Labor leader and corporate exec tell students about their collaboration

From left, junior ILR student Arthur Thomas meets Randy MacDonald, GTE executive vice president for human resources and administration, and Mort Bahr, president of the Communication Workers of America, after they spoke in Professor Lowell Turner's Collective Bargaining class April 29. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

By Linda Myers

With his large build and streetwise New York accent, Mort Bahr looks and sounds like the tough-talking, old-style unionist you'd expect him to be. But when he starts talking about how to command more market share in a global economy, you realize that the president of the Communication Workers of America (CWA) represents a new kind of labor leader, one savvy enough to seek to align his union's best interests with those of management.

In contrast, Bahr's speaking partner, Randy MacDonald, GTE's executive vice president for human resources and administration, is the image of the buttoned-down corporate "suit" -- until he begins to talk about management openly sharing strategic information with union members at the beginning of bargaining sessions.

Bahr and MacDonald, who might easily claim the title of the Oscar and Felix "Odd Couple" of labor and management, delivered their message in tandem April 29 at Cornell to students in Assistant Professor Rose Batt's section of Semester in Manufacturing, a course at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Associate Professor Lowell Turner's class Collective Bargaining, an undergraduate course at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR).

Bahr and MacDonald were brought together by the impending merger between GTE and another communications firm, Bell Atlantic. Although the mergers of the 1980s all resulted in massive layoffs, neither leader anticipates the loss of a single job through this merger. Instead they foresee the creation of more jobs, driven by the communications industry's anticipated growth and the tremendous need for well-trained workers. What does concern them, however, is the bigger picture, the industry's push toward consolidation, which MacDonald predicts will lead to a shakedown resulting in four or five communications giants competing aggressively for worldwide market domination.

Adversarial labor-management relationships are out the window in that kind of competitive environment, said MacDonald, replaced by a much more pragmatic approach to doing business. "Twenty years ago you wouldn't have labor and management working together," he observed. "Today it's part of the business equation. What matters most is the growth of the company -- for the shareholders, for the customers and for the employees." And he and Bahr agreed that to succeed nowadays, both workers and managers need to "know the business."

The most revolutionary idea the two presented to the students was the concept of a "living" contract. Replacing the standard contract, which is likely to contain details of every contingency and be fiercely negotiated between union and management, the living contract is a spare set of principles that all players agree to work in an atmosphere of respect and trust. MacDonald likened it to the agreement he and his wife have with their daughter, now a student at Bucknell, whom they trust to behave according to agreed-upon principles.

Another new idea Bahr and MacDonald agreed on is the need to educate, train and retrain the work force. In the old days, related Bahr, most workers were expected to "check their brains at the factory door," whereas today it's a point of pride for workers to continue learning, with the support of their company. Bahr told the students that lifelong learning would be essential for them, too, after they graduate if they hope to keep up with the pace of technological change.

The labor leader ended on a positive note. The enormous growth we are likely to see in communications offers a tremendous opportunity for companies to make millions of dollars, he noted, but with it comes the concurrent need for corporate responsibility.

"We also have the chance to improve education, improve health standards and raise the standard of living worldwide," Bahr told the students. "Your generation is going to make it work."