LMC Goals and Ongoing Progress

The LMC's first task after its creation in 2001 was to establish bylaws by which the Committee would operate. Next, the LMC established a list of goals. Priority goals focus not only on improved plant operations, but also on increasing employee involvement and empowerment.

Examples of priority goals for the LMC include:

• Documentation of Standard Operating Procedures for each plant
• Integration of plant systems to enable computerized reporting
• Empowering employees for increased control of and responsibility for plant operations
• Continuing efforts to increase employee participation in LMC projects and activities
• Continuing improvement in overall communications at the plant level and between plants, AFSCME and CBUD administration
• Continued improvement in computer, safety, and other related training

Over the past several years, the LMC has provided a venue where employees and management can raise concerns in a constructive manner. LMC members are committed to the well-being of plant operations and the relationships between and among employees and management. The LMC process strives to open the lines of communication, allowing all employees to discuss the Committee's goals as well as other issues of importance. Perhaps more importantly, the LMC has begun a process of empowering the treatment plant employees by giving them more responsibility for, and control of, their jobs. In a comparison of employee surveys distributed in 2001 and 2003, the LMC found such positive indicators as a rise from 36% to 79% of plant employees who rated their "overall relationship between workers and managers" as "above average."