Three exemplary labor/management partnerships that saved jobs and taxpayer dollars in the public sector were described at an October 16 briefing on Capitol Hill. Both the union leaders and government officials involved in the programs conceded that the partnership path is often rocky, but claimed that in the end both the partners and the public have benefited significantly. Training for both workers and managers was one of the keys to partnership success.

The Water Services Department in Phoenix, Arizona, and members of its Local 2384, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) reported savings to the city of some $77 million over five years through an employee-driven re-engineering of their water and waste treatment systems.  

The Toledo Public Schools and the Toledo Federation of Teachers (AFT) claimed improvements in student test scores and teacher retention rates in an urban school system that was once one of Ohio's worst. For some twenty years now the Toledo partnership has managed programs that evaluate and improve new teachers' effectiveness, and peer reviews that gauge veteran teachers' performance. Those who do not meet agreed standards are provided intense coaching to bring them to acceptable levels--or they are let go.  

Ohio's Cuyahoga County Department of Human Services and AFSCME Local 1746 described the way partnership reduced workloads for social workers, generated community efforts to avoid sending children out of state for foster care, and helped bring about a 25 percent reduction in the mortality rate for children involved with social services. A labor-management steering committee identified and tackled issues of common concern, such as worker safety, morale, caseload/workload and salary levels. A more structured career ladder was created to provide incentives for promotions and better pay.

Representatives from all three of these partnerships recounted how their efforts were undertaken only after difficulties in their agencies had become severe. They found that employees have keen insights into ways of fixing problems, but tapping employee resources requires incentives. All participants must be educated not only about new technologies and methodologies of work, but about the broader situation in which they work and the requirements of teamwork and professionalization. Partners must be prepared for stress. The union president in Phoenix who instituted partnership was defeated in his re-election bid, and Toledo went through several school superintendents in the course of its efforts.

The AFL-CIO's Working for America Institute was joined by the Subcommittee on Employment, Safety and Training of the Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in sponsoring the briefing. (For additional information, contact Pat Reilly at 202/974-8144, or "preilly@workingforamerica.org.")

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva' s likely win in Brazil's presidential election is seen by some as proof of a reaction against globalization in Latin America, the end of the generally pro-U.S. temper that emerged in the region at the end of the Cold War, and a likely distraction from the Bush Administration's challenges in South Asia and the Middle East.

In the lead up to the election “Lula” stirred concern with admiring gestures toward Latino strongmen Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, reckless promises to increase social spending, and intimations that Brazil might not feel obliged to repay its foreign lenders. Many among the world's marooned radicals grew hopeful that his resurgent Latin populism might provide them with a new lifeline.

But as his campaign unfolded Lula turned up in a well-tailored business suit, took a pro-business figure as his running mate, and included foreign debt service in his lengthy list of campaign promises. Even some skeptics are now asking, "Is there a new Lula?"

The problem Lula and some of his friends are beginning to recognize is this: if they indulge the hankering to thumb their noses at the global financial establishment, then what? There still will be bills to pay. In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez has already run into a lot of trouble. And Brazilian democracy may prove even more resistant to the kinds of machinations that have enabled Chavez to cling to power.

As a useful essay in The Economist documents, while vast poverty and inequality remain, Brazil did not do so badly under the moderate social-democratic leadership of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. As Lula contemplates the revival of Latin populism that lovers of political theatre are hoping for, he may want to bear in mind an adage once popular among Marxists: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.”

One difficulty with populism is its one-dimensional concern about the distribution of wealth – and indifference to the problems of producing it. Those who try justifiably to remedy the inequities of wealth distribution in Latin America often simply scare the rich into pulling out their money. (The value of the Brazilian real has fallen by more than 40 percent since Lula emerged as a major contender earlier this year.) Investment and GDP then plummet.

A possible alternative to this vicious cycle might be adapted from the recent experience of British unions -- a subject reviewed in previous editions of this Bulletin. Sensible leaders of the British labor movement recognized some years back that their country's often ineffectual managers were not productive and competitive enough to generate the resources necessary for social reform.

So labor unions themselves took up the causes of economic modernization and productivity. Rather than demonstrating against globalization, they fostered skills and a workplace culture that could attract investors. They trained union staff to assist small or laggard firms to master new technologies and productive processes. They persuaded front-line workers to assist in the implementation of environmental and safety rules. And at the same time they worked to expand union membership and to bargain for a better share of what could be produced.

Debate over this strategic direction still rages within the British labor movement, but with support from the Blair government, the Trades Union Congress's John Monks and his allies are staying the course. Lula and his Workers' Party have the credibility with Brazil's struggling workers to lead along this path. More subsidies, padded public payrolls and overly protected domestic industries are a good bet to make their situation even worse.