Bargaining team members will want to understand priorities, differences, potential points of agreement and potential offers from the employer side, and from within your own team. Listen actively to identify the interests and reasoning behind what is said. Watch the negotiators’ body language.
Until we know the interests of all sides, we don’t know the extent to which our interests are shared or opposed. Ask open-ended questions to find out more information. Ask others to explain their position and the interests behind their position.
Even when you only have one employer and one union in bargaining, there are at least three sets of negotiations going on at one time. There are the negotiations between the two main parties, the union and the employer.
At the same time, there are negotiations within the union to decide the workers’ collective goals, interests, priorities and mandates. There are also negotiations going on within the employer’s side – competing demands and goals from different parts and perspectives within the company.
As a bargaining team member, you need to understand all these sets of negotiations and where the potential agreements and disagreements are.
Don't guess at the employer's or your own bargaining team members positions. If there is any doubt at all where they stand, don't be embarrassed to ask them to restate their position. Focus on understanding their interests in addition to their positions. Find out whether there are decision-makers or influencers who are not at the bargaining table. Look for someone on the other side who will listen.
In the Jamalpur area of India there are more than 1,000 mostly female street vendors sit on a very busy stretch of road leading to the bus terminal. Traffic police, shopkeepers and businesses were against the vendors. One day the vendors were all removed. SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association) leaders started to negotiate with traffic police, business owners, and shopkeepers to allow the vendors to earn a living. After many rounds of negotiation the Municipal Commissioner agreed to listen to the vendors’ side of the story. Once he heard directly from the vendors, he requested SEWA to help find a solution so that vendors and traffic could co-exist and the situation could be well-managed.
Give an example of how, in your situation, the negotiations going on inside the company and inside the union impact the negotiations between the parties at the bargaining table.
To better understand the negotiations taking place within the union, discuss whether there are ways that you can make more contact with the workforce and involve yourself more in the contract campaign?
To better understand the negotiations occurring within the employer side, can you learn more about the decision-makers within the company, their interests, and how they interact with each other?
A majority of communication is non-verbal. Understanding body language can help us be aware of our own body language as well as that of the employers. We can listen and watch for signs of change or movement in the other party so that we know how the negotiations are going.
There are many generic body language indicators that we have all heard about; such as crossed arms indicating someone is closed, hostile or defensive. The problem with generic indicators is that there are lots of reasons why someone might cross their arms that have nothing to do with hostility. They may be crossing their arms so they don’t fidget, to look tough, or to change positions and get more comfortable, or they may simply be cold.
Interpreting body language is most useful when we have ongoing contact with the other person, because the key is looking for change in their particular body rather than assuming too much from general ideas. Each person is different and different culture and gender norms apply, and our environments are constantly changing.
In order to get to know a person’s body language over time, it may be worthwhile to assign specific members of the employer team to different union bargaining team members for observation. Watch and note if your assigned person appears uncomfortable with statements made by their own side, or by the union or if they react strongly to specific proposals. You will probably not want to assign the note-takers or the chief negotiator to this work, as they already have other responsibilities.
Discuss who can observe the body language of which employer team members.
Discuss whether you want to assign specific union bargaining team members to look for opportunities to develop relationships with any specific employer bargaining team members.
You will want to use open-ended questions with the employer(s) to engage them and to gather additional information and understanding of their interests and positions.
Be careful about asking questions that might narrow or limit workers' rights and benefits. For example, if you have negotiated the right of stewards to investigate grievances during work time, don't ask, "Now this means stewards can take time off even if you don't have a replacement for them, correct?" By asking the question, you may have given the employer(s) the opportunity to start negotiating a limit that wasn't there.
Use questions to try and understand what makes the other side ‘tick’. Strategic questioning can be used to argue your points and push for an outcome. Your tone of questioning will sometimes determine whether you are trying to understand or make a point.
Below are some different types of strategic questions that may be useful to you in negotiations.
| Col | Col | Col |
|---|---|---|
Clarifying | Ask for more clarity and shared definitions of key terms, repeat and summarise to demonstrate understanding | How do you define a living wage? Are you familiar with any research on living wages in our area? |
Probing | Asking how the other party would ideally like to see the problem resolved, how they came to develop this proposal, or what the real costs or benefits to workers or the company will be. | How do you justify the wage increases you are proposing? |
Leading | Taking them where you want them with questions. | What problems does the company face because you do not pay a living wage? |
Suggestive | Suggest a course of action in a question. Be aware you are sending a signal to the employer of your priorities with “what if” questions. | What if you give us a living wage and we drop our proposal for an increase in the shift differential? |
Options | Ask if there is another way to approach the problem. Provide a series of acceptable options and ask which is preferred. | Our wages have fallen behind the cost of living for the last 10 years. Would you rather give us an up-front increase that makes up immediately for these years of poverty wages or do you prefer to stretch the increase over the period of the contract? |
Successive | Maintaining control or momentum through a timed series of questions | Would you be able to live on the wages you are paying? Have you ever lived on wages that low? Should your workers be able to raise children? Could you raise children on the current wages? Do you have children? Do you know how much you spend raising them? Do you know how much rent is? How much do you pay for rent or mortgage? Should workers be able to purchase their own home while working for you? ... |
Avoidance | Changing the subject with another question or no comment | What we really need to know here is not when the union might take industrial action, but whether you as the employer are willing to pay workers a wage they can live on. Are you willing to pay a living wage? |
Divide into threes, with one person being the chief union negotiator, one being the employer’s chief negotiator and the third being the observer.
Identify a key employer proposal.
Decide whether you want to understand the employer’s proposal more deeply or whether you want to make a point. Set the appropriate tone.
Create an open-ended question about the key proposal for each of the following different question types.
☐ Clarifying
☐ Probing
☐ Leading
☐ Suggestive
☐ Choice/options
☐ Successive
☐Avoidance/changing the subject
Discuss which of the question types might be useful and which not for your situation.
Practice asking open-ended questions with the employer’s chief negotiator responding.
Listen to feedback from the observer.
Rotate the roles.
Negotiations take place in the context of the ongoing relationship between the parties. Build relationships that are strong, polite and firm. Understanding another point of view is not the same as agreeing with it. Show that you are open to understanding and learning about the interests and concerns of the employer’s bargaining team.
The successful adoption of the ILO Domestic Workers Convention was in large part the result of national negotiations between domestic workers’ unions and their allies in the broader trade union movement and their counterpart governments and employers’ organisations. By the time delegates arrive at such meetings, most have already decided on their policies and negotiating positions in advance. It was essential that there was coordinated lobbying and negotiations to influence delegations before they left their home countries.
“We built alliances of NGOs, activists, trade unions, researchers, academics from all over the world to support the adoption of an ILO convention. This helped increase awareness of the situation of domestic workers among governments, unions and employers. It has all helped to increase our membership at local, national and international levels.”
Vicky Kanyoka, IDWN (International Domestic Workers’ Network)
https://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/Bonner_Spooner_The_Only_School_We_Have.pdf
Discuss which of the question types might be useful and which not for your situation.
Practice asking open-ended questions with the employer’s chief negotiator responding.
Listen to feedback from the observer.
Rotate the roles.
Divide into pairs, with one person being a union bargaining team member and the other from the employer team.
The employer team members select a key issue and state their case about why it is important.
The union team member then paraphrases the employer’s case to the employer team members approval.
Switch roles and practice again.