Most of the time, corporations and unions have an antagonistic relationship. Organizing efforts are often cast as a zero-sum game. The more power the unions gain, the more business costs will rise and profits will decline. The unions say that if their membership grows, more people will enter the middle class.

In the midst of this fear and loathing, the presidential campaign offers a chance for candidates to turn their amorphous calls for change into actual, bold proposals. As I write this entry, I’m not sure how Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has fared on Super Tuesday. But he likely will remain viable for a while, regardless of how many states he won or lost.

Here’s something Obama, as the primary purveyor of change, could propose in the area of people management. He’s garnered the backing of many unions and tens of thousands of union members. Perhaps he should propose a way for them to change the atmosphere in labor relations by reaching out to management in an area that directly affects their future–training.

This is a topic on which labor has built a solid reputation. Unions take pride in ensuring that their members are up to industry standards in many different trades. Companies are desperate to find qualified employees, or failing that, to bolster the skills of the people who do fill their open positions.

An example of how a company and union have worked together can be found at Boeing. The manufacturer churns out one 737 aircraft every day. In putting together the mammoth products, technicians work on 92,288 pieces of equipment at Boeing operations in Oregon and Washington alone. Many of these are precision machine tools that cost from $300,000 to more than $1 million.

Boeing realized a couple years ago that its workers didn’t have the appropriate skill levels to handle these complex machines that produce planes that must be perfectly constructed to ensure safety. So, in 2004, Boeing established Craft College.

Over the past three years, about 4700 students have attended 803 classes, according to Jim Fleming, project manager and an instructor at Craft. Fleming, who spoke at the Training 2008 Conference & Expo in Atlanta on February 4.

Management and employees worked together to identify required skills and develop a curriculum. “That’s what made this a success,” says Larry Tibbels, a project manager in Boeing’s quality through training program. “We have union buy-in and acceptance of the courses.”

The training benefits the company, of course, because it brings up to speed workers who had minimal skills when they were hired. “If you’re going to survive in this world, you’re going to have to develop your own training,” says Mike DePew, a senior manager of equipment services at Boeing.

If a lack of human capability causes a machine breakdown, it’s costly for Boeing. “We can’t have line stoppers,” Fleming says.

The skill upgrades boost the careers of Boeing employees, too. Training increases job satisfaction because they are acquiring the background that not only will help them at Boeing but also make them competitive in the job market.

“From the day you start working to the day you retire, you’re building your resume for your next opportunity,” DePew says.

If labor and management work together at more companies, those opportunities will grow.