NPHQ > Awards & Success Stories > 2008 Winner

Inter-County Teams Break Tradition to Get More Bang for Limited Roadway Bucks

Innovative Use of Manpower, Equipment and Materials Improves Roadway Safety and Quality

PENNDOT District Operations Teams (DOT) are non-traditional, maintenance-oriented, specialized crews that draw members from a number of counties and perform work across county lines.  The DOT Crew concept was developed to maximize equipment use, combine and share individual and organizational expertise, prepare comprehensive plans and organize needed resources.

Crew make-up includes team members from three different Northwestern Pennsylvania counties and requires abandoning traditional limits that define the organization of rank-and-file employees such as geographic lines, bidding rights and reporting locations.  The local agreement to allow this type of organization was developed jointly by management, rank-and-file employees, supervisory employees and AFSCME District Council 85 Staff. 

Both the District and AFSCME believe that operating in this flexible, efficiency-driven manner is key to job security, preservation of bargaining unit work and maintenance of the Pennsylvania highway system in an environment of increasing needs, higher costs and flat revenues.