussed further below) are very enthusiastic

about the changes in their jobs.

The mutual understanding that has grown

between the unions and management and between

workers and supervisors as a result of Operation

Bunts and Singles has increased communication.

This in turn has led to recognition of each other’s

needs and goals.

In HPS, the unions have become more proactive than reactive. Shop stewards spend less time

on grievances and more on problem solving.

Because the unions have changed horn negative

to positive forces, they are more attractive to

workers. As a result, the unions find it easier to

organize those workers who are not yet union

members. Under a provision of the 1992 contract

between CWA and U S WEST Communications,

the company agreed to a provision expanding the

scope of CWA’S bargaining unit. Workers in this

5 W. Nelsow ‘‘Understanding the Abolishment of Annual Perfo rmance Appraisals: A Summiuy of Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s Theories

Applied to Annual Perforrnanee Apprisals at Home and Personal Sewices, ’ unpublished paper by Home and Personal Services, U S WEST

Communications, no date, p. 2.
56 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

larger unit may choose to join CWA simply by

signing a form authorizing automatic dues deduction from their paychecks. CWA’S district 7 has

added 1,800 new members since this provision

was included in the August 1992 contract.G

Among these new members are customer contact

workers, who are enthusiastic about the union’s

role in redesigning their jobs.

A final benefit to the union is the increased

activism and involvement of rank-and-file members in the union organization. By participating in

joint teams, rank-and-file members have had an

opportunity to exercise leadership skills, and

these skills are benefiting the union as well as the

company. To note just one example, Linda

Armbruster, a union shop steward who was a

chair of the joint union-management job design

team, decided to run for a higher office in her local

union in the summer of 1993.

THE TREATMENT TIMING PROJECT

The incremental role of each Bunt and Single

or process improvement team is illustrated by the

treatment timing project. The positive results

achieved by this team are just one of many team

success stories.7

The stimulus for the treatment timing project

was management concern over rising numbers of

denial notices8, which reached 565,000/month for

a billing population of about 9 million. A joint

process team noticed that the number of telephone

service disconnects was much smaller, only

37,000/mont.h. The team hypothesized that the

interval between the pay by date noticeg and the

denial notice was too short and that payments and

denial notices were crossing in the mail.

HPS differentiates between risk and nonrisk

customers, with the latter being those with good

credit ratings who generally pay on time. While

risk accounts trigger a denial notice after the pay

by date is exceeded, nonrisk accounts may

continue for several months without receiving a

denial notice if the billable amount remains below

the treatment threshold. These delinquent accounts reduce revenues to US WEST Communications. Therefore, besides testing the effect of a

longer interval between the pay by date notice and

the denial notice for risk accounts, the joint

process team also attempted to prompt payment

from nonrisk customers whose accounts were in

arrears.

The treatment timing project was conducted

frost in the Central Region of U S WEST Communications. The interval between the pay by date

and denial notices for risk customers was increased by nine days. Nonrisk customers with

accounts in arrears by a month or more were sent

reminder notices.

Results were as follows:

■ Denial notices dropped by 30 percent for all

accounts and by 44 percent for risk accounts.

■ Denial referrals10 dropped 16 percent for all

accounts and 30 percent for risk accounts.

■ The percentage of calls from customers to

protest denial notices because payment had

6 Interview with Sue Pisha Vice president CWA District 7, April 15, 1993,

7 Telephone interviews with Cheryl Turnbull, Methods Design Specialist U S WEST Communications, Inc. on April 6 and 8, 1993 and

with Carol Palmer, Manager, U S WEST Communications, Inc. on July 7, 1993 were very helpful in understanding this project and

documenting its results.

8 A denial notice (DN) is a notice of intent to deny telephone service because of customer failure to pay for the service. Customers first

receive a pay by date (PBD) notice which is printed on monthly telephone bills. Failure to meet the PBD triggers a DN to risk customers and

may or may not trigger a DN for nonrisk customers depending on the size of the bill. (Risk or nonrisk status is determined by credit rating and/or

history of telephone bill nonpayment.) Failure to pay or contact the telephone company by the date on the DN triggers a denial call, after which

service is disconnected. The period of time for the PBD and the DN is set at the state level by the Public Utility Commission.

9 See preceding footnote,

10A decimal referral is sent to the Business Office when the customer does not make payment by the date on the denial nOt.iCe. This fdUre

triggers a denial caIl to the customer. See footnote 8.
— . . . .-— — .

Chapter 4-interim Measures of Success |57

been mailed dropped from 40 percent of all

calls to 21 percent.

The unpaid balance on risk accounts dropped

by 11 percent. 11

The change in timing contributed to the substantial drop in uncollectible losses,

The reminder notices had no effect on nonrisk

customers whose accounts were in arrears.

The treatment timing project was a success in

several respects. The reduction in denial notices,

denial referrals, and incoming protest calls saved

time and money. Time that customer service

representatives had spent on incoming calls could

be used for other purposes such as marketing and

hence further revenue generation. Customer satisfaction also increased because fewer customers

received denial notices after having paid their

balance.

Because the treatment timing team was one of

13 joint process teams working on reducing

uncollectible losses, its individual impact on the

overall reduction described above cannot be

determined. Other changes that contributed to

reduction in uncollectible losses were implemented based primarily on the work of the credit

culture team and also on the work of the denials

in error team. These include:

■ Giving CCS discretion to resolve customer

payment problems. When a customer camot

pay a monthly bill in fill, the credit consultant

can now decide to accept two or three smaller

payments rather than suspending service and

thereby likely losing the entire payment as well

as the customer.

m Creation of CCA to better evaluate the credit

history of new customers with a consequent

decline in risk customers.

Reduction in customers temporarily denied

service, thereby saving the costs of cutting off

service and then reinstating it12

.

The treatment timing project will be repeated in

the Eastern Region in summer 1994 with an

interval increase of seven rather than nine days.

Additional study will occur in the Western

Region beginning in December 1993.

PROGRESS IN JOB DESIGN

As described in chapter 3, the joint unionmanagement Job Design Team developed a

vision of the job of the new marketing worker

rather than a single, rigid job description. Similarly, the team developed a flexible process of

implementation that included presenting the vision to the company and the unions, developing

methods to help local managers and unionists

assess their readiness to implement the vision,

and encouraging and helping local unionists and

managers as they proceeded.

In December 1992 the JDT presented its vision

to top management of U S WEST Communications. The presentation contributed to corporate

plans for reorganization, including a new single

unit for Mass Markets and Operations, that were

announced in January 1993. As U S WEST

Communications, Inc. President and CEO Gary

Ames said, “One organization will now be

responsible for every aspect of service to customers in our mass markets, from the moment they

call our business offices to when their service is

installed, upgraded, or needs repair. ’ ’13

At a Phoenix meeting in early January, the JDT

presented the vision to the EIQC and all local

CWA and IBEW presidents. All responded favorably. Later that month, groups of JDT members

11 l%isres~t was unexpected. Since there were nine additional days in which to send payment+ the unpaid balance w= exp@ed to incr~e.

12 ~S c~ge should alSO irlcr~se customer satisfaction and customer loyalty at a time when competition fOr residential cu5tOmers is

growing. As noted in chapter 3, the company estimates that it is much more expensive to win back a customer once lost than to continue to

service that customer.

13 “U s mST Str_es ~c.al @rations, Places Sales and Service Operations Together, “ Telecommunications Reports, Jan. 4, 1993,

vol. 59, no. 1, p. 8.
.

58 I Pulling Together for Productivity y: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

visited every CMC, RMC, and CCA in the

14-State region to present the vision and obtain

feedback on it. Currently, the JDT is testing a

local assessment tool to help local managers and

unionists determine what they need to do to

implement the vision.

Because of the expense involved in the ideal

technical system envisioned by the JDT, HPS

chose to begin with a prototype, called the Center

for Customer Service, in Phoenix. While this pilot

project is underway, implementation of the social

(organizational) side of the vision is proceeding at

varying rates throughout the 14-State region.

At this stage of the job redesign process there

are no overall measures of its success or failure at

US WEST. However, the Phoenix prototype

indicates management commitment to preservation of jobs and their redesign so as to benefit both

workers and the corporation. The very existence

of a prototype is an interim measure of success

that augurs positively for the job redesign effort.

The Phoenix Prototype-the Center for

Customer Service

The Center for Customer Service (CCS) will

initially serve 140,000 residences from six wire

centers, selected to represent a statistically valid

sample of customers. Included in this group will

be big spenders (e.g., owners of faxes and PCs,

etc.) as well as other residential customers. After

two to three months, the CCS will begin to serve

small businesses. U S WEST Communications

expects increased competition for both types of

customers in the coming years. The CCS will

include both new technology and new work

organization, following the Socio-Technical Systems principles that guided development of the

vision.

On the technology side, the CCS will test the

utility of providing soft dial tone to new residential customers. Soil dial tone allows people

moving into new homes to call the U S WEST

Communications Business Office directly from

their home, receive a new telephone number, and

activate service immediately.

