What it Takes to Win in Negotiations

There are many factors that will impact workers’ ability to win during negotiations. It is important to discuss which are the most important factors and therefore where we want to devote unions’ resources (time, money, and leadership) so that we can be most effective.

Sometimes people who have not been involved in negotiations believe that the best way to win is to have a good spokesperson or lawyer at the table. In fact, the level of involvement and unity of the workforce, especially when acting with a collectively created strategy, is almost always a more determinative factor.

List the factors that are most important for a union to gain strength and power in negotiations. You might want to use the following list or create a list of your own.

___ Good relationship with the employer(s), decision-makers or industrial body

___ Skilled negotiators

___ Union’s political influence

___ Well-researched bargaining proposals that are backed with evidence

___ Worker solidarity and ability to plan and act collectively

___ Non-unionised workers in the company or industry

___ Profitability of the company(s).

___ Support of community allies and other unions

___ Ability to subcontract jobs and services

___ Percentage of union membership

___ Ability of workers to disrupt production or strike

Rate these factors in priority order. Assign #1 to the factor of greatest importance and #10 to the factor of least importance. Then rate the remaining factors #2-#9.

Be prepared to share, compare and discuss your answers.

In order to compare your answers, create a chart with a space for each person or group to fill in their results.

Skilled negotiators ___ ___ ___ ___

Good relationship with the employer ___ ___ ___ ___

...

There will be a variety of answers; however there is likely to be agreement that one of the most important factors will be related to the support and solidarity of the workers. The other likely answer is that a skilled negotiator is not the most important factor, although all factors are important.

Discuss whether we have the capacity to allocate additional union resources (time, people and money) to the areas that we agree will make us most likely to win in bargaining.

The involvement of workers in the collective bargaining process keeps workers from treating “the union” as something separate from them. Workers need to lead and participate in the workings of the union and the collective bargaining process. Instead of sitting back and waiting for a service from the union, the reality is that we all share responsibility for both the unions’ victories and defeats. Collective bargaining provides an opportunity to inform and involve workers in a collectively created strategy to improve wages and conditions.

The slogan of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA) is “Nothing For Us Without Us”. We apply this slogan to all stages of the bargaining process.

If we are not careful, the collective bargaining process can operate in ways that separate workers from the union, keeping union leaders away from the worksite in long meetings with the employer(s) at a time when employer pressure on workers is increasing at the worksite.

Unions need skilled bargaining teams that are connected to and knowledgeable about the workplace and who are in constant direct communication with other workers. Potential divisions amongst workers by race, gender, age, religion or caste need to be addressed right away.

Systematic one-to-one and group conversations at the workplace, digital technology and social media can help bargaining team members keep in touch with workers on a regular basis and allow for workers to discuss and sound off on employer proposals or decide on the next steps in the bargaining process.

If you have not already done so, review the materials on Participatory Action Research, Workplace Maps and Assessments and Worker Action Networks / Arbolitos. Review or complete an analysis of the union’s associational power in the materials on Analysing Power Resources.

List and discuss three ways that you could increase the support and solidarity of the workers in the contract campaign.

Review your top three prioritised factors in the exercise above. Identify at least one way you could strengthen each of those three factors.