Labor Management Council Closing after More than 3 Decades of Service

For more than 3 decades the Northeastern Pennsylvania Labor Management Council, a neutral  non-profit organization, provided an effective forum for Labor and Management to work together while providing companies, unions, government, and the communities of Northeastern Pennsylvania with information and services needed to improve the quality of life of the current and future workforce.  Initially created by labor, business and community leaders as two separate entities, the Greater Wilkes-Barre Area Labor Management Council and the Scranton Lackawanna Labor Management Committee, in 2001 the organizations merged to better serve all the communities of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Over the years the Labor Management Council, supported financially by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry through 2008, provided services to improve labor management relations in the workplace, advocacy to thousands of displaced workers, promoted career awareness of the union building and construction trades to youth, and provided low cost informational workshops and seminars on issues that affected people the workplace.

Although supported by the department of Labor and Industry’s office of Labor Management Cooperation, funding for the organization and several like it throughout the commonwealth all but disappeared. In order to survive these last few years the Council had become a fee for service organization straying from its original mission. With little operating funds and decrease grant opportunities, in June, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to close the doors effective September 30^th.

Facts:

• Conducted low cost seminars and workshops on issues that affected labor and management in the workplace:
  • Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
  • Workplace Violence
  • Workplace Safety Certification
  • Family Medical Leave Act
  • Americans with Disabilities Act
  • Equal Employment Opportunity
  • Workers Compensation
  • How to prepare for an Arbitration
  • Age Discrimination
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Partnered with numerous organization on a wide variety of projects
    • Regional Workforce Investment Boards
    • PA CareerLinks©
    • Department of Labor and Industry
    • Educational Institutions
    • Managed and developed the Northeastern PA Pre-Apprenticeship Initiative
      • 12-week afterschool program that prepared high school seniors for opportunities in the building and construction trades apprenticeship programs.
      • Advocacy for 1000’s of dislocated workers in Northeastern Pennsylvania
        • Provided support to the State’s Rapid Response team
        • Assisted Rapid Response Coordinator with informational meetings
        • Coordinated and facilitated dislocated worker transition teams, sometimes meeting with them for 1 year after company closed or downsized
        • Provided direction to former workers
        • Developed a workshop called “Moving On” to assist dislocated workers with their transition
        • Through the Labor Management Council’s efforts, consistently had more transition teams than any other region in the state
        • Northeast PA Safety and Health Expo
          • 3 successful years
          • Brought together safety experts for an all day conference
          • A Labor Management Partnership

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Labor Management Council had 3 paid staff and a volunteer board of directors consisting of 30 business, labor, community and government leaders.