Key features of the Center include the partnership between the company and the union, and

implementation through a team that combines

managers and unionists drawn from the three

business units-HPS, Small Business Services

(SBS), and Network & Technology Services

(NTS)-that makeup the new Mass Markets and

Operations organization. The results of the prototype will b e ‘‘a new model of mass markets

service delivery processes in U S WEST. ’ ’14 Tom

Bystrzycki, executive vice president of Mass

Markets and Operations, has described the CCS

a s a “service improvement ‘laboratory’ “ for

exploration of new ways to provide and repair

service to residential and small business customers.

15 In an experimental design, Corporate Service Measurement (CSM) results from surveys of

CCS customers will be compared with survey

outcomes from a matched sample of customers

served by the current technology and form of

work organization.

The CCS opened on July 14, 1993.16 Staff were

assembled a month beforehand and included two

manager-coaches and 56 workers from five occupational groups: Customer Service Representatives,

Credit Consultants, Maintenance Administrators,

Translation Specialists, and Plant Line Assigners.

They received technical and customer contact

skills training and participated in team building

exercises. For the first time, customer contact

workers sat near repair and technical workers.

Improved communication among them should

improve customer service.

14 ~~B s~cki ~o~WS MMS Markets Servict31mprovement Laboratory, Y “ Issues Infonet, no. 687, Mar. 15, 1993.

15 ~IByS~cki WOWIWS Mass Markets Service-Improvement Laboratory, “ Issues in/’oner, no. 687, Mar. 15, 1993.

16 me defi@ons of ~ecm~r’s ope~andpoten~m~~s wereob~~ in telephone interviews with Becky HanseQ Director, ?v@S

Markets, U S WEST Communications, Inc., April 7, June 7, and July 26, 1993.
In response to interviews conducted by Job

Design Team members, workers involved in the

Center for Customer Service expressed enthusiasm about working closely with workers in other

job titles and performing a greater variety of tasks.

To quote one worker, “This is the first time in

years that I’ve wanted to come to work.’ There is

broad agreement among this group that working

more closely together is a positive step. Despite

concerns of the Job Design Team that increasing

the responsibilities of the Customer Service

Representatives might threaten technical workers, the technical workers involved in the pilot

project are enthusiastic about the changes. As one

repair worker said, ‘‘I always wondered what the

Business Office did. ”17 The Center’s opening

was marked by enthusiasm and cooperation

among its staff and a strong commitment to

improving customer service.

Evaluation includes real-time data collection

that will enable rapid, even daily, changes.

Outcome measures will likely include indicators

of change in revenues, customer satisfaction, and

employee satisfaction, as well as process measures. Examples of customer satisfaction measures

might be: What proportion of calls are answered

within three rings? How frequently do service

people arrive on schedule? What percent of the

time do customers receive the day and time they

prefer for service? How often is a repair completed within the interval that the customer was

told would be required? What is the average total

interval between a breakdown in service and

return to full operational status? Employee satisfaction measures may include turnover rates,

absenteeism, and opinion surveys. The process

measures will evaluate the success of the Customer Service Center by comparing it with the

JDT’s vision; examples are indicators of waste or

breakdown. The results of this prototype implementation will be used to assist in implementation

Chapter 4-interim Measures of Success |59

Becky Hansen, Director, Mass Markets, and lead

manager of the new Center for Customer Service, in

discussion with union representatives at a unionManagement sharing rally.

of the JDT’s vision throughout U S WEST over

the next three to five years.

Related Activities

HPS and its union partners are not waiting for

the results of the prototype in Phoenix to implement the JDT’s vision. local managers and

unionists throughout the 14-State region, moving

at varying rates of speed, are beginnin g to

reorganize work (moving toward the social optimum in the vision). Perhaps the easiest part of the

work reorganization is cross-training and colocating sales and collections workers (CSRS and

CCS). For example, in Des Moines, the company

and union plan to co-locate workers now separated in the CMC, RMC, and CVC (the Credit

Verification Center, which is roughly equivalent

to the CCA) in September 1993, and crosstraining is underway. In July 1993, about 15 of the

42 CCS in the Des Moines RMC had completed

training in service change orders. Because they

were able to help CSRS with those calls, RMC

availability (measured as the percent of calls

IT ~omtiom were provided by Joyce T1-imble, Crdit Consultant and CWA member of the JDT, bm~ on fit~iews ~ ph~fi~ ~.~ J~e

1993.
— ---- .

.-

60 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

answered in 60 seconds or less) had improved

from less than 10 percent to 40 percent.18 In

Denver, CSRS and CCS are now sitting together,

forming a single customer service team, and

cross-training is underway. In Phoenix, although

only a few CSRS and CCS are involved in the

Center for Customer Service prototype, all are

being cross-trained to perform each others’ work.

Many of the workers in the Phoenix Customer

Credit Authorization Center already know the

CSR and CC jobs, because they were in those job

titles before the CCA was created. And, by

February 1993, about 35 percent of the CSRS

working in the RMC had already been trained to

do collections work.

To help local areas move beyond crosstraining, members of the JDT developed an

assessment tool in April 1993 and tested it on

workers involved in the Phoenix prototype in

June 1993. This tool, which will soon be made

available throughout the 14-State region, will

allow local managers and unions to assess their

readiness to reorganize work, and help them

identify steps toward reorganization.

The next step will be the creation of joint

union-management local assessment teams, which

will administer the assessment tool. Each team

will include a manager and a unionist from each

of the three divisions (HPS, NTS, SBS), a

facilitator, and a member of the JDT to act as a

resource.

SUSTAINABILITY AND GROWTH

The Bunts and Singles process has taken root

throughout HPS, and both unions and management are committed to sustaining and developing

it. However, HPS is now part of Mass Markets

and Operations. Transferring the joint success to

the larger organization, and to U S WEST, Inc. as

a whole, will not be easy. The extent of transfer

will depend on the labor-management relationships in various divisions, and at the corporate

level, as well as in HPS.19

Recent experience in developing the Center for

Customer Service in Phoenix provides a microcosm of the issues being faced at a higher level as

the three market units (HPS, SBS, and NTS) are

merged into one organization. When members of

the Job Design Team tested their local assessment

tool on the Phoenix workers, NTS managers at

first refused to let their employees participate.

(They later reversed this decision.) Another

difficult decision involved the degree to which

the v=ious types of workers in the CCS would be

cross-trained to perform broader work. Throughout U S WEST Communications, workers who

want to be transferred to other job titles are

required to pass tests prior to being selected and

trained for new work. Although the unions

support cross-training, they believe that the company should remove the obstacle of these tests; in

the CCS, workers would have to pass four or five

separate tests in order to be trained for each of the

jobs included in the work unit.

As a result, in the summer of 1993, CCS

employees were located close to each other and

were observing each others’ work. They had been

trained in communications skills and teambuilding skills, but they had not been trained to

perform each others’ work.

The most difficult issue for the future of

labor-management cooperation at US WEST

Communications, Inc. could be implementation

of the company’s plans for re-engineering. Although the JDT’s vision of a work unit employing

broadly skilled workers could provide the frame18 Telephone ~interview with joyce Trirnble, Credit Consultant, U S WEST Communications, Inc., july 8, 1993.

19 1992 contract negotions, US WEST Communications and CWA agreed to dismantle a joint union-management Employee

Involvement Quality Department called for in their 1989 contract. In place of this centralized department the new contract called for creation

of joint union-management employee involvement oversight boards in each individual business unit and at the corporate level, a

union-management Strategic Executive Council. & a result of these contractual changes, as well as the differing personalities and needs of

managers and unionists in the various divisions of U S WEST Inc., labor-management relationships vary across divisions and market units.
..——. —.— —

work for re-engineering, the JDT’s vision also

included employment security and maintaining

all existing business offices. In contrast, the

company’s re-engineering plans tentatively include creation of metacenters in the larger cities,

downsizing the workforce, and closing rural

business and repair offices.20 Broadly tlllh’led

workers in these centers would talk to customers

and immediately respond by providing dial tone,

assigning a telephone number and the associated

pair of cables coming into the home, testing the

system, dispatching a technician if needed, and

entering computer changes needed for voice mail

and other enhanced services. While a limited

number of workers at the metacenters would

enjoy these new, more satisfying jobs, hundreds

of others in smaller cities and rural areas would

either be laid off or face a choice between early

retirement or moving to a city.

Although this issue has not yet been resolved,

it appears unlikely that such a radical centralization and downsizing will take place. The joint

success in HPS is making an impression on

managers in the larger organization, and they are

increasingly interested in creating a partnership

with the unions. Alan Wright, who is in charge of

re-engineering for Mass Markets and Operations,

became a member of the HPS Employee Involvement Quality Council (EIQC) in early 1993, and

began to see the benefits of working closely with

the unions.

U S WEST Communications had planned to

announce creation of the metacenters in July

1993. That announcement was postponed to

allow more time for discussions with the union.

