Labor Management Cooperation Committees

Labor Management Cooperation Committees

HMBR offers a team of labor and employment attorneys with the background and experience necessary to help labor and management cooperate and join together to resolve issues of mutual concern.  Edward Hogan, a founding partner of our firm, has played an instrumental role in working to establish labor and management cooperation committees (LMCCs) in both the public and private sectors.  His former position with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), along with decades of experience representing labor organizations, gives him the understanding and insight to structure LMCCs and other initiatives that foster positive and productive relationships between labor and management.

Our specific involvement in the labor-management arena includes assisting with the creation of the City of Chicago LMCC.  This entity is unique to a major metropolitan city in that it provides a designated committee that works directly with labor to address healthcare, safety, training and other critical issues that may arise outside of the collective bargaining agreement.  Attorneys at our firm have also worked to develop a joint conference board which serves as a dispute resolution body for problems and issues in the construction industry.   Additionally, we have helped to set up LMCCs within other industries to handle a variety of labor-management concerns, including drug testing, workplace safety, apprenticeship and training, healthcare and job targeting. 

Beyond the more traditional LMCCs involving both labor and management, the attorneys in our practice have helped to create a unique, union-only LMCC.  While contractors contribute financially to the LMCC, the labor trustees run the LMCC for benefit of both labor and the contractors.  In this model, the primary focus is on industry promotion.  The LMCC is designed to market the positive aspects of a unionized workforce, often challenging legislative initiatives that attack the industry and lobbying for legislation that advances the industry as a whole.