The following is an open letter from President Richard C. Levin to members of the Yale community.

The University and its unions, Locals 34 and 35, will soon begin negotiations on contracts to replace those expiring in January 2002. I write to inform you about our preparations for these negotiations.

Eight years ago, the University committed itself to a new relationship with the city of New Haven. We have worked, as never before, with city government officials, business leaders, clergy, and neighborhood organizations. Signs of progress in our collaborations with New Haven surround us -- from downtown to Broadway to the Dwight neighborhood, to increased home ownership throughout the city, a burgeoning biotechnology sector, and thriving partnerships with several public schools. Today the effectiveness of the relationship between New Haven and Yale is recognized nationwide.

It is my profound hope that we can achieve the same kind of progress with our labor unions, whose members make an essential and valuable contribution to the life of the University. In many work environments throughout the country, managers and unions are working together to address both the employer's goals and the members' needs. We are eager to learn from these examples and to find a new way to structure labor-management relations here at Yale, relying on day-to-day collaboration rather than periodic confrontation. This is not easy to accomplish, but our work with the city has demonstrated that it is possible to create meaningful change.

Last spring, I began discussions with the leaders of Locals 34 and 35, seeking their help in improving our relationship. Building upon these discussions, we agreed to take an important first step. Together, we retained a highly regarded labor consultant, RAI, to help us better understand each other's goals and needs and to suggest how we might communicate and negotiate more effectively. Representatives of RAI have been on campus speaking with Yale officials, managers, union leaders, and union members for the past two weeks. We hope that the consultants' involvement will point the way toward less contentious negotiations and help us begin to institutionalize new mechanisms of collaboration and partnership. To permit time for the consultants to complete their work, we have agreed to postpone the bargaining sessions that normally would begin at this time of year.

I am hopeful that we can make significant progress this year, and I have been greatly encouraged by the willingness of the leaders of Locals 34 and 35 to engage seriously with the challenge of transforming labor relations here at Yale. Today, we look with pride upon a transformation in Yale's relationship with the city of New Haven that few would have predicted a decade ago. Let us hope that a decade from now we will look back with equal pride at what Yale and its unions have accomplished.

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