| Designed to foster cooperative and collaborative labor-management relationships |
Labor-management relationships needed to deal with difficulties of the current economic situation
Strong labor-management relationships are critical in order to effectively address the financial and operational difficulties most fire departments are facing in the current economic environment.
The IAFC/IAFF Labor-Management Initiative, a joint program of the IAFC and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) designed to foster cooperative and collaborative labor-management relationships, is now available for delivery upon request.
The program consists of two 2-day workshops held six months apart. Both workshops are facilitated by a fire chief/union president team.
Some of the LMI's topics include:
- roles and responsibilities
- leadership skills
- organizational dynamics
- labor-management best practices
- change management
- identifying shared goals
- strengthening leadership and relationships
- public policy
- how to move a new dynamic forward
The LMI is delivered in one of two ways:
- To the leadership of the fire department and the union within a single fire department
- Regionally, in cooperation with state fire chiefs and firefighter associations
In the case of regional delivery, the program is offered to representatives of approximately 20 fire departments (total of 40 participants). For a fire department to participate, the fire chief and union president must attend both days of both workshops.
The IAFC and IAFF can also provide facilitators for local, regional, state or national educational events (i.e., conferences, symposiums and workshops).