That month, the company and unions agreed to

develop an overall process to integrate the reengineering plans with implementation of the

JDT’s vision. As an initial step in developing this

process, they agreed to a meeting of the three joint

union-management employee involvement overChapter 4-interim Measures of Success |61

sight boards in HPS, NT’S, and SBS. They also

agreed that there would be no office closings until

mid-1995, and that they would work together to

develop outplacement and financial assistance for

rural workers who would be affected. Finally,

they informally agreed that the new work required

to lay a broadband transmission network throughout the 14-State region would be union work,

creating a new source of employment for rural

workers who may be affected by the centralization plans.

If these tentative plans bear fruit, labormanagement cooperation promises to spread

throughout the Mass Markets and Operations

organization, and possibly throughout U S WEST

Communications.

At the corporate level, U S WEST, Inc. ’s Board

of Directors and senior management are committed to a corporate strategy based on quality

management that seeks to involve workers, with

or without the unions, in increasing productivity.

For example, in early 1993, CEO Dick

McCormick hosted a “Connecting Day, ” at

which 28 teams, some of them joint unionmanagement teams (including three HPS process

improvement teams and the HPS EIQC), some

not, were honored for their contributions to

increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and employee commitment to the business.21 This commitment to quality and worker involvement

appears to conflict with the corporate goal to

“narrow the cost-of-service disadvantage with

current and potential competitors . . . through

reductions in staffing. ’22 However, if the company agrees to move surplus workers from its

traditional telephone business into the jobs that

will be created with construction of its new

broadband network and other new ventures, the

conflict may disappear. At present, this mutually

beneficial outcome seems likely.

m ~~ ~~vaph is b~ed on a telephone interview with Reed Roberts, presiden~ WA ~~ 7719, J~e 17* 1993.

21 S. Nmw, “A Gathefig of Heroe~An Atmosphere Of Joy, ’ U.S. WEST To&ry, vol. 6, no. 4 (Mar. 8, 1993), pp. 4-5.

22 us WEST Annual Report, 1992, p. 14.
—

T

Possible

Implications of

the CWA-IBEWUS WEST

Initiative 5

he broad outline of the union-management partnership in

the Home and Personal Services Division of U S WEST,

Inc. could hold lessons for other companies. Growing

competition and a search for improved customer service

are common throughout telecommunications, and, increasingly,

throughout service sector industries. The extent to which

individual companies respond to these pressures by forming

partnerships with their workers and involving them in a

high-wage, high-skill strategy will depend on the workermanagement relationships in each company. 1 Companies and

unions that wish to follow a high-wage, high-skill path may find

the experience at U S WEST, Inc. instructive.

This chapter examines the general labor-management relationship at several of the unionized telephone companies and

discusses the possibilities for creation of partnerships similar to

those formed in the Home and Personal Services Division of U S

WEST, Inc. It concludes with a brief discussion of the possible

implications of the U S WEST, Inc. case study for the broader

communications industry and the service sector of the U.S.

economy.

GROWING COMPETITION IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Although deregulation and technological changes have already increased competition in local telephone markets (see ch.

1 The high-wage, high-skill path is an overall competitive strategy. The specifi actions

of telecommunications companies that choose to follow such a path will depend in part

on the regulatory climate within which those companies operate. OTA has not analyzed

which of the spefic actions taken by U S WEST are possible for other companies to take.

Instead, this chapter focuses on the overall worker-management relationship in various

companies, and whether that relationship might lead to a partnership similar to the

CWA-IBEW-HPS partnership.

63

“.... After a//, the Co/d

War is over. The Bedin

Wa// is down. There is

no eartthy reason why

labor and management

in the United States

cannot move beyond

old suspicions into

a new and productive

relationship, ”

John J. Barry

International PAdent

International B@herhood of

Electrical workers
64 | Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Managemenl

1), two developments in 1993 could dramatically

increase that competition. First, Regional Bell

Operating Companies (RBOCs) are beginning to

enter cable television markets. In a new joint

venture, U S WEST, Inc. and Time Warner, L.P.

plan to offer interactive audio and video communications to Time Warner’s 7.1 million cable

customers, most of whom are located outside of

US WEST’s 14-State region, by the end of the

decade.2 In early 1993, Southwestern Bell announced plans to enter cable television markets

by acquiring two Washington, D. C.-area cable

television companies. Most recently, in August

1993, a federal court judge ruled that Bell Atlantic

may begin building a cable television system in

Alexandria, Virginia, offering interactive video

services. 3 And, in September 1993, the Federal

Communications Commission granted U S WEST

Communications a temporary waiver, allowing

the company and Time Warner to operate cable

television systems within U S WEST’s 14-State

region. These developments increase the competition for residential communications services

and raise the possibility that, for the first time,

RBOCs will compete directly with each other for

residential telephone customers.

Second, a recent Federal Communications

Commission (FCC) decision threatens the RBOCs’

current monopoly on providing residential customer access to long-distance telephone companies. Currently, the fees that RBOCs charge

long-distance phone companies for access to their

local customer networks account for about 25

percent of the RBOCs’ revenue and more than

half of their profits.4 On August 3, 1993, the FCC

voted to

Initiative at U S West, Inc.

allow new phone company competitors

to carry long-distance telephone calls from RBOC

switching offices to long-distance carriers’ networks. 5 This decision opens new markets to

independent telephone companies and to joint

ventures, such as the U S WEST-Time Warner

joint venture.G At the same time, however, the

FCC decision increases the competition among

all players in the emerging multi-media telecommunications industry.

POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR

TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES

BellSouth

Currently, BellSouth, Inc. is the largest Regional Holding Company (RHC). In 1992, revenues were $15.20 billion and net income was

$1.66 billion.7 BellSouth has integrated its quality improvement strategy with its joint unionmanagement employee involvement programs.

This integration is a natural offshoot from a

strong, positive labor-management relationship

that has developed over the past 20 years.8

The current positive relationships at BellSouth

evolved out of conflict. Following a long and

bitter strike in 1955, both the union and management began to try to improve their relationship.

By 1971, a new problem-solving approach had

reduced the number of grievances reaching the

State level by 50 percent, and, in the late 1970s,

the company and union began to experiment with

employee involvement. When CWA negotiated a

joint union-management Quality of Work Life

(QWL) process in national talks with AT&T in

1990, Southern Bell and CWA District 3 created

2 M. S. Carnevale, J. J. Keller, M. Robichaux, ‘ ‘Cable-Phone Link is Promising Gamble,’ The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 1993, p. B1.

q C. Skrzycki, “Ruling Opens Cable TV Rivalry,” The Washington Post, August 25, 1993, p. A-1.

4 Ibid.

5 *‘FCC Votes t. A~ow New Rivals to Enter Local Phone Busfiess, ” The Wall Srreet .lournal, Wednesday, August 4, 1993, p. B5.

6 ~ -ouc@ he jo~t ven~e Ah Time w~ner, u s ~sT describ~ plZUIS to Wket its access to Time-Warner customers tO

long-distance companies. M.S. Carnevale, et al. op. cit., 1993, p. B2.

7 Ibid., p. B1.

s R. Bam ‘‘Work Reorg anization and Labor Relations in Telecommunications Services: A Case Study of BellSouth Corporation” June

1993, p. 18.
.- ——=———— . .

Chapter 5-Possible Implications of the CWA-IBEW-U S WEST Initiative

—

65

many QWL teams at the shopfloor level; these

teams continued and grew after divestiture, and

numbered over 600 in 1989.9

Following divestiture, BellSouth merged two

telephone holding companies into a single RBOC—

BellSouth Telecommunications-and formed a

new subsidiary-BellSouth Enterprises-to enter

unregulated markets. BellSouth recognized CWA

as the bargaining agent for workers in the new

ventures, including Advanced Systems, Inc.,

which markets business communications equipment 10 Building on these cooperative developments, in 1989 the company and union agreed to

merge the company’s total quality program with

the joint QWL program, creating a new joint

Excellence Through Quality (EQC) initiative.

As part of the EQC, some groups of customer

contact workers and their managers have formed

self-managed teams. In these teams, front-line

workers take on administrative tasks, including

filling out performance reports, attending supervisory meetings, and interacting with other departments. These teams are somewhat analogous

to the work unit envisioned by the joint job design

team in HPS (see ch. 3). Self-managed teams of

outside technicians who lay cable to homes and

businesses are also being developed.

Currently, customer contact jobs at BellSouth

are divided into three specialties. One group

focuses on sales, while two groups focus on

collections. (One type of worker handles live

accounts and another, final collections) .11 If

BellSouth and CWA chose to integrate these

functions, or if the company and union chose to

try to tie the jobs of customer contact workers

more closely to the jobs of repair workers, the

research and results of the joint union-management job design team at U S WEST might provide

useful information.

