THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF NEGOTIATIONS:
MANAGING LABOR NEGOTIATIONS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

By
Steven P. Rosenthal, President
The Training Tree, Inc.
(Originally Published in Quality Cities -September 1997)

I am often asked by clients to briefly describe what is necessary to structure an effective collective bargaining effort.  My career has found me on both sides of the table, initially as a teacher negotiating contracts for a teacher association through the 1970's, and from 1980 representing municipal management.  Since I was involved in Florida's public sector bargaining since its inception having enough history to rely on to convey my message is the least of my problems.  At first, I gave a copy of the Ten Commandments of Negotiations, a document I developed in the early 1980's.  While most found it whimsical enough they really wanted more information than what it contained.   In fact, over the past two decades I have struggled in synthesizing a concise report that is appropriate for a new City Manager or Commissioner.  The following is the "short of it."  Five focal points for successful bargaining.  I hope it can be of some help to any who need a fuller understanding.

I.  Negotiation Law, Styles and Theories

It is particularly important for any public sector manager who is engaging in collective bargaining to have a rudimentary understanding of Florida's bargaining law and information concerning bargaining theory and styles.  Professional organizations such as the Florida League of Cities, Florida Public Employer Labor Relations Association or Florida Public Personnel Association offer publications and information particular to Florida's public sector labor law.   It is wise to invest in some materials and some memberships for those who are going to become involved.  Annual conferences and regional training meetings will deliver a quick education for those who will be representing your organization.

In the area of negotiation styles and strategies there are many books written on the subject.  I suggest investigating those books that explore the traditional models of negotiations as a starting point.  It is easy enough to branch out and then focus on the more recent collaborative strategies.  Popular books in the business section of any library or bookstore can be helpful in gaining an insight into the dynamics that will be involved.  Do not restrict your exploration to just labor negotiation materials.   While helpful these books rarely explore tactics and strategies.

One will find numerous books written on the win-win model for negotiations. This model focuses on building long-term relationships. These are normally associated with positive public sector labor relations and considered a primer for collective bargaining. It will be helpful to achieve a balance between information about public sector collective bargaining in Florida and practical strategies and tactics for the negotiation's table.

II.    Bargaining Preparation

Preparation, preparation, preparation!  That is the essence of the successful management negotiation's effort.  Preparation is power!  Through data collection and understanding the real cost of benefits and time-off provisions, the management negotiator and team is amply equipped to meet any of the Union's demands.  It is this one factor that can either signal success or failure in the negotiation's process.   If the management negotiation's team does not understand the relative cost of a proposal, it is very easy to agree to something that has very significant cost repercussions that will haunt your jurisdiction for years to come.

Gathering data on each bargaining unit prior to negotiations is helpful.  Using a systematic approach and employing a cost-out research checklist can facilitate this.   By comparing your own wages and benefits to those of surrounding jurisdictions or jurisdictions of like size you build a fact based set of information that will be used to build and respond to proposals.  What also must be ascertained is how existing sections of a contract are working.  Through survey data or direct interview this can be easily obtained from supervisors on what is working and what is not.

Obviously a similar type of information should be garnered from the political entity and executive officer of the organization as to the overall direction of negotiations.   View this as job number one.  With the establishment of a timetable, cost out data, and wage and benefit comparisons, a negotiator is able to control the negotiation's process.

Controlling the process, rather than controlling the other negotiator, is paramount to a negotiator's success in collective bargaining.

III. The Construction of the Negotiations Team

It is imperative that there be some planning and discussion of who should be on a bargaining team. Traditionally, the City Manager is left off the negotiation team if possible.  Real small jurisdictions may find this impossible.  Likewise a Fire or Police Chief is often left off a negotiation team. They can be utilized in the process to relieve pressure if they are not part of the management interplay at the bargaining table.  This is not to say the Chief should be kept in the dark or is not a good management representative.  Those chiefs who have a broad administrative and management perspective will be able to support a Chief Negotiator's position at the table.

