Union Approach to Health and Safety: - United Steelworkers

Introduction
In 1993, the USWA initiated the New Directions bargaining program with the goal of gaining
greater voice for the members, through their union, in areas that have traditionally been viewed as
“off-limits” under the management rights doctrine. The goal was to give local unions tools which
would aid them in more effectively representing the members in workplaces that are being buffeted by
the ongoing introduction of new technologies and work re-organization initiatives, tools that would
help them build the strength and viability of the USW - supporting union-building and internal
organizing efforts while entering into a process of “continuous bargaining” with management over
change in the workplace.
Today, our workplaces are experiencing rapid and ongoing change. New technologies such as
computers and computer-controlled equipment; new forms of work organization such as Lean
Production, teams, multi-skilling, cells and just-in-time (JIT); and new programs designed to facilitate
changes in the work process such as Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement, Process Mapping and
Kaizen are all being introduced into the workplace on a regular basis, and are creating turbulence in
the lives of our members and in our unions.
Management is making changes in technology and in the work process to meet their goals of
productivity, efficiency, profitability and control. At the same time, these changes have impacts on all
of the issues that are important to the workforce including but not limited to the number of jobs, job
security, wages and benefits, respect and dignity, health and safety, equity, unity, and skills. These
changes can also undercut sources of union strength and viability, and lead to fundamental shifts in the
power relationship between the union and management.
Historically, unions in the United States have been excluded from any significant discussion of
(or bargaining over) work restructuring and technological change by the doctrine of management
rights which is built into most contracts and into the “culture” of labor-management relations. In too
many cases, unions have accepted the doctrine of management rights, even when facing devastating
changes in the workplace. Local unions end up feeling like there is nothing they can do. The union role
has often been limited to “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” or, at best, what might be called
“negotiating the terms of the funeral”.
Continuous bargaining is an approach that seeks to insert the union in bargaining over changes in
technology and work organization that are having such a significant impact on the members and on the
union. Model contract language to support continuous bargaining seeks to provide a framework and