AT&T

With 1992 revenues of $64.9 billion, AT&T is

the largest long-distance telephone company in

the U.S. today, although its share of the market

has dropped from 80 percent at divestiture to

between 60 and 65 percent.12 Faced with intense

competition, especially from MCI Communications Corp. and U.S. Sprint, Inc., the company has

reduced its workforce and entered new types of

communications markets, primarily through acquisitions. Between 1989 and 1992, the company

eliminated 36,000 jobs,13 and CWA estimates

that it has lost more than 100,000 jobs at AT&T

since divestiture. Currently, CWA represents

about 90,000 AT&T employees, while the IBEW

represents about 21,500 workers, most of whom

are employed in manufacturing telecommunications equipment.14

Faced with maturing markets for long-distance

telephone service, AT&T has launched several

new, primarily nonunion ventures to enter new

markets. Since assuming the job of Chairman and

CEO in 1988, Robert Allen has made a series of

important acquisitions, including NCR, Inc., which

brought AT&T computer expertise, and, most

recently, McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc.,

the nation’s largest cellular telephone company .15

In August 1993, AT&T announced that it would

acquire all of McCaw for $12.6 billion.l6 Such a

merger could give the company the potential to

9 Ibid., p.

10 R. Bat~ 1993, op. cit., p. 22.

11 R, Bat~ op. cit., p. 29.

12 C, Skrzycki, “MCI: Still Grappling at 25, ” Washington Business, June 28, 1993, p. 18.

13 M, H, c~, S. L. Behrrnann, E. M. JohnsorA “Labor-Management Bargaining in 1992,” Monthly L.ubor Review, January 1993, p. 23.

14 D Rob~on, ASSIStant to vice ~sident for ~bor Relations, AT&T, interview, August 1993.

15 B. Zieglm, C, Arnst, et al., “AT&T’s Bold Bet,” Business Week, Aug. 30, 1993, p. 26.

16 S. Sugawara, “AT&T Bids For Cellular Phone Giant,” The Washington Post, vol. 116, no. 255, August 17, 1993, p. A-1.
66 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

reach every home and mobile caller in the United

States, providing AT&T’s financial and marketing expertise to increase market acceptance of

cellular telephones. However, regulators and

RBOCS are concerned that this joint venture

could allow AT&T to re-emerge as a telephone

monopoly. The acquisition will require Justice

Department and FCC approval.

In 1980, (CWA and AT&T created a Quality of

Work Life (QWL) process that brought union and

company leaders together at the shop floor level

to improve productivity and resolve workplace

problems. A similar QWL process was created in

negotiations with the IBEW, and joint committees were created in AT&T’s manufacturing

plants. Three years later, the company created

Common Interest Forums with the two unions,

bringing top-level company and union officials

together to discuss business and personnel issues.

During the mid- and late-1980s, labor-management conflicts arose over a variety of issues,

including CWA’S attempts to organize AT&T’s

nonunion subsidiaries17, health benefits, and the

continuing layoffs. However, the Common Interest Forum discussions continued throughout this

period. 18

These discussions led to a breakthrough in the

1992 round of collective bargaining. In the July

agreement covering about 125,000 workers represented by CWA and lBEW,19 the company made

a strong statement recognizing the value of the

two unions and guaranteeing neutrality toward

union organizing at four of its nonunion subsidiaries and all future acquisitions. 20 The parties

agreed to create a new joint process called the

Workplace of the Future (WPOF), which includes

joint union-management committees at the shop

floor, at the level of the business unit, and at the

company level.

According to AT&T Vice President for Labor

Relations William Ketchum, he and other company proponents of the WPOF initiative “met a

lot of resistance to sharing power” within the

management ranks. However, in the end, the

executives of the business unit realized “we had

to change in order to stay competitive. ”21 The

company recognizes that its future success depends in part on empowering front-line employees, which, in turn, requires a change in work

roles, training, and management techniques.22

For CWA, the new agreement reflects a

changed strategy; the union recognizes that its

attempts to fight layoffs through arbitration, the

courts, and other avenues have been largely

unsuccessful, and hopes to help improve the

management of the company so that AT&T will

thrive in the more competitive marketplace.23

Although the union was unable to win employment security guarantees in the 1992 contract,

CWA Vice President for Communications and

Technologies Jim Irvine is cautiously optimistic

that the layoffs are over and that the union can

help the company develop new business ventures,

generate new revenues, and thus enhance employ17 For C-lC, an NCR mployee and WA President Morton Bahr argued in hearings before the Senate !hbcotittc@ On hplOymmt

and productivity that NCR’s opposition and delays caused the union to lose a certification election in February of 1992. Roger Runyoq Daytoq

Ohio, and Morton Babr, Presidenl Communications Workers of Americ% “The American Labor Movement: Hearings before the

Subcommittee on Employment and Productivity,” December 9, 1992 (unpublished transcript from the Senate Committee on Education and

Labor).

18 M. B*, ~esiden~ CW!A Remarks at Workplace of the Future Meeting, West Randolp& N.J., March 8, 1993.

19 M. H. CU et al., 1993, op. Cit., p. 23.

20 WA ~sfo~d tit AT&T is hono@ ~ese commi~ents as the union olganizs WOrkerS at American Transtech. Jim ~hle, ViCe

PreaidenL CW~ intemiew, August 4, 1993.

’21 W.K. Ketch~ Vice ~ident.~bor Relations, AT&T, cit~ ~ “Reich Bl~~s AT&T/~A ‘Work place of Fu@’ ~tiative,”

Telecommunications Reports, March 15, 1993, p. 25.

22 M. B* and W.K. Ketch~ ‘ ‘Workplace of the Fume,” article forthcoming in Humun Resource Management Jourml, Vol. 32.

m Jim ~ine, vim Pr=ident, CWA, interview, Aug. 4, 1993.
—-—— —

Chapter 5-Possible Implications of the CWA-IBEW-U S WEST Initiative |67

ment security for the workers. Prior to the 1992

round of collective bargaining, CWA surveyed its

members and found that about 83 percent wanted

a role in decisions that affected their jobs.

John J. Barry, President of the IBEW, has

expressed a somewhat similar view of the

Workplace of the Future: “If we have achieved

success in the past with management pursuing

one agenda and labor another-how much better

can we do by working together? 24 Barry also

notes that the new labor-management partnership

requires IBEW to take on more responsibility for

product quality and customer satisfaction. The

IBEW’S long history of working with the construction industry to develop and deliver apprenticeship and journeyman upgrade training may be

helpful as the union begins to work more closely

with the telephone industry.

The Workplace of the Future initiative is at an

early stage of irnplementation. In March 1993, the

company and CWA held a large kickoff rally in

New Jersey that was attended by about 600 CWA

local presidents and 400 managers, representing

about half of the AT&T business units. Top union

and management leadership, including CWA

President Morton Bahr and AT&T Vice President

for Labor Relations Bill Ketchum, as well as U.S.

Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, spoke at this

rally. In June, a similar meeting was held in

Chicago. Managers of AT&T business units

employing IBEW members, IBEW local presidents, and IBEW President Jack Berry were

among those present.

By August 1993, the company and unions had

created joint union-management Business Unit

Planning Councils in four of AT&T’s 22 business

units.25 These included the Consumer Communications Services business unit, the Network

Services division, the Data Communications

Services division, and the Information Management Services division. Union and management

representatives agree that these new councils

represent a fundamental change from their past

relationship, in which the company made business decisions and the union then reacted. The

Business Unit Planning Council in the Network

Services Division, one of the largest and most

profitable units within the company, has been

particularly active.

The next step for WPOF will be not only to

create and sustain Business Unit Development

Councils in the remaining business units, but also

to create and sustain joint activities at the

shopfloor level. CWA and IBEW local leaders

will decide whether or not to participate in joint

committees that might develop employee participation programs, self-managed teams, joint quality improvement teams, and approaches to work

reorganization. Although some local presidents

remain highly skeptical of joint activities after the

many layoffs, others are interested in working

with local managers.

As the WPOF efforts continue, the joint

union-management initiative in one business unit

of U S WEST, Inc., HPS, may offer useful

information. The Business Unit Planning council

in Consumer Communications Services, which

employs the majority of AT&T’s customer service representatives, might find he experience at

HPS particularly interesting.

NYNEX

NYNEX Corporation includes two RBOCs—

New York Telephone and New England Telephone-as well as several unregulated subsidiaries. In 1992, NYNEX revenues were $13.16

billion, and profits were $1.31 billion. Most

unionized workers at New York Telephone are

represented by CWA, while the IBEW represents

the majority of New England Telephone employees.

Labor-management relations at NYNEX have

improved since the low point of a 17-week strike
68 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

over health benefits during 1989 contract negotiations. Following the strike, the parties agreed

that they had to find better way of working

together, and, by the end of 1990, they began to

talk of reaching early agreement on the next

three-year contract.

