Questions we hear from union leaders and members, with our answers.

Q. The union takes care of its members. Why do we need a consultant to tell us what our people want?

We don't tell you what your members want. They tell all of us, and the union keeps its role. What we add is a way to hear from every member directly. We hold communication meetings across shifts, then run an anonymous survey on schedules, sleep, safety and what members would value in a change. At Gallo Glass we surveyed every employee.

Results go back to managers and employees, and they can be broken out by department or current schedule, so real differences don't disappear into an overall average. That gives the local data from the whole membership, not only from the members who speak up. If the union takes part, its leaders also help decide what goes into the survey and the education materials, review the questions ahead of time and see the complete results.

Q. Isn't the consultant working for management?

The company is the client, and we say so. To date, no union has funded a CCG project. We don't hide what we are there to do. When another local asked one union president what working with CCG was like, he wrote back:

...we have dealt with the Coleman Consultant firm and found them to be very efficient at what they do. The amount of schedules they came up with was phenomenal. Make no mistake, their agenda is to increase productivity.

Gary Patterson, President, Local 6500, United Steelworkers of America

He is right, and we would not want it read any other way. CCG has nothing to hide. The goal is a more productive operation, and we say that to members as plainly as we say it to management.

That is also why an outside expert helps both sides. Our most successful projects are the ones where the client understands we work best as a neutral third party expert, there to analyze and interpret the data and let the data drive the recommendations. We bring 40+ years of shift-schedule experience and a large set of schedule options. The president of UAW Local 2317 described CCG's presentations as “informative, with unprejudiced solutions.” At Gallo Glass, working directly with employees let management and employees discuss change in an impartial manner for the first time.

What benefits the business also benefits employees. A schedule that works for the operation is one the company can keep, and a schedule members chose is one they want to keep. At Gallo Glass the result was 91 more days off a year, cost neutral, and after a one year trial over 90% of GMP Local 17's members voted to keep it.

Q. Does the union have to be involved? What is our role?

That is the union's choice. Our process is much the same at union and non-union sites. The difference is that union leadership can take part from the start of the project, and we recommend it.

When the union takes part, ground rules get settled up front: which provisions of the agreement the union is not willing to change, what goes into the surveys and education materials, and the criteria every option has to meet, such as cost and pay neutrality. Where it fits, a joint team of company and union representatives steers the work. At Apache Nitrogen Products, the joint team dropped an 8-day break option because it would have meant a very low pay period once per cycle.

Union leaders review the survey questions ahead of time and see the complete results. Employees see the survey details too. That happens on every CCG project, union or not.

If leadership decides not to take part, the project still goes forward. Management still has a duty to do what's best for the company and its workforce. We still communicate with the workforce, and members still get the engagement survey, so they are heard either way. The solutions are designed to fit within the current collective bargaining agreement. In the end, management decides what is best for the company and its people.

Q. Will we see the same numbers management sees?

As much as the company allows. The operations analysis looks at workload, staffing, overtime, absenteeism and coverage, and we present the facts to management and union leaders alike. What a company treats as confidential varies from client to client. We urge every client to share as much as it can, but in the end the client decides how much we can share.

The president of UAW Local 2317 wrote that CCG's consultants “only presented the facts” and “did not misinform us on any issues.” Survey results also give both negotiating teams the same set of facts to work from. Members are often skeptical of a schedule change at first, and trust comes from showing them the facts and how their input shaped the options.

Q. Will a new schedule cut our pay or benefits?

That depends on the ground rules, and members see them. Cost and pay neutrality are often among the criteria. The president of UAW Local 2317 wrote that CCG's consultants “listened to our concerns and tried to provide solutions within the Company’s criteria, cost and pay neutrality.”

Some members come out ahead. At Gopher Resource, 12-hour employees earn about 10% more, with a $1.00 an hour raise on ratification and a $0.80 night differential.

Q. Does this mean reopening the whole contract?

Not necessarily. Some changes fit within the current agreement. Others need negotiated changes. Either way, the union decides up front which provisions it is not willing to change, and those stay off the table.

There is no standard way to write a schedule change into a union agreement. The approach is mostly set by the company's management team, in consultation with union leadership. Where language does need to change, we help draft it. At Gopher Resource we sat at the negotiating table as a neutral third party advisor to both the management team and Teamsters Local 120 as they negotiated 12-hour schedule language. At Apache Nitrogen Products we partnered with regional union leadership and developed the contract language.

Q. Who picks the schedule?

The people who will work it. Members are surveyed first, the options are built from what they said, and then members choose. At Gallo Glass, the GMP Local 17 president wrote, “Our membership selected a schedule.” At Molson Coors, an unbalanced 7-day schedule was adopted by employee vote.

Q. What happens if members vote no?

It happens. About 30% of the time, union members are just not ready for change, even when the change is expected to produce positive results. People often prefer the devil they know to the devil they don't.

A no vote doesn't have to end the conversation. Some management teams have chosen smaller changes that comply with the existing contract language. Sometimes union leaders and management keep working on the provisions that were issues for members, then revisit the vote months or even two or three years later.

And sometimes, just caring enough to propose a change, even if people vote no, is enough to calm the waters and reduce the need for one.