TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager to execute a contract with Agreement Dynamics, Inc., in the amount up to $125,000 to assist with facilitation of labor negotiations in the City for up to a one-year period. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
As the City prepares for upcoming negotiations with the International Association of Machinists (lAM) and the Fire Fighters Association (FFA), there has been interest in developing a new approach to labor relations. The City has been working to implement a new interest-based negotiations approach to ensure a more productive working relationship between labor and management and improved results for the community. The goals of this effort are to enhance the quality of work life and to improve service delivery to the Long Beach community by fostering mutual respect, trust, and partnership. Positive labor-management relations are critical to the success of any high-performing organization, and the implementation of this new approach represents a significant change effort to improve internal collaboration, employee involvement, morale, and customer service in the City.
To assist in this new approach, the City has chosen to utilize Agreement Dynamics' RESOLVE process, a unique bargaining process developed by Rhonda Hilyer (Agreement Dynamics, Inc.) that fosters alliances between labor and management. After reviewing various approaches to labor relations and meeting with multiple labor relations facilitators, the City selected Agreement Dynamics based on its track record of outstanding results and extensive experience working at all levels of numerous municipal organizations. Agreement Dynamics has proven success in shortening negotiation time-frames and producing labor agreements that result in successful labor contracts and ongoing labor-management relations in numerous organizations including the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, City of Sunnyvale, Port of Seattle, City of Seattle, and most recently the City of Los ...
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