In the summer of 1991, a full year before the

previous contract was to expire, NYNEX reached

an agreement with CWA and IBEW covering

about 57,000 employees. About 39,000 of these

workers are represented by CWA, and about

18,000 by IBEW. Although union and management were pleased with the wage and benefit

terms, the overall labor-management relationship

has not developed as well as the parties had hoped

at the time of the early contract settlement.27

In March 1993, NYNEX announced creation of

a six-member senior executive team to develop

new business strategies and restructuring plans

for New York and New England Telephone

companies. n Although no layoffs have been

announced in conjunction with the restructuring,

one company official stated that the effort might

lead to a 30 to 35 percent cut in the size of the

workforce. 29 The company invited both CWA

and IBEW representatives to participate in the

re-engineering effort. Although IBEW chose to

participate with New England Telephone, IBEW

leadership is very concerned about being involved in a program that could ultimately lead to

layoffs.30 There is no consensus within the IBEW

about participating in company efforts to improve

productivity at a time when the company is

downsizing. Because of its primary concern about

job security for its current members, CWA chose

not to participate with New York Telephone in the

restructuring effort.31

One factor that might influence the future

labor-management relationship at NYNEX is the

two unions’ ability to represent workers in new

lines of business as the need for traditional

telephone workers declines. During the long

strike against NYNEX in 1989, CWA won an

election to represent the workers at NYNEX

Mobile, a cellular communications subsidiary, in

New York. After the strike, the company voluntarily recognized IBEW as representative of a

small group of workers at NYNEX Mobile in

Massachusetts, based on a majority of workers

signing union cards.32

Another factor that might influence labormanagement relationships at NYNEX is the

company’s desire to involve front-line workers in

reorganizing work for increased productivity.

Thus far, because of their concerns about employment security, and their inability to win union

recognition for workers employed in new subsidiaries, the unions have chosen not to play a formal

role in these efforts. For example, in response to

its increasing losses of high-speed data networks

to competitors, New York Telephone pulled

together an eight-person design team made up of

cable splicers and sales representatives.33 This

team mapped the work flows and found that it

took 126 steps, 40 people, and at least 19 business

days to fill an order. Within 6 months, the team

26~s~tementisb~~ oninterviewswithJ. Dowdall, Vice President Labor Relations, ~and E, Riordaq Assistant VicePresiden4

CWA District 1, in July 1993.

27 J. DOW&d~ Vice President, Labor Relations, ~interview, July 23, 1993.

28 c. F. won, “NYNEX Begins Restructuring Efforts,’ Telephony, March 1, 1993, p. 9.

29 K. C. Cmwe, c’~m May hse 25,000 Jobs in Re-engineering, ” Business NY, March 20, 1993.

30 D. CWpie~o, Business Manager, IBEW Loctd 2322, in~rview, JulY 13, 1993,

31 E. ~or~~ ~sis~t Vice President CWA District 1, interview, August 4, 1993.

32 J. J. Dow&@ vice presiden~ ~bor Rehtions, NYNEX, written communication August 25, 1993. As discussed in chapter 2, such a

voluntary recognition of a union by a company is rare in the U.S. today. Most employers require an organizing Campaigq followed by an

election.

33 E. comor~ “Anthropology, kc. ’ The Washington Post, February 21, 1993, p. H1.
— —— — - ——

Chapter 5-Possible Implications of the CWA-IBEW-U S WEST Initiative 169

redesigned the work process, and the new design

was put into place in September 1992. The group

vice president who initiated this effort was very

pleased with the results, and NYNEX launched an

advertising campaign in the New York City

metropolitan area, promising to install a network

whenever the customer wants it.

In another effort to broaden the jobs of frontline workers, the company created specialized

groups of top sales workers in the metropolitan

New York City area in the late 1980s. These

customer service representatives, who had sold by

phone, were assigned to make in-person calls to

business customers. The union protested this

expansion of the negotiated job duties without an

appropriate pay increase, and, in 1991, an arbitrator agreed with CWA. The CWA and NYNEX

then negotiated anew title and rate of pay, and the

affected employees were paid retroactively to the

dates on which they performed the added duties.34

NYNEX has involved workers in other efforts

to reorganize work. For example, New England

Telephone installation and repair workers in

Lawrence, Massachusetts, have created a selfmanaged team, and a team of operators, technicians, and managers have changed computer

systems to help Spanish-speaking customers in

the Bronx.35 Although all of these efforts involve

front-line workers, some of whom are union

members, CWA and IBEW choose not to play a

formal role.

As part of the early 1991 contract, CWA and

New York Telephone created a Common Interest

Committee, involving the Executive Vice Presidents of New York Telephone and New England

Telephone, the Vice President of CWA District 1,

and the chairman of the T-6 Council of the

BEW. 36 Current discussions in the committee

focus on downsizing, downgrades, and forced

relocations of work.37

Although the current union-management relationships at NYNEX are not as mutually beneficial as the parties hoped at the time of the 1991

contract settlement, the relationships might evolve

in the future. As NYNEX continues to try to

reorganize work for increased efficiency, and as

CWA and IBEW examine the costs and benefits

of participating in this process, the joint unionmanagement initiative in the Home and Personal

Services division of US WEST Inc. could

provide food for thought.

Bell Atlantic

In 1992, Bell Atlantic ’srevenues totaled $12.65

billion, and net income was $1.38 billion. Faced

with increasing competition, the company has

sought to improve quality, to reorganize work for

better efficiency, and to enter new markets.

Bell Atlantic is planning to deliver video

services, including cable television and video on

demand, as well as other interactive services. The

company is exploring provision of these services

using several different technologies. One technology is ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber

Line), which transmits compressed video across

standard copper telephone wires. This technology

is being tested in a video-on-demand trial in

Northern Virginia.38 At the same time, the company plans to install fiber optic cable to carry

video dial tone for cable television operators and

other information providers in Morris County and

Toms River, New Jersey. The company has also

successfully challenged Federal restrictions on

RBOC entry into cable television markets. On

August 25, 1993, a Federal court overturned

certain provisions of the Cable Communications

~ J. J. DOWM, vice Presiden~ Labor Relations, NYNEX, written information August 25, 1993.

35 ~$At NW York Teleph~ne, HO~ s~ds for te~wor~” The Exc~nge, VO1. 10, no. 2, MZUCh/April 1993, p. 22.

36 meChauman “ of the T-6 Council represents the IBEW local unions in contract negotiations with New England Telephone.

37 E. Wor&q Assis~t Vice President CWA, intemiew, August 9, 1993.

38 ~o-tion provided by Befl Aflantic, Federal Relations, WaSh@tOU ~, August 4! 1993
70 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Policy Act of 1984 (P.L. 98-549) in response to a

lawsuit initiated by Bell Atlantic.39 Based on this

ruling, Bell Atlantic plans to begin upgrading

telephone lines to offer interactive video and

audio services, such as home shopping and

movies on demand. The new network will be

based in part on trials of video-on-demand

services that the company is already testing

among its own Northern Virginia employees.

In 1989, Bell Atlantic Chairman Raymond

Smith launched the Bell Atlantic Way, an effort

to change Bell Atlantic’s corporate culture.w The

company felt that traditional management practices, born of a monopolistic past, put it at a

disadvantage in an increasingly competitive environment. The Bell Atlantic Way is being introduced to all employees with the goal of transforming the company into a high-performance team.

The Bell Atlantic Way seeks to integrate a

customer-oriented approach to jobs, a competitive spending attitude (all expenditures must meet

“best cost” criteria) and a new way of doing

business. The new behaviors being sought include employee empowerment and accountability, teamwork, innovation, management as coaching, concern for others, and leadership by example.

Along with the Bell Atlantic Way, the company

also introduced a company-wide Quality Improvement Process designed to foster worker

participation at all levels, so that the company can

better meet customer requirements in a competitive marketplace.

The 1992 contract between the Bell Atlantic

Network Services Group and CWA and IBEW

covers about 51,800 workers. The company

invited representatives of both unions to participate in both the Bell Atlantic Way and the Quality

Improvement Process. The IBEW has chosen to

participate, but CWA, which has seen the traditional telephone workforce shrink, and has been

unable to obtain transfer rights to provide new

employment in the company’s nonunion subsidiaries, has chosen not to participate. CWA’S

position toward the company’s quality initiatives

is currently one of ‘noncooperation and nonsupport.’ ’41 CWA’S attitude toward the company is

also influenced by its attempt to organize Bell

Atlantic’s National Telephone Directory Corporation subsidiary, where the union has encountered resistance.42

Bell Atlantic’s desire for greater regulatory

freedom may lead to enhanced labor-management

cooperation in the future. For example, the IBEW

supported the company’s efforts to obtain greater

rate-setting freedom in New Jersey, and, in

exchange, the company and union signed memoranda of understanding guaranteeing that the

IBEW would represent workers involved in

laying fiber optic cable in the two New Jersey

ventures mentioned above .43 Another memorandum of understanding, including both the CWA

and the IBEW, guarantees that unionized Bell

Atlantic workers will do the work needed for the

video-on-demand trials planned for Northern

Virginia. The IBEW has also formally agreed to

39 C. s~cki$ “Ruling Opens Cable TV Rivalry, ” The Wushingfon Post, August 25, 1993, p. A-1; Ann Crane, Bell Atlantic Federal

Relations, interview, September 2, 1993,

40 ~s p~Waph is ~~on ~omtion SUpplied by Bell Atlantic, Federal Relations, Au@st 4, 1993.

