Herman Survives Trial by Fire

When negotiations between the Teamsters union and United Parcel Service broke down 10 days ago, it was Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman who spent hours persuading the two sides to resume talks.

The rookie Cabinet member then took up residence in the same Washington hotel with the negotiators in the bitter labor dispute. She met with them countless times over five long days--separately and together--interpreting their positions and serving as a constant reminder that President Clinton wanted a resolution.

The 15-day strike was a trial by fire for Herman, 49, a former White House official who took her Labor post only after battling a skeptical Congress for four months before winning confirmation.

Labor specialists and White House officials believe Herman’s performance these past few days will win her her Washington stripes, as well as vindicate Clinton for his decision to elevate her to his second-term Cabinet.

Herman’s on-the-scene role was backed up by the president, who largely kept his distance, but then gave the talks a boost by weighing in on Sunday--after consultation with Herman--to say that the settlement was at hand and to urge the parties on.

Herman was “absolutely crucial” to the settlement, said John Calhoun Wells, the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Wells directed the mediation process between UPS and the Teamsters and, with Herman, camped out at the Washington Hyatt from Thursday morning until the deal was officially struck in the early morning hours Tuesday.

“This was without any question, not only one of our nation’s largest strikes but also one of the most difficult and hard fought,” said Wells, the nation’s chief labor mediator. Herman “stood up to the test and I was taken by that.”

Wells, who before the strike had not met Herman, added: “I think she’s going to distinguish herself as the nation’s secretary of Labor.”

Gerry Shea, the AFL-CIO’s liaison to the White House, said that as far as organized labor is concerned, Herman has made it through her testing period. This is saying a great deal, considering organized labor leaders protested her nomination, favoring other candidates with whom they had stronger ties.

“We’re a crusty bunch--we like people we know,” Shea said. “She didn’t get a pass like some other people would have because of their history. But this week she proved her mettle.”

To be sure, Herman, while instrumental, was only part of the solution.

Teamsters spokesman Steve Trossman stressed that while Herman played a “significant role in bringing the company back to the table and keeping both sides at the table,” the credit for the agreement itself goes to the two sides and the strikers.

“What kept the sides focused were 185,000 people out on the picket lines,” he said.

Labor secretaries regularly play a part in large strikes, but Herman’s involvement was more intense and hands-on than the norm in the last two decades, labor historians said.

John T. Dunlop, who was secretary of Labor under President Gerald R. Ford, said the strike gave Herman a valuable opportunity to establish the kind of clout necessary to get things done in Washington.

“In future disputes, her comments will be taken more seriously than they would otherwise be,” said Dunlop, a professor of economics who specializes in labor issues. “In the kind of town that Washington is, this is essential.”

It also gave the public a chance to see a relatively unknown Cabinet member in action.

“What it did was give her a chance to display her strengths, interpersonal skills and her grace and presence,” said Shea. “She has a kind of an ease and a serious presence. It’s gentle--not haughty or egotistical. But it’s a substantial presence, a powerful presence which makes what she’s doing seem like very serious business.”

Herman had been monitoring the strike before initial talks broke down. Once they did, she and a few top White House advisors met to plot their strategy, administration officials said.

The administration had been under intense pressure from UPS and some small businesses hurt by the strike to invoke federal law to end the work stoppage. It rejected that response, but gave Herman the go-ahead to engage in the unusually high-level mediation, administration and labor officials said.

A week ago Monday, Herman spent two hours each with the principals, trying to understand the details of their positions. Then she worked the phone for the next few days translating each side’s arguments to the other. Finally, after determining that they were ready to resume negotiations, she persuaded them to come together and talk until they found a resolution, according to administration officials.

“There is no doubt that her work behind the scenes on the phone, sounding them out and building a level of trust, helped them find the will to restart the talks,” said Rahm Emanuel, assistant to the president.

Wells was especially impressed with Herman’s willingness to be part of talks, which on some days started at 8 a.m. and stretched to 5 a.m. the next morning.

“It’s almost unprecedented for a Labor secretary to join together with the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and stay there at a hotel for five days--I’ve never heard of that before,” Wells said.

Wells praised Herman’s “quiet resolve” in countless discussions with the two sides. “She’s not flamboyant,” he said. “She never tried to pressure people with any sort of arm-twisting. Hers was a more subtle style of persuasion--never asking people to do what they perceived to be against their best interest, but suggesting that maybe it was in their interest to give a little to get a little back in return.”

At a slow point in the negotiations, Herman told an aide that she thought she had learned the skills she was using from “growing up black in the South and learning to walk in other people’s shoes,” the aide said.

She said she had drawn on that background throughout her professional career to help bring people from different groups together and bridge differences.

For instance, in the mid-1970s, Herman had a job trying to encourage corporate America to hire ethnic minority women into their ranks. To do so, she had to first understand the needs and the mentality of corporate officials, “and then she had to mentor young women and convince them what they needed to do to make it in corporate America,” said the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.