With the selection of a team comes the delegation of assigning responsibility to each team member.  All team members should be responsible for certain aspects of the bargaining.  Who will be the team's scribe and keep minutes, or register the progress of negotiations?  Who will stand as the chief negotiator for the organization and be the only spokesperson for the team?  Who will be the research coordinator that will coordinate the costing out of proposals or working with committee members concerning data collection?  Who will be the assistant negotiator if the negotiator is unavailable?   Who will be responsible for making positions to council?  A host of responsibilities could be reviewed, but regardless of what responsibility is given to an individual, the importance of that individual being able to make the time commitment necessary to do the job correctly is essential.

Of all the aspects of selecting a proper team, the selection of the chief negotiator is probably the most critical. Who has the ability to articulate management's position and has the credibility from both sides of the table of having a successful dialogue.  Is a city attorney, assistant city manager, or personnel director the right choice for the assignment?  Remember a successful negotiator must have the time, ability and interest to be effective and negotiate an agreement that can be administered effectively.   Over the years I have seen jurisdictions throw money away on individuals who didn't have the ability or interest to do the job.  Just because they are called personnel director or attorney doesn't mean this is the right person to do the job in your organization.  The price in special master hearings, arbitration costs, labor unrest, and heightened union activity is often the price paid for selecting the wrong chief negotiator.

Profiles of successful negotiators vary.  Such a profile might include the following.  The ability to:

• gain credibility by listening
• think and act under pressure
• present proposals and respond to questions
• maintaining loyalty to the jurisdiction and perspective to task, no matter how difficult
• having a sense of humor and, most importantly, saying no effectively
• avoid letting ego and emotions stand in the way of bargaining strategy
• partner solutions and problem solving rather than taking positions

IV.    Structuring Management's Position

A legitimate concern by the management team should be of having a management position available on every issue and, specifically, management's first response and management's last or bottom-line position.  A prepared team would have positions on items that they know will come up in the set of negotiations.  This "bag of tricks" enables the management team to have a variety of positions on issues that will be discussed.  By being able to respond quicker to proposals and being able to have at least sections of these proposals already written, the management team puts pressure on the labor organization to work off of management's proposals.

Management's position should always reflect what management actually wants, not a "guesstimate" of what management may want.  This requires a close working relationship between the chief negotiator and team and the organization's executive officer and legislative body.

Let the team bargain the contract and keep the others out of it!  Allowing a successful end run to the manager or commission will hinder future table negotiations.   A simple fact is that if I can get to the City Manager or Mayor and get more from them than from the negotiation's team then I'm going there every time!

Being prepared will move the process, while being flexible and option oriented will seal the Agreement.  The management team must have the ability to make an Agreement within parameters and the creativity to problem solve those issues that are stumbling blocks to an Agreement.

V.    Negotiations at the Table

Here is where preparation, preparation, preparation pays off!  Controlling the process through being prepared will allow agreements to take place in fewer sessions.   Seizing the moment by establishing the first meeting through a letter with sample negotiations' guidelines makes the statement that management is ready.

Never forget the creature comforts of life that will affect the negotiation's process.   Take into account the physical setting, copying equipment, caucus rooms, and anything else necessary to provide an environment that is conducive to settlement.

The initial Union submission is one that should be a submission on what the Union is asking of the city or county in total.  Sets of proposals can be exchanged, however, there is much argument over whether sets of proposals, e.g., exchanging equally ridiculous first proposals from both management and labor, are really necessary.

Accepting the Union's total proposal, costing out that package, and then responding to the Union in an effective manner, focusing on items of which very little is argued (usually non-economic) may be the better approach.  After reviewing the total union proposal I like to set a goal of a handful of comprehensive sessions to complete the negotiations.  I have worked with and without this goal strategy and I have found greater success if the group has the goal.

Building agreement on agreement, is a basic principal in the negotiation's process.   Non-economic items are usually packaged first for this reason. Package proposals are very successful for some negotiators; by packaging those items where there is no disagreement, both sides can "put to bed" a large number of contract articles in a short period of time.  By building on this agreement and then broadening the scope to issues where there are some disagreement, but room for compromise, a collaborative relationship can begin.  First build on items of