41 B, ~p~d~ Assis~nt to Vice President, CWA District 2, htewiew, MY 19, 1~3.

42 ~~bsi~~ se~~ Yellowp%m adve~~ fi sou~ernNewJ~ey, ~d w= fo~erly ~tide~nd~t contxactorto Bell Atlantic. when

Bell Atlantic purchased the company, CWA asked for recognition but the company declined. During the 1993 organizing campai~ one

employee who was actively supporting CWA was fued. In June, 1993, the NLRB issued a complaint against National Telephone Directory,

alleging that the company had engaged in unfair labor practices by interrogating employees about their union membership and sympathies and

by discharging the employee because of her support fortheunion. A hcxwingbefore anNLRB administrative law judge is scheduled for January

24, 1994-William A. Pascarel~ Regional Director, National Labor Relations Board, ‘‘Order Consolidating Cases, Consolidated Complaint

and Notice of Hearing, ” June 29, 1993.

43 Bifl -g, Business Manager, IBEW Iocid 827, July 26, 1993.
. .

Chapter 5-Possible Implications of the CWA-IBEW-U S WEST Initiative 171

participate with New Jersey Bell in both the Bell

Atlantic Way and Quality Improvement Process.

This agreement is for a six-month trial period,

beginning March 1, 1993.

Additionally, the 1992 contract negotiations

between the Bell Atlantic Network Services

Group Companies and CWA and IBEW created

a vehicle for discussions that might lead to a

labor-management partnership in the future. The

parties agreed to create a joint council on labormanagement relations, including senior company

executives and top union officials. The monthly

meetings of this group are addressing longstanding concerns of each party, including union

security, employment security, subcontracting,

electronic monitoring, productivity measurement,

union involvement in the Bell Atlantic Way and

Quality programs, and union support for company

initiatives to obtain greater regulatory and legislative freedom. If these discussions lead to a mutual

decision to work together in the face of greater

competition, Bell Atlantic and the two unions

might find that the labor-management cooperation in the Home and Personal Services division

of U S WEST, Inc. offered a useful example.

A HIGH-SKILL PATH FOR THE SERVICE

SECTOR?

The business success resulting from the unionmanagement partnership at U S WEST, Inc. could

be instructive to unions and companies in the

larger communications industry and in the service

sector of the economy generally.

The communications industry, which includes

radio and television broadcasting, telegraph, and

cable television, along with the telephone industry, is much less unionized than the telephone

industry. In 1991, when unions represented 47.3

percent of workers employed in the telephone

industry, they represented only 11 percent of

workers employed in radio and television broadcasting and cable television, and 10.1 percent of

workers in telegraph and miscellaneous communications industries (see figure 2-2).44 Throughout the communications industry, union representation has declined over the past 10 years. This

decline is due in part to company resistance to

union organizing.

In the Home and Personal Services Division of

U S WEST, Inc., top management views the two

unions as strategic assets, rather than as liabilities.

The unions now spend less time reacting negatively to company initiatives and spend more time

working with the company to improve quality and

productivity. These changed views of unions and

management are also reflected in the new labormanagement initiative at AT&T. Over time, if

such initiatives bring about both improved business results and benefits for workers, it is possible

that unions may see their role differently, and that

management attitudes towards unions in the

larger communications industry may change. If

managers became less opposed to union organizing, and if workers chose to join unions, labormanagement partnerships similar to those in the

Home and Personal Services Division might

develop in cable television and other parts of the

communications industry.

The Home and Personal Services Division of

U S WEST, Inc. has found that involving

its primarily female, front-line customer contact

workers in process improvements and job redesign has increased productivity and service quality. This experience could provide valuable lessons for the finance, insurance, and real estate

industries. Most front-line jobs in these industries

are held by women. In 1992, about 4.2 million of

the 6.6 million employees in this sector, or 64

percent, were female.45

44 me ~~ ~Sed t. derive theSe es~tes me descri~d in B. T, ~ch~d D. A. ~cpherso~ “Union Membership md COvtZage Files

from the Current Population Surveys: Note,” Industrial and L.abor Relations Review, vol. 46, no. 3 (April 1993), pp. 574-577.

45 Employment and Earnings, June 1993, pp. 69, 82.
72 | Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Faced with increasing competition resulting

from deregulation, many U.S. banks have adopted

a low-wage, low-skill strategy. In a 1987 study,

OTA found that banks were increasingly relying

on part-time and temporary workers to fill their

customer contact positions. In banking, and in

other parts of the service sector, internal job

ladders were being dismantled, limiting upward

mobility for these workers.~ When one large

metropolitan bank tried to restructure the work of

customer service representatives (those who help

customers balance check books and open new

accounts) to include more sales and financial

counseling work, they found that workers viewed

the change as a speed-up rather than as a new

opportunity .47

Customer service representatives at this bank

were given training in selling and financial

counseling, but they often failed to complete

sales. Interviews revealed that the workers saw

their work as customer service, rather than sales.

They also felt that they lacked time to do

cross-selling of other bank products, in part

because the bank had reduced their number to cut

costs. And, they were not given coaching on how

to prioritize their time in order to maximize both

customer service and sales. Efforts to improve the

computer network for use by the customer service

representatives did not go smoothly. Systems

engineers did not consult the front-line workers,

in order to make the computer systems user-

-friendly, and did not provide training in the use of

the new systems. This case study illustrates the

difficulty of expanding the jobs of front-line

workers without providing comprehensive training and SUPPOIt.

As discussed in chapter 2, research on various

approaches to worker participation suggests that

such initiatives are most likely to improve company performance when they are combined into a

broad organizational transformation. One theory

is that worker participation is most successful

when it combines job security, employee involvement, and training, or SET.48 The SET system has

been contrasted with the traditional employment

system for nonsupervisory workers in U.S. fins.

That system, which is based on narrow job

classifications, adversarial relations, and minimal

training, is referred to as the JAM system.

An extensive case study of a small, nonunion

insurance company employing approximately

250 people found that the company was successful in making the transition from a JAM system to

an SET system. The changes began in 1984, when

30 employees from three units were combined

into a single customer service unit, while 17 job

titles were consolidated into one, broadly trained

customer service representative job title. The

customer service representatives are organized

into four teams, each responsible for serving a

particular geographic region. Team members

cross-train each other to perform all insurance

functions, and the company instituted a pay-forlearning pay system to encourage employees to

learn all needed skills. As a result, slack time is

used for training and problem-solving, and customer satisfaction and efficiency have improved.49

Although this life insurance company had a

long history of employment security, a new CEO

in 1989 felt it was necessary to make a one-time

reduction in staff. Approximately 16 percent of

the company’s employees took early retirement

or severance pay or were laid off. However, the

company made it clear that this was a one-time

event, and recent employee surveys indicate that

most employees now view their jobs as secure.

~ U.S. Consess, ~Ice of TeChnOIOH Assessmen~ International Competition in Services, OTA-lTE-328, July, 1987, P. 226.

41 ~idc, pp. 288-289.

48 c, Brom M. Reich ad D. S@m, Skills adsec~i~ in Evolving Employment Systems: Observationsf?om Case Stiies @erkeley, CA:

National Center for Researeh in Vocational Education, November 1991), p. 1,

49 C. BI-0~ M. Reic& and D. stern, ‘‘Becoming a High-Performance Work Organization: The Role of Security, Employee Involvement,

and Training,” International Journal of Human Resource Management, May 1993, p, 27.
Chapter 5-Possible Implications of the CWA-IBEW- US WEST Initiative | 73

These two examples illustrate a now well- rewards for their increased skills, is difficult to

established finding that companies must make implement and may have little impact. In the

deep structural changes to successfully involve Home and Personal Services Division of US

employees for increased competitiveness.50 One WEST, Inc., redesign of customer contact jobs is

change alone, such as broadening the jobs of just one part of a larger transformation which

front-line customer contact workers without giv- offers the promise of improved customer service

ing the workers adequate time for training, and sustainable productivity growth.

increased employment security, and finacial

50 T. Bailey, “Discretionary Effort and the Organi@on of Wor&” 1992, op. cit., p. 25.
.— .—— — .—

Acronyms

ACD

BOSS

cc

CCA

CCS

CMC

CMR

CSM

CSR

CVC

CWA

DBO

EIQC

FAC

FMcs

FCC

GM

HPs

IBEW

JDT

MET

NLRA

NLRB

NTS

—Automated Call Distribution

—Business Office Support Systems

-Credit Consultant

-Customer Credit Approval

---center for Customer Service

-credit Management Center

-Customer Mail Remittance

—Corporate Service Measurement

—Customer Service Representative

—Credit Verification Center

-Communications Workers of America

—Days Billing Outstanding

—Employee Involvement Quality Council

—Facilities Assignment Center

—Federal Mediation and Conciliation

Service

—Federal Communications Commission

-General Motors (Corporation)

—Home and Personal Services (Division of

us WEST)

—International Brotherhood of Electrical

Workers

—Job Design Team

—Maintenance Loop Technician

—National Labor Relations Act (Wagner

Act)

—National Labor Relations Board

—Network and Technology Services

(Division of US WEST)

NUMMI —New United Motor Manufacturing

Incorporated

List of

Acronyms and

Glossary of

Terms

OECD -Organization for Economic Cooperation

and Development

QWL -Quality of Worklife

RBoc —Regional Bell Operating Company

RC|MAC —Recent Change/Memory Administration

Center

RHC —Regional Holding Company

RMc —Residential Marketing Center

SBS —Small Business Services (Division of

u s WEST’)

SC -Service Consultant

SONAR —Service Order Notification and Retrieval

SQI -Service Quality Indicator

STS -Socio-Technical Systems

TQM —TotaI Quality Management

UK —United Kingdom

UAW —United Auto, Aerospace, and

Agricultural Implement Workers of

America

WPOF —Workplace of the Future

Glossary of Terms

Bunts and Singles teams-in the Home and Personal

Services division of U S WEST, joint labormanagement teams that attempt to produce incremental improvements in work processes.

collective bargaining-bargaining over wages, benefits, and/or working conditions on behalf of a group;

typically refers to bargaining by a union with

management on behalf of a group of workers.

collective participation-providing a vehicle for a

group of employees to participate with management

to solve problems in production or other aspects of

75
76 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

work. Used to describe the key function of works

councils.

