Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 20, 2004|Volume 32, Number 19

Yale and unions launch
'historic new partnership'

Yale administrators and union leaders have announced the launch of a new partnership between the University's managers and its work force.

The undertaking -- called the "Innovative Work Systems Initiative" -- will look at how the University's work force is organized and managed. The initiative grew out of recent contract agreements between the University and Locals 34 and 35.

The leaders of the policy board guiding the initiative are John E. Pepper Jr., vice president for finance and administration; Bob Proto, president of Local 35; Jed Shivers, chief financial and administrative officer at the School of Medicine; and Laura Smith, office assistant in the Development and Alumni Services Office and president of Local 34.

In a joint statement to the Yale community, the board members wrote: "The ultimate goal of this partnership is to change labor relations at Yale. We will work toward this goal by improving communications among all employees, encouraging employee involvement at every level of the organization, creating opportunities for training and career development, and improving performance. These efforts will create significant and lasting improvements in productivity and customer (student and faculty) and employee satisfaction."

Once recommendations are developed, the board expects to conduct pilot studies in a few "test" departments. Implementing these changes, said the board members, "will require the patience, trust, communication and support of every member of the Yale community while we work together to make Yale the best it can be."

They added: "We are proud to be a part of what we intend to be an historic new partnership at Yale. We are committed to bringing about real change on this campus. As this initiative progresses, we encourage you to share honestly with us your ideas, hopes, concerns and suggestions to make this change possible. In turn, we will keep you informed of progress through periodic updates."

Interested individuals can send their suggestions and concerns via e-mail to: John E. Pepper Jr. at john.pepper@yale.edu; Bob Proto at proto@yaleunions.org; Jed Shivers at jed.shivers@yale.edu; and Laura Smith at l.smith@yale.edu.

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