Over the life of the IAFC’s and IAFF’s partnership, the Labor-Management Alliance has gone through several iterations. One constant is the organizations’ dedication to building strong labor-management relationships.
One of these iterations includes its new name. The facilitators believed “Alliance” strengthened the overarching purpose of this partnership. They also believed it more accurately represents all types of assistance that can be provided to meet the ever-evolving needs of good labor-management relationships.
Two noticeable changes to the program were made. One change was a makeover of the program’s website along with a new conference website.
The other change was the addition of new facilitators to the roster.
One constant, however, is both organizations’ dedication to building strong labor-management relationships.
LMA Program Value
The program is top of the line in what it provides—so much so that in 2016, the program was recognized by the Federal Conciliation and Mediation Services in the form of a grant. With this grant, the program held 15 LMA technical assistances across the United States.
LMA will continue to educate and encourage labor and management to create cooperative relationships and to build better fire-rescue departments in order to deliver the best possible service to the community.
LMA Facilitators
The program has been very successful not only because of the tools it provides but also because of the experience level of its facilitators. All of them have been vetted by both the IAFC and the IAFF for competency in the subject matter.
These facilitators come from all sizes of departments. They’ve faced many situations, ranging from tough negotiations to not having positive labor-management communications to votes of no confidence. All of these situations have come out successfully.
How the LMA Program Works
The designers of the LMA Program know how critical these relationships are in effectively addressing both internal and external issues that pressure fire departments and the circumstances these departments may find themselves facing from time to time.
The program is committed to being a proactive resource for departments looking to avoid or work through these issues.
Two avenues help LMA accomplish all this.
LMA training provides orientation programs for new leaders, new facilitators and new board members, as well as an educational program (formerly called “2-2”) with a potential online component for individuals to complete before participating in person.
Facilitators are available to present short training sessions at conference in your region. They’re regularly present at the IAFC’s Fire-Rescue International and the IAFF’s ALTS conference.
LMA technical assistance provides tools for and help in resolving conflict and in establishing communication between parties.
This provides a forum for understanding each other’s perspective, identifying the reason for conflict and creating a positive working relationship and environment for the department.
Specific solutions include:
- Consultation
- Facilitation
- Dispute Resolution
- Custom Training
- Reconciliation
- Needs Assessment
LMA technical assistance is available to any department. Typically, once a need is identified, the department chief and union president complete an application to get the process started.
One IAFC facilitator and one IAFF facilitator colead each LMA delivery and they work with the chief and union president to determine what delivery is best for the local environment and community.
Don’t wait until your situation escalates. Contact the Labor-Management Alliance today and begin the work of to build or enhance positive, cooperative labor-management relationships.