Communications Workers of America-union representing about 560,000 workers. 80% are employed in the telephone industry, which is the

traditional base of this union.

Credit Consultant-in the Home and Personal Sewices Division of U S WEST, Credit Consultants

verify the credit history of those seeking telephone

service.

Credit Management Center—in the Home and Personal Services Division of U S WEST, the organizational entity concerned with billing. Currently

staffed by Credit Consultants.

Customer Credit Approva1-in the Home and Personal

Services Division of U S WEST, the organizational

entity concerned with verification of customer

credit. currently staffed by Credit Consultants and

Customer Service Representatives.

Customer Servicev Representative-in the Home and

Personal Services Division of U S WEST, an

employee whose primary job is selling new services

to residential customers.

divestiture in 1983 the Supreme Court ruled AT&T

a monopoly and required the company to separate

(divest) its regional telephone services. Seven

Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCS) were

formed, one of which was U S WEST Communications.

Employee Involvement Quality Council-joint unionmanagement steering committees that oversee employeeinvolvement and quality improvement activities;

for example, the EIQC in the Home and Personal

Services Division of U S WEST approves new

Bunts and Singles projects.

Residential Marketing Center—in the Home and

Personal Services Division of U S WEST, the

organizational entity concerned with sales of new

telecommunications services. Currently staffed by

Customer Service Representatives.

U S WEST Communications-one of seven regulated

telephone companies that arose from the Supreme

Court divestiture requirement imposed on AT&T

U S WEST, Inc.-a Regional Holding Company that

includes a regulated Regional Bell Operating Company (US WEST Communications) and four unregulated subsidiaries for international ventures,

cellular communications, financial services, and

telephone marketing services (e.g., telephone directories and Yellow Pages).

works councils-institutions in most industrialized

western countries (Ireland, the United Kingdom and

the United States are exceptions) that give workers

rights to information and consultation on production processes. In some counties, joint agreement

between labor and management on actions affecting

production is also required.
——

Index

Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers

Union, 30

American Federation of Ixibor (AFL), 22

American Flint Glass Workers, 30

Assessment teams, 60

AT&T

company union creation, 25

divestiture, 37

implications of CWA-IBEW-US West initiative,

65-67

market share, 65

non-union subsidiaries, 65

BACAS credit checking program, 4849

Banks

low-wage, low-skill strategy, 72

Bell Atlantic, 64,69-71

Bell Atlantic Way program, 70,71

BellSouth, Inc., 64-65

Boys Market case, 22,24

Bunts and Singles. See Operation Bunts and Singles

Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984,70

Call distribution systems

Automated Call Distribution System, 39,42,48,49

work distributor, 49-50

CCAS. See Customer Credit Authorization Centers

CCS. See Center for Customer Service

CCS. See Credit Consultants

Center for Applied Technology, 10

Center for Customer Service, 58-59,60

CMCS. See Credit Management Centers

Collective bargaining, scope expansion option, 18-19

Commission on the Future of Worker-Management

Relations, 13

Communication with management. See Worker voice

Communications industry. See Telecommunications

industry

Communications Workers of America

AT&T employees, 65-67

Bell Atlantic employees, 70

Denver Local 7777 marketing conference, 43

membership, 25

name change from NFIW, 25

NYNEX employees, 67-69

operation Bunts and Singles, 44,45,53,54,

55-56

partnership with US WEST 1-4, 8

US WEST employees, 37

Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, 11

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), 22

Construction industry, 16

Corning, 3, 19, 30

Credit Consultants

cross-training, 59-60

discretion to resolve problems, 57

job description, 41

turnover rate, 54

wages, 48, 55

Credit Management Centers, 39

Cross-training of workers, 59-60

Customer contact workers

communications among, 58-59

functions, 39-42

redesign of job, 46-50, 55, 72

stress level, 42-43

77
.—

78 I Pulling Together for Productivity y: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Customer Credit Authorization Centers

expansion, 48

workers, 42, 43, 46

Customer Service Representatives

cross-training, 5940

job functions and standards, 4,3941,42

stress level of job, 41,42, 54

turnover rate, 54

wages, 48

CWA. See Communications Workers of America

Denial notices, 56-57

Department of Commerce, 13

Advanced Manufacturing Technology Development Program, 10

Technology Administration, 10

Department of Labor, 13

EIQC. See Employee Involvement Quality Council

Employee involvement. See Worker participation

programs

Employee Involvement Quality Council, 44,46,61

Employee Participation Committees

multi-employer, 15-16

policy option, 13-15

Employment trends

telecommunications industry, 5-6

EPCs. See Employee Participation Committees

FAC. See Facilities Assignment Center

Facilities Assignment Center, 50

Federal Communications Commission decision, 64

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, 24

grants program, 11-12

preventive mediation program, 11-12

Female workers

earnings, 7

telecommunications jobs, 4-8

Gateway Coal v. United Mine Workers, 22,24

General Motors

NUMMI joint venture, 31-33

Saturn division, 3,30,31-33,35

HPS. See US WEST Communications, Home and

Personal Services Division

IBEW. See International Brotherhood of Electrical

Workers

Intelligent Work Stations, 48

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

AT&T employees, 65,67

Bell Atlantic employees, 70

history, 23,25

membership, 25

NYNEX employees, 67-69

partnership with US WEST 1-4,8

support of Bunts and Singles process

improvements, 44

US WEST employees, 37

IWS. See Intelligent Work Stations

JAM (job) classifications, adversarial relations, and

minimal training) system, 72

JDT. See Job Design Team

Job Design Team

goals, 47

process, 4649

progress, 57-61

vision, 49-51, 60-61

Job security, 55,61

Labor-management cooperation, Federal support

option, 11-12

Labor-Management Cooperation Act of 1978, 11

Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947 (TaftHartley Act), 11, 18,22,24

Labor-management relationship. See Unionmanagement relationship

Landrum-Griffin Act, 24

lockridge Associates, 44

Maintenance loop Testers, 50

McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc., 65

METs. See Maintenance loop Testers

Mountain Bell, 38

National Academy of Sciences, 7

National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 23

National Competitiveness Act of 1993, policy option,

10

National Federation of Telephone Workers, 25

National Institute of Standards and Technology, 10

National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)

passage, 22
penalties for violation, 23,29

provisions, 13, 14, 23

reaffirmation option, 16

subjects of bargaining, 18

supervisors unions option, 17

National Labor Relations Board, 23

decisions, 13

petition to option, 14

ruling on telephone company unions, 25

Nationwide telecommunication network (Information

superhighway), 6

Network unions option, 17-18

New England Telephone, 67-69

New Jersey Bell, 71

New York Telephone, 67-69

NLRA. See National Labor Relations Act

NLRB. see National Labor Relations Board

Norris-LaGuardia Act, 22,23

Northwestern Bell, 38

NUMMI (New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.), 30,

31-33

NYNEX Corporation, 67-69

NYNEX Mobile, 68

Operation Bunts and Singles

measures of success, 53-56

process improvements, 4446,50

sustainability and growth, 60-61

Pacific Northwest Bell, 12,38

Performance appraisals

basis for, 41

elimination of individual appraisals, 47, 55

Policy options, 8-19

summary, 9

President’s National Labor Management Conference,

18

Productivity growth

importance, 4

telecommunications industry, 5-6

and unions, 29

worker voice expansion issue, 12-19

Profits, effect of unionism on, 29

Quality Improvement Process (Bell Atlantic), 70,71

Quality of Work Life process, 64,66

Index | 79

RBOCS. See Regional Bell Operating Companies

RC/MAC. See Recent Change/Memory Administration Center

Recent Change/Memory Administration Center, 50

Regional Bell Operating Companies. See also specific

companies

entry into cable television, 64, 69-70

FCC decision impact, 64

investment in nationwide information network, 6

non-union subsidiaries, 7

restrictions, 37

Regional Holding Companies, 37

Research and development expenditures, 29

Residential Marketing Centers, 39

RHCS. See Regional Holding Companies

RMCS. See Residential Marketing Centers

Roosevelt administration, 22

Saturn, 3, 19,30,31-33,35

SCs. See Service Consultants

Service Consultants, JDT vision

Service sector

of job, 49-50, 51

Federal technology and work organization

assistance, 11

implications of CWA-IBEW-US WEST initiative,

71-73

multi-employer EFCs option, 15-16

new job creation, 4

SET (job security, employee involvement, and training) system, 72

Southern Association of Bell Telephone Employees,

25

Southwestern Bell, 64

Supervisors unions policy option, 17

Taft-Hartley Act, 11, 18,22,24

Technological innovation

Center for Customer Service, 58

Skils training, 4 8

system problems, 48

and unions, 30

worker involvement policy issue, 8-11

Telecommunications industry

competition, 63-64

high productivity and shrinking employment, 5-6

implications of CWA-IBEW-US WEST initiative,

64-71

unionization, 71
80 I Pulling Together for Productivity: A Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

