John Burchall turns the spotlight on Government -- the third player in negotiations between labour and management. Home Affairs Minister the Hon.

Quinton Edness declined a request for an interview for this story, citing his recent appointment to the post.

Alternative Dispute Resolution will be a key technique for resolving disputes between trade unions and employers as labour relations head into the new millennium, says a Government official.

Recent trends suggest that unions and employers are trying to settle differences themselves instead of appealing to a third party.

And this is one tendency that Labour Department officials want to encourage and maintain.

"We look at labour management to see how we can prevent disputes from escalating to the point where the Labour Department has to get involved,'' said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We still carry the philosophy that when we become involved there has been an integral failure on the part of the parties to solve their own problems.

"If parties solve their own problems then that is the best way to do it.'' The spokesman said that when negotiations have broken down and Government has had to get involved this is due in part to frustration.

"Last year alone, there were 22 collective agreements being discussed and the BIU was stretched. Consequently we saw a few more grievances come our way because the union did not have officers available.

"But this is not to blame them,'' he said. "They themselves are working with new techniques and have limited resources to cope with all the problems that come their way.'' The spokesman said that the recent labour summit led to the code of good industrial relations which was the product of all the good ideas thrashed out at the summit.

In October, the Labour Department is organising a week-long summit whose aim is to examine negotiating techniques, bargaining and dispute resolution.

Trade union members, employers and Labour Department personnel will be involved in this.

"Like the last summit, experts from Michigan University will conduct the summit in October with facilitators from the Labour Department and others who have already gone through the process.

"The aim this time is to make the practitioners facilitators. The goal is to make the practitioners the teachers who are then learning as the seminar goes on.

"This will bring the parties together in a neutral environment where they will play out roles during the seminar.'' While Government is committed to training and seminars, the spokesman said the unions are also sending their members overseas in an effort to stay up to date.

"We are really working with the Tripartite system (Government, Employers and Trade Unions),'' the spokesman added. "Employers, unions and Government are working together, attending seminars and discussing issues.

"What we are starting to see now is a greater willingness for parties involved in a labour dispute to discuss issues amicably and to use consultation without using formal grievance procedures.

"And this is really what it should be about. We want parties to be able to discuss things honestly and openly with some trust and conviction in the other side's ability to come to the table honestly as well.'' Apart from the dispute resolution process, the spokesman said the Labour department was shinning a spotlight on itself and examining its own processes and policies.

"The evolution of the parties over the last 30 years is one of the major reasons for the level of cooperation now going on between Government, trade unions and employers,'' the spokesman added.

"The establishment of trade unionism and it's acceptance as a real means of advancing and protecting worker's rights has been a another reason for the level of success and good feeling in labour circles today.'' Moreover, he said new techniques, such as alternative dispute resolution will take over from the more traditional modes of resolving disputes.

In the past he said traditional mediation was conducted with parties in different rooms passing information between themselves. Labour was arguing for its rights and used such tools such as the strike, go slow and sick out to make its voice heard.

But after trade unions began collective bargaining procedures in the 1970s which set out the standards, agreements, and terms of reference between workers and management, there was more give and take between the parties although disputes continued to arise.

"The win-lose mentality of the 1970s has given way to the win-win mentality that guides negotiations today.

"Alternative dispute resolution fits well within this context because it focuses on collaborative negotiation. We need to do more of this.

"Another good trend on the labour front is an innovation called human resource management. The human resource managers of today used to be the personnel managers but with important differences.

"Human resource managers look at an organisation as a living organism made up of human beings. There is nothing new in that, but the old personnel manager model looked only at hiring, firing and payroll.

"Human resource managers look at people as a resource which must be cared for if an organisation is to be viable.'' UNS UNIONS POLITICS