Study indicates better-trained workforce, fewer grievances in Western N.Y.

A recent Cornell study indicates that western New York state has one of the most stable and productive high-performance work forces in the country as well as harmonious relations between employers and workers, both union and nonunion.

"Champions at Work: Employment, Workplace Practices and Labor-Management Relations in Western New York" is an eight-month 97-page comprehensive study of a representative group of private-sector employers and union officers in eight counties.

"This report indicates that in workplace practices, labor relations and workforce quality, Western New York is a world-class region," said Lou Jean Fleron, director of the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) Western region and leader of the study's project team.

The information was obtained through a telephone survey of a random sample of 626 private-sector employers of both unionized and non-unionized facilities and 202 union officers in Western New York; 377 of the
employers and 123 of the union officers completed the survey, which was conducted by the Western Region of Cornell's ILR School in cooperation with Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, a public-private economic partnership, and the Western New York AFL-CIO Economic Development Group.

The survey's results show:

• Overwhelmingly, employers and unions in the Western New York region describe their relationship as a positive one, with 56 percent of respondents characterizing it as harmonious, 22 percent as professional.
• 65 to 74 percent of employers and union officers in the region believe they have a higher quality workforce than do enterprises outside Western New York; only 2 percent believe they have a lower quality workforce.
• 69 percent of union employers, 63 percent of nonunion employers and 75 percent of union officers in the region believe that the workforce productivity in their enterprise is superior to that of competitors in the same industry outside the region; only 5 percent believe their group's productivity is lower.
• More than twice as many survey respondents indicate decreasing grievance activity as those reporting increases.

In addition, high-performance workplace teams proliferate throughout the region, with 72 percent of union employers and 63 percent of non-union employers using them -- a much more extensive use than elsewhere. The study also indicates that workplaces that engage in flexible and high-performance practices, such as job rotation, use of teams, flex-time and job sharing, experience employment stability or moderate growth in employment.

Eighty percent of all employers surveyed report increased employer-financed training over the past decade, with unionized employers indicating a greater increase. Training is also positively correlated with the use of flexible and high-performance workplace practices.

Finally the survey shows widespread joint labor-management programs in unionized workplaces. Sixty-three percent of both unionized employees and their employers report that these joint committees improved productivity, while less than 2 percent think they had a negative impact. Similarly, well over half the employers and unionized workers report that joint programs positively contributed to their improved competitiveness, again with less than 2 percent indicating a negative impact.

"These investigations reveal a dynamic of cooperation and balancing of interests and confirm the results of other studies that unions contribute to the success of high-performance workplaces," said Fleron.

The report also includes 15 case studies of enterprises in the region in the auto, metals, technology, health-care, food-service and other industries and the performing arts.

The study was conducted with support from the Western New York delegation to the New York State Legislature, New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and a grant from the New York State Department of Education. For copies, call (716) 852-4191.