Collaborative approach aids county in labor negotiations

Published June 26, 2006

by JOANNE WOJCIK

jwojcik@BusinessInsurance.com

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--By being both forthright and fair, Paul Hackleman has helped San Mateo County forge a harmonious relationship with its labor organizations at a time when many unions are at odds with employers.

He attributes his skills at diplomacy to a lasting impression left by two people: Bill Hembree, director of the Health Research Institute at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and the late President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The first or second year that Mr. Hackleman was in his current position, he attended a seminar given by Mr. Hembree on collaborative labor-management approaches to controlling health care costs.

"I just remember being so bowled over by him, and he just absolutely won me over in terms of believing that it was absolutely right to take a more collaborative approach," Mr. Hackleman recalled. "I'd say that's a pretty core value to this organization. With collaboration you can get so much more accomplished."

He learned about LBJ's approach during a speech given by biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin.

"She said LBJ once said to her, 'Darlin', if you want 'em with you at the landing, you better have 'em with you at the takeoff,"' Mr. Hackleman said.

"That just so thoroughly stuck with me because, I think...that whenever you're going to introduce change, and especially the more significant that change is, you have to invest time up front with identifying who your stakeholders are, and you need to get (them) represented in your process.... And you need to rely on them to give you the perspective that they will give you if they are a good representative of their constituency or group, and that you then need to involve them throughout the process.

"In this health policy certification course that I teach for the International Foundation, I have this continuum: issue identification, information gathering, consideration of options, identifying strengths and weaknesses of options, expressing preferences for a particular option and communicating that, implementing that, and so forth.

"If you just involve people at the tail end, when you've already arrived at those conclusions, at some point, especially if you're challenged, you're going to have to go back and re-create that progress that you made to arrive at the end.... If you just involve them up front, and you have them go with you (through the continuum), they're there at the end. And what I've found out--whether it's miraculous or whether I'm just lucky--it seems that allows you to always get to a place where you can get a mutually agreeable outcome. You grow with it together, you see what the issues are, you see what the information is," Mr. Hackleman said.

To that end, in the mid-1980s, Mr. Hackleman formed a standing health care cost containment committee made up of representatives of both labor and managementthat goes though the decision- making continuum. In addition, subcommittees periodically are formed to address specific issues, such as proposals for funding retiree health benefits and meeting the new Government Accounting Standards Board requirements for recognizing retiree health care obligations.

"He's been very successful forging a partnership with the unions," said Keith Fleming, president of the Industrial Employers & Distributors Assn., an Emeryville, Calif.-based organization that negotiates with unions on behalf of employers and represents San Mateo County at the bargaining table.

"He's not only working for the county, but he's working for the best interests of the employees," Mr. Fleming said. "He's very informative, and he makes sure people understand the reason he's seeking to do what he's trying to accomplish. He's very fact-based and always comes with a lot of information."

Mr. Hackleman also is "patient and very committed to making sure the right approach is achieved," Mr. Fleming added.

Moreover, "he's absolutely open and will tell both the upside and the downside. As a result, he's perceived as being very forthright, which goes a long way in collective bargaining. A lot of people in this business try to hide the ball when the facts aren't good for them," Mr. Fleming said.