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The LMPP² is a contributions program administered by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC). The primary objective of the LMPP is to promote enhanced labour-management relations at the workplace, sectoral or national levels. This objective is pursued through specific types of priorities and funded projects.

The LMPP is one of the few programs operating in Canada that aims at encouraging workplace innovation. This program offers financial support, on a cost-shared basis, to employers and unions for projects that address critical issues related to workplace reorganization and restructuring, new approaches to industrial relations, and human resource management. The program funds three main categories of projects:

• Workplace projects: joint labour-management "pilot" projects designed to promote productive, fairer, more accessible workplaces and improved labour-management relations and understanding;
• Conference projects: such as symposiums, forums and seminars on key labourmanagement issues; and
• Research projects: aimed at improving labour-management relations.

Individual projects can be funded to a maximum of $100,000 and may have a duration of up to 2 years; 50 percent of project contributions were below $50,000 but close to one third of projects were funded at a level above $80,000.

The LMPP has set the following five priorities for funding projects:

• New labour-management strategies to address workplace issues;
• Joint labour-management research projects on workplace practices or industrial relation issues;
• Alternative approaches to traditional collective bargaining, including new joint approaches to dispute resolution between bargaining sessions;
• Joint labour-management training on labour relations and work-related issues of common concern at the workplace or sectoral level; and
• Conferences, seminars, and research studies on cooperative workplace labour relations.

Proposed projects are assessed according to the following criteria:

• The project has been jointly developed and will be jointly implemented at all stages by labour and management.
• The project is innovative and would make a new and significant contribution to labour-management relations or labour-business-government relations.
• There is a commitment to practical results that will be widely disseminated.
• The cost of the project is shared 50/50 between the applicant and the LMPP. The applicant´s contribution can be made in cash or in kind.

Only pilot or demonstration projects are eligible for LMPP funding. The program is not intended to provide funding for activities that primarily represent the ongoing operations or business plans of an organization, for business start-ups, or for introducing new technologies.

Since the LMPP's goal is to promote joint effort by labour and employers to enhance their working relations, labour-only or employer-only applications are not normally regarded as eligible for funding. Exceptions can be made, however, in cases where the applicants plan, as an essential part of their project, to promote dialogue between business and labour.

To obtain funding, projects must demonstrate that they have met a number of the assessment criteria. The more criteria a project meets, the more likely it is to receive funding. In addition, projects that are under the federal labour jurisdiction are given priority over other projects. And projects that involve provincially regulated workplaces must address issues of regional or national significance.

An NHQ unit is primarily responsible for the management and administration of the program. This group has been reduced in size since the 1997 evaluation from 10 FTEs to 5 FTEs.³

A broad literature exists to indicate that joint efforts of labour and management can produce important value for industry, all workplace parties, and for society as a whole. Some key supporting mechanisms and barriers have been illustrated by previous research and writings, for example by Gunderson.⁴ (See Annex A for Notes on the Literature.)

Footnotes

2	From RFP and the Labour-Management Partnerships Program.
3	The impact of this downsizing on the program is not examined in this report. Some LMPP participants did comment, however, that declining access to LMPP staff was hindering project development.
4	Morley Gunderson, Rethinking Productivity from a Workplace Perspective, Canadian Policy Research Network, March, 2002. Gunderson examines a variety of factors that may impact sustainability of changes, such as managerial, employee and union resistance to change, views of workplace changes as a source of competitive advantage (limiting information sharing), poaching, and other factors.