DANVILLE — Who says unions and employers can’t get along?

For nearly 30 years, the Danville Area Labor Management Council has proved there can be mutual respect and understanding between the two.

The council formed in February 1982, when the General Motors Foundry was in full swing and the United Auto Workers Local 579 boasted one of the largest memberships in the region.

“Back in the early ’80s, we were getting a reputation as being a union town,” said longtime Teamster Bill Bounds, who currently co-chairs the council with Todd Lee, director of the Danville Sanitary District. Bounds represents the labor side of the council, and Lee represents management’s interests.

The council’s facilitator, Dave Kietzmann, who has served on the council since 1987, also remembers the tense local labor climate of the early 1980s.

“It was certainly a time when the community was going through labor issues,” he said.

“Danville started one of the first labor councils and that model was used by other communities in the state to form similar councils,” Kietzmann said. “It is very unique.”

Back then the council’s main objective was — and still is — to keep the lines of communication open between employers and organized labor.

Three decades later, the group of Danville area employers, government officials and local labor representatives still gather monthly to hash out local and national labor issues at Danville Area Community College’s Bremer Conference Center.

“We discuss labor management issues facing the community, such as who has contracts up, what are the national trends and what have others done to overcome issues,” said Kietzmann, who also is DACC’s vice president of instruction and student services.

“It’s a great asset to the community, and it keeps a dialogue moving between labor and management.”

Bounds, a charter council member, agreed. “Nobody gets paid; it’s strictly volunteer. It’s not union and it’s not non-union. It has served its purpose and it’s still serving a purpose.

“People sit down and try to listen them out,” he said. “It’s been beneficial to discuss what’s going on labor-wise in the area.

“If you have an employer that doesn’t want to talk, there’s still a few of us that know how to get them to talk,” he chuckled.

Success stories

During the years, the council has been instrumental in helping attract the Danville Correctional Center to the area as well as “keeping the pickets down” and curbing union strikes, Bounds said.

The council’s most recent accomplishment came in July.

“Our most recent success story was the contract negotiations with ThyssenKrupp and UAW 2128,” Kietzmann said. “They settled the contract and it was a five-year contract.”

Ed Peevler, United Auto Workers Local 2128 shop chairman, representing ThyssenKrupp’s forging division, praised the work of the council as well as the cooperation of union members and ThyssenKrupp officials in ratifying the new contract in only two weeks with 97 percent of the union vote.

“It was a combination of a lot of things,” Peevler said of the amicable negotiations. “The company has hired two new people for corporate HR (human resources) and local HR, and a lot of it has to do with labor management (council), the college and the union.”

The swift agreement is in stark contrast to the drawn-out and tumultuous negotiations ThyssenKrupp and the UAW had endured in the past.

“Our labor relations history has been rocky. We’ve had seven or eight strikes in the past,” Peevler, a 33-year employee, conceded.

He is a firm believer in the council’s core principle that employers and unions should communicate and cooperate.

Peevler attends the council meetings where “they do a lot of talking, educating and pushing communication. You have to talk and you have to listen.

“We’ve got to continue to keep that relationship working. It’s a struggle; it’s not easy,” he said. “But I don’t believe you have to have a union to have a good workplace. A good company doesn’t need them.”

Challenges

The labor issues the council tackles these days include health care insurance costs and workers compensation costs, according to Lee.

“We hear the employer’s side and the employee’s side to get a better understanding of the challenges we face,” he said. “You hear from other companies on how they deal with challenges.

“We discuss issues like how abuse of the workers compensation system affects all of us,” Lee added.

Up until 10 years ago, the council received a $30,000 a year state grant, which Kietzmann said was used to sponsor programs such as Parade of Winners that highlighted national business success stories.

When the state stopped funding the labor council, DACC stepped in to continue supporting it, but not at the same level the state had.

“The college felt it was important to keep the council running,” Kietzmann said.

One recent presentation sponsored by the council gathered insurance company representatives, members of the health care industry, doctors, attorneys and local legislators on a panel.

“It was a good open discussion, and the council got to ask questions,” Lee said. “It was a good eye-opener for everyone.”