Union-Management Government Reform Ad hoc Committee Breaks New Ground

– By Guy Hoyle-Dodson, Government Reform Ad Hoc Committee Chair

Several months ago, Ecology’s Director, Jay Manning came to our membership and asked for help. The problem: the Governor was asking agency directors, particularly those from Natural Resource Agencies, to provide her with ideas for reforming state government, creating a more efficient and effective public sector, to deliver better services for less money. The union responded by forming an Ad Hoc Committee of bargaining unit activists, tasked to provide the director with new and innovative ideas that serve the mission of our agency, the general public good, and the needs of our members.

The first thought that occurred to committee members was that these ideas had to come from the general membership. They reasoned that only they had the collective knowledge and insight to recognize how Ecology and other Natural Resource Agencies could better serve the public. To this end they recommended to our management counterparts that we create a program of outreach to the rank and file. Many ideas were explored, but one suggestion from the Ad hoc Committee stood out, use computer networks and Wiki-like technology to allow members to debate and fashion a list of recommendations, a “Wisdom-Gestalt” from those closest to the problems.

Management consulted with their Information technology program, and yes, it could be done, using SharePoint software already under development within the agency. And thus, was launched a new experiment in union-management collaboration, one that finally elevated our membership into a respectful partnership with our management.

This experiment has succeeded beyond all expectations. Many hundred of suggestions were generated by our members and these were debated both on-line among members and within the Union-Management Government reform Committee. Several weeks ago we distilled the essence of these suggestions and sent our first recommendations to the Director. He will present at these meetings of Natural Agency Resource Directors and their staff over the next several months, with the ultimate goal of presenting a coherent plan for Government Reform to the Governor.

You can see some of these ideas on the SharePoint Website, prominently located on our Agency Intranet site. Follow up meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee and Management will tackle several other issues of Government Reform specific to Central Services and Ecology in future meetings.

The committee members thank you for all for your input. This is an exciting new direction for our agency, and we sincerely hope that such collaborations continue in the future