Effective Collective Bargaining: Preparation and Negotiations LR402

$2195.00

Select the session you'd like to attend

This workshop focuses on both preparing a bargaining and negotiating strategy as well as executing “at the table” tools, tactics and techniques to reach an agreement using small group exercises and a full day collective bargaining simulation to hone skills learned during the workshop. 

Strategic Preparation

The strategic preparation portion of the workshop focuses on determining the needs and interests of management and the bargaining unit and aligning collective bargaining objectives with overall business objectives. Participants will:

  • Identify the authentic  relationship between management and the union and how that effects bargaining
  • Evaluate the key business conditions and business objectives of the enterprise and determine how they relate to labour relations and the collective agreement
  • Review assessment and preparatory research, including
    • Identifying internal and external factors that influence negotiations
    • Review of grievance and arbitration logs
    • Obtaining input from supervisors and managers
    • Analysis and assembly of negotiation information
    • Bargaining unit demographics
    • Wage rates, benefits, and current cost data
    • Area surveys of wages and benefits
    • Surveys of settlements and industrial patterns
  • Set management's collective bargaining priorities and learn to marshal data and argument to support them
  • Anticipate the union’s needs and objectives and how it will respond to management objectives
  • Understand the basics of collective bargaining accounting
  • Formulate bargaining strategies on difficult economic and operational issues
  • Evaluate the need for communication and climate setting

At the Table Process and Simulation

Following the strategic preparation phase of the course, participants will then learn and apply best practices regarding “at-the-table” negotiating.  Participants will practice:

  • Developing a negotiating strategy (as distinct to a bargaining strategy), including the sequence and timing of offers and concessions
  • The duty to bargain in good faith
  • Making opening statements
  • Formulating and articulating responses to union demands
  • Probing union demands, including clarification of interests, and messaging/signaling of management’s position
  • Formulating/presenting management offers, including best practices, “sale” of the proposal, responding to union questions and opposition
  • Using the “caucus” or break effectively
  • Resolving management proposals and union demands, including interest-based problem-solving techniques, when and how to make concessions, creating and advocating for “linkages,” and strategies for overcoming stalemates
  • Communication skills for effective managing of interpersonal dynamics, including the emotional, political and tactical aspects of bargaining

Instructors will facilitate the simulation with debriefings regarding where best practices were or could have been used in key situations.

Special Features

Case study analysis of complex, cutting-edge economic and operational issues, culminating in full day small group simulation

Who Will Benefit

Labour relations and human resources, operations, and finance professionals who support or have responsibility for collective bargaining.  

Open enrollment workshops can be taken individually or as part of a certificate in Contract Administration Studies or Collective Bargaining Studies. They are also available as Labour Relations Customized Programs for your organization.

Faculty


Sue Mackintosh, Chief Strategist and Managing Director at Oakbridges Labour Relations Strategists Inc. Sue’s career focus has consistently been to support organizations to effectively achieve their business goals and to set and implement their "people" strategies in practical, creative and constructive ways. She specializes in Human Resource Management; Organization Development; Communication, Privacy and Ethics Governance; Project Management; Process Re- Engineering; all aspects of Employee and Labour Relations including union negotiations.

Dan McCray, Esq., Director of Labor Relations Programs and Deputy Director, Cornell University's Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution, develops and administers Conflict Resolution, Labor Relations and Municipal Recovery programs at Cornell ILR School and the Scheinman Institute in New York City. Mr. McCray practiced Labor, Education and Municipal Law for 15 years in New York City, Nassau County and the District of Columbia, and served as Director of Labor Relations for DC Public Schools, Nassau County, and the New York City Department of Education.

Hugh Secord, Oakbridges Labour Relations Strategists, is a Human Resource Management and Labour Relations Consultant practicing throughout Canada. He holds the CHRP and SHRP designations. His experience spans over twenty-nine years in Human Resource Management and Labour Relations in virtually every industrial sector. He specializes in HRM and Labour Relations strategy, change management, collective bargaining, conflict/dispute resolution, labour arbitration, employment and labour law, communications, M&A, and cultural transformations.