Podcast: How Union and Non-Union Environments Help or Hurt Organizational Change

Labor unions are always a hot topic in manufacturing, particularly in recent years with big gains at automotive OEMs and current labor unrest across several manufacturing industries. “Adversarial” best describes the relationships between labor and management in these examples.

But what about transformational change efforts, such as implementing lean? How does a union or non-union environment impact these efforts?

In this episode of Behind the Curtain: Adventures in Continuous Improvement, podcast co-hosts John Dyer and Dr. Mohamed Saleh address those questions, delving into key aspects to consider when launching an organizational change journey.

Dyer breaks the labor environment into three categories: non-union, cooperative union and non-cooperative (or blocking) unions.

“Where I've had the most success has been in cooperative union environments, and there's a reason for that one. Once you get the union leadership on board and really get them fired up for doing continuous improvement in teams, they become another advocate for helping you get this done,” Dyer says.

He also notes that union contracts build in standardization, which can be a good thing. However, “Some of those rules can get in the way. … it's hard to flex when you've got 13 different job classifications working on the same line.”

In this episode, the podcast hosts discuss:

• How non-union environments provide the most flexibility and fewer barriers to change but also carry the threat of unionization.
• Why gaining trust of union leaders is important to success in a non-cooperative union environment.
• How the age of a union impacts a lean journey. A younger union presents more challenges than a more mature union environment, Saleh suggests.
• The importance of having a structured channel for the workforce to have a voice. “The root cause of you having a union is not because everyone just one day decided to rebel against you,” Saleh says. “It could be that there's a lack of psychological safety. It could be a lack of structural channels that have been designed to promote and foster open voice … in a respectful way, and that allows quick decision making.”
• Why you must challenge assumptions. For example, is management holding assumptions about how the union will react to a change, or vice versa, that present barriers to moving forward?

Introducing lean or other transformational change within a union environment won’t be easy, both hosts say.

“It’s an ongoing thing. It’s kind of like a marriage. You’ve got to keep working at it,” Dyer says.

Adds Saleh, “Early adoption or early engagement with unions, if you have one, is your best friend.”