Thomas Kochan, Leaders for Manufacturing Professor and George Maverick Bunker Professor of Management at the Sloan School, has been appointed by the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Commerce to a newly created National Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations.
This Commission is charged with the task of recommending ways of updating US national labor policies and practices to meet the challenges of the 21st century economy and workforce. A major focus of the Commission will be to suggest ways that government, business, and labor can work together to diffuse innovative work practices across the economy.
According to Professor Kochan, this is an historic development. It is the first time in memory that the Commerce and Labor Departments are working together on business-labor policy. And, it represents the first step in a long-overdue effort to create a lasting foundation for improved employee relations in the country.
A version of this article appeared in the April 28, 1993 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 37, Number 30).