ATA, AEMTC honored with awards at labor conference

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. --  Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) and the Air Engineering Metal Trades Council (AEMTC) were recently presented with the Tennessee Center for Labor Management Relations (TCLMR) 2009 Tennessee Labor Award of Excellence at the 22nd annual Tennessee Labor-Management Conference Aug. 14 in Nashville. 

The conference is hosted by the Tennessee Labor-Management Foundation, which is comprised of an array of representatives from organized labor, companies, academia, government and neutrals across the state. 

According to Brent E. Hall, international representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 10th District and 2010 president-elect of the Tennessee Labor-Management Foundation (TLMF), Inc., the TLMF award of excellence recognizes an outstanding employee-employer partnership that demonstrates cooperative labor-management relations and workforce excellence. 

The criterion for the award also includes demonstrating outstanding practice in innovation, diversity, education and safety. 

Hall said the ATA and AEMTC labor-management team was cited for their open communications, cooperative working environment, ability to solve difficult issues and problems, and for setting a standard of excellence in labor-management relations for others to emulate. 

"Aerospace Testing Alliance and the 12 unions represented by the Air Engineering Metal Trades Council have forged a working relationship that is exemplary between labor and management," said Hall. 

The Tennessee Labor-Management Foundation also presented ATA with the Tennessee Center for Labor-Management Relations' senior sponsor's award. 

"ATA was recognized for their financial contribution to the conference, which shows their commitment to working issues and developing a strong partnership between labor and management, in our case, between the AEMTC and ATA," explained Gary Casteel, branch manager of ATA plant operations & maintenance. "We received the Award of Excellence for our use of the "Relationship by Objective (RBO)" process. The [adoption of] the RBO process is extremely significant because it shows a renewed interest by both parties, the AEMTC and ATA, to work out their differences through extensive dialog and communication. The RBO process provides a structured approach for working issues and enables us to solve difficult problems." 

Dr. David Elrod, ATA general manager, said both awards are significant and serve as a testimonial to ATA's commitment to Arnold's mission and fostering the type of partnership with the wage-earning work force required to get the job done. 

"I am very humbled by both awards," Dr. Elrod said. "I am particularly proud of the relationship and accomplishments of the ATA-AEMTC team in the area of labor-management relations." 

ATA has been a major sponsor of the Tennessee Labor-Management Conference since 2003 and one ATA representative and one AEMTC representative serves on the Tennessee Labor-Management Foundation's Board of Directors. The Tennessee Conference is widely recognized across the United States as the premier gathering of labor and management leaders. 

ATA and its approximately 2,200 employees provide operations, maintenance and support services to AEDC. ATA became Arnold's single main contractor Oct. 1, 2003. 

Casteel said the theme of the 2009 Tennessee Labor-Management Conference, "Working Together in Tough Times," struck a chord with everyone he met there. 

"Economic times such as the present always challenge relationships; however, it also provides a great opportunity for us to work together to face and overcome these challenges," he said. "Teamwork and communication are the keys to accomplishing our goals during the current economic climate and conferences such as these help provide an avenue for the communication and teamwork to take place." Casteel said he has attended the conference before and sees an ongoing value in returning every year to re-engage with people from his organization in a more neutral setting. 

"I find that it is worthwhile for labor and management to take a couple of days annually to get together away from the workplace in an attempt to understand one another's issues," he explained. "ATA and the AEMTC have worked together to accomplish many great things since obtaining the contract in 2003, including the transition of two contracts into one, negotiating a five-year collective bargaining agreement (October 2005 to September 2010) and achieving an award fee score of 94 last period. This indicates that we are accomplishing quality work for our customer, but our greatest accomplishment is our improved safety record. We've still got room for improvement, but we, ATA and the AEMTC, have come a long way with respect to safety at AEDC." 

Dave Simmons, ATA's Test and Facility Support Branch manager, said the conference is effective on several levels. 

"Not only does this conference provide time to interface with the AEMTC leadership, we learn how other Tennessee companies do business," he said. "This improves understanding and helps us resolve issues through improved communication." 

Simmons is optimistic about the future between labor and management at Arnold. 

"I believe the relationships [between ATA and the AEMTC] are greatly improved," he said. "We have worked hard over the past six to eight months to resolve some pretty serious issues. I also believe we are building a trust relationship that is extremely important to our future at AEDC. Together, as a team, we are improving every day." 

Jimmy Dale Nance, the current AEMTC president, agreed that the RBO process adopted by labor and management at AEDC has led to an improved relationship between the two sides, but said the road ahead is never easy. 

"To be honest, we're not 100 percent there yet," he said. "We still have some big issues we're trying to tackle, but we've made progress." 

Nance also said the annual labor-management conference has proven valuable over the eight years he has attended them. 

"It gives us a chance to get together, talk out issues and see what's going on around other parts of the state," he said. "The conference lets us see what kinds of problems others are experiencing and we can often use that information to help us to communicate better with each other at AEDC. 

"Also, we go to breakout sessions and they always bring us up to date on the new workers' compensation law and the best practices of other groups," he continued. "The conferences always have classes about the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the new rules and regulations, which helps us stay on top of things. The bottom line is that the conference helps us to stay current with what's going on with labor and management across the country. Every year they bring in speakers and arbitration panels - all of which helps us to work better together and solve our problems on the local level. So, it's a win-win for all of us." 

Nance said the possible upcoming reduction in force at AEDC is one issue ATA and the AEMTC are working together on to find common ground. 

"This layoff is creating some unrest for our folks and we're trying to minimize that by working with Dr. Elrod to see what we can do," he said. "I think management came up with some great ideas and they're trying to minimize the impact as much as possible. We've offered the volunteer RIF [reduction in force] and we're getting some good results from that. So, we're just trying to work through some tough times." 

David Garner, past AEMTC president and an ATA machinist at the center's model shop's inspection lab, has been attending the Tennessee Labor-Management Conference since he joined the work force at AEDC in 1979. He said it is difficult to find anyone who has not been impacted by the current economic climate. 

"I doubt if you can find a company here that's not facing some kind of budget cut or some kind of reduction in force, even us - we're facing a layoff, but it's something we have to work through and do the best we can with it," he said "That's on everybody's mind right now." 

Garner said attending the labor-management conference over the years has been worthwhile. 

"We've always participated in some form or fashion no matter what company we work for, at this conference," he said. "It's one of the better events in the country as far as labor management type conferences are concerned. [It provides] an opportunity for labor and management both to learn and to hear about new and different ideas - basically, how to get along. The bottom line is we all need to communicate with each other and get along, try to settle our differences. Without the company, we don't have a job and the company needs us as well." 

The Tennessee Labor-Management Foundation members meet regularly to share information and discuss options to survive tough economic times. The Tennessee Labor-Management Conference is co-sponsored by the Tennessee Center for Labor-Management Relations and is funded by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and associated with Middle Tennessee State University and the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Washington, D.C.