President Sean M. Decatur will join the presidents of national labor unions that represent Kenyon trades workers and custodians and groundskeepers on Wednesday, August 14, to sign the Middle Path Partnership agreement.
The signatures will seal the deal arranged in March that established a management and labor partnership designed to improve Maintenance Department operations.
Decatur will meet R. Thomas Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents Kenyon’s custodians and groundskeepers, and Bruce Klipple, president of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, which represents the trades workers, in Peirce Hall for the signing at 10 a.m.
The partnership-plan agreement was reached after negotiations that included union concessions on wages and Kenyon’s commitment to a four-year operations-improvement plan. Kenyon is committed to a three-year extension of collective-bargaining agreements for each union, a formal labor-and-management partnership agreement, reorganization of department support services, and a new computerized management system.
Maintenance management and union representatives traveled to the headquarters of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Maryland in April for training in the High Performance Work Organization Partnerships program developed by that union. The partnerships program is built on a foundation of shared decision-making and is supposed to improve work processes, save jobs, and develop continuous education and communication.