Telemarketing Sales Representatives, 48

Telephone industry. See Telecommunications industry

Time Warner, L, P., 64

Toyota, 31-33

Treatment Timing project, 56-57

UAW. See United Auto Workers

Union-management cooperation

case study, 37-61

policy option, 11-12

Union-management relationship

AT&T, 65-67

Bell Atlantic, 69-71

BellSouth, 64-65

implications of CWA-IBEW-US WEST initiative,

63-72

NYNEX, 67-69

Union representation

Wagner Act reaffirmation options, 16-18

Unionization levels

1970 and 1992, 12

Canada, 27-28

communications industry, 71

Europe, 15,25,27

other countries, 25-26

service sector, 71

telephone industry, 25,26,71

United States, 22-25,26-29

Unions. See also specific unions

adequacy of voice, 35-36

changing fortunes, 22-29

costs and benefits, 29-30

discharge for union activity, 16-17

discontent with worker stress levels, 4244

effect on nonunionized workers, 30

employee involvement programs and, 33-35

instant elections option, 17

legislative history, 22-24

membership, 22-23

options for strengthening, 12-13, 16-19

productivity and, 21-22,29

United Auto Workers, 30,31-33

U.S. Bureau of the Census, 7

U.S.-Mexico Trade: Pulling Together or Pulling

Apart?, 1, 8, 9

US WEST, Inc.. See also US WEST Communications

case study, 37-61

competitive strategy, 50

components, 37

corporate strategy, 61

joint venture with Time Warner, 64

profitability, 38

US WEST Communications, 37-38

Home and Personal Services Division

Center for Customer Service, 58-59,60

customer contact workers, 38-39, 42, 43, 44, 46,

47,48,49,50,51

female employees, 7,71

high-wage, high-skill strategy, 2

new manager, 4344

Operation Bunts and Singles benefits, 53-54

organizational evolution, 2,40, 60

residential customer revenues, 38

summary of findings, 2-4

union-management initiative, 1-, 8

Mass Markets and Operations unit, 57-58,60,61

Network & Technology Services, 42,50,58,60

re-engineering plans, 60

Small Business Services, 58,60

Wages

Credit Consultants, 48,55

Customer Service Representatives, 48

nonunion workers, 30

Wagner Act. See National Labor Relations Act

Worker participation programs. See also Employee

Involvement Quality Council; Employee Particiipation Committees

consultative vs. substantive, 34

development and deployment of technology, 8-11

NUMMI and Saturn, 31-33

in union and nonunion settings, 33-35

Worker voice

as benefit of unions, 30

expansion options, 12-19

options, 35-36

Workers Technology Skill Development Act of 1993,

10-11

Workplace of the Future initiative, 66-67

Works councils, 4, 14-16,35

WPOF. See Workplace of the Future initiative

Xerox, 3, 19,30
— —

80 Pulling Together for Productivity: A

Telemarketing Sales Representatives, 48

Telephone industry. See Telecommunications

Time Warner, L.P., 64

Toyo@ 31-33

Treatment Timing project, 56-57

UAW. See United Auto Workers

Union-management cooperation

case study, 37-61

policy option, 11-12

Union-management relationship

AX&T, 65-67

Bell Atlantic, 69-71

BellSouth, 64-65

Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

industry

implications of CWA-IBEW-US WEST initiative,

63-72

NYNEX, 67-69

Union representation

Wagner Act reaffirmation options, 16-18

Unionization levels

1970 and 1992, 12

Canada, 27-28

communications industry, 71

Europe, 15,25,27

other countries, 25-26

service sector, 71

telephone industry, 25,26,71

United States, 22-25,26-29

Unions. See also specific unions

adequacy of voice, 35-36

changing fortunes, 22-29

costs and benefits, 29-30

discharge for union activity, 16-17

discontent with worker stress levels, 42-44

effect on nonunionized workers, 30

employee involvement programs and, 33-35

instant elections option, 17

legislative history, 22-24

membership, 22-23

options for strengthening, 12-13, 16-19

productivity and, 21-22,29

United Auto Workers, 30,31-33

U.S. Bureau of the Census, 7

U.S.-Mexico Trade: Pulling Together or Pulling

Apart?, 1, 8, 9

US WEST, Inc.. See also US WEST Communications

case study, 37-61

competitive strategy, 50

components, 37

corporate strategy, 61

joint venture with Time Warner, 64

profitability, 38

US WEST Communications, 37-38

Home and Personal Services Division

Center for Customer Service, 58-59,60

customer contact workers, 38-39,42, 43, 44, 46,

47,48,49,50,51

female employees, 7,71

high-wage, high-skill strategy, 2

new manager, 4344

Operation Bunts and Singles benefits, 53-54

organizational evolution, 2, 40, 60

residential customer revenues, 38

summary of findings, 2-4

union-management initiative, 1- 4, 8

Mass Markets and Operations unit, 57-58,60,61

Network & Technology Services, 42,50,58,60

re-engineering plans, 60

Small Business Services, 58,60

Wages

Credit Consultants, 48,55

Customer Service Representatives, 48

nonunion workers, 30

Wagner Act. See National Labor Relations Act

Worker participation programs. See also Employee

Involvement Quality Council; Employee Participation Committees

consultative vs. substantive, 34

development and deployment of technology, 8-11

NUMMI and Saturn, 31-33

in union and nonunion settings, 33-35

Worker voice

as benefit of unions, 30

expansion options, 12-19

options, 35-36

Workers Technology Skill Development Act of 1993,

10-11

Workplace of the Future initiative, 66-67

Works councils, 4, 14-16,35

WPOF. See Workplace of the Future initiative

Xerox, 3, 19,30
— —

80 Pulling Together for Productivity: A

Telemarketing Sales Representatives, 48

Telephone industry. See Telecommunications

Time Warner, L.P., 64

Toyota, 31-33

Treatment Timing project, 56-57

UAW. See United Auto Workers

Union-management cooperation

case study, 37-61

policy option, 11-12

Union-management relationship

AX&T, 65-67

Bell Atlantic, 69-71

BellSouth, 64-65

Union-Management Initiative at U S West, Inc.

industry

implications of CWA-IBEW-US WEST initiative,

63-72

NYNEX, 67-69

Union representation

Wagner Act reaffirmation options, 16-18

Unionization levels

1970 and 1992, 12

Canada, 27-28

communications industry, 71

Europe, 15,25,27

other countries, 25-26

service sector, 71

telephone industry, 25,26,71

United States, 22-25,26-29

Unions. See also specific unions

adequacy of voice, 35-36

changing fortunes, 22-29

costs and benefits, 29-30

discharge for union activity, 16-17

discontent with worker stress levels, 42-44

effect on nonunionized workers, 30

employee involvement programs and, 33-35

instant elections option, 17

legislative history, 22-24

membership, 22-23

options for strengthening, 12-13, 16-19

productivity and, 21-22,29

United Auto Workers, 30,31-33

U.S. Bureau of the Census, 7

U.S.-Mexico Trade: Pulling Together or Pulling

Apart?, 1, 8, 9

US WEST, Inc.. See also US WEST Communications

case study, 37-61

competitive strategy, 50

components, 37

corporate strategy, 61

joint venture with Time Warner, 64

profitability, 38

US WEST Communications, 37-38

Home and Personal Services Division

Center for Customer Service, 58-59,60

customer contact workers, 38-39,42, 43, 44, 46,

47,48,49,50,51

female employees, 7,71

high-wage, high-skill strategy, 2

new manager, 4344

Operation Bunts and Singles benefits, 53-54

organizational evolution, 2, 40, 60

residential customer revenues, 38

summary of findings, 2-4

union-management initiative, 1-4, 8

Mass Markets and Operations unit, 57-58,60,61

Network & Technology Services, 42,50,58,60

re-engineering plans, 60

Small Business Services, 58,60

Wages

Credit Consultants, 48,55

Customer Service Representatives, 48

nonunion workers, 30

Wagner Act. See National Labor Relations Act

Worker participation programs. See also Employee

Involvement Quality Council; Employee Participation Committees

consultative vs. substantive, 34

development and deployment of technology, 8-11

NUMMI and Saturn, 31-33

in union and nonunion settings, 33-35

Worker voice

as benefit of unions, 30

expansion options, 12-19

options, 35-36

Workers Technology Skill Development Act of 1993,

10-11

Workplace of the Future initiative, 66-67

Works councils, 4, 14-16,35

WPOF. See Workplace of the Future initiative

Xerox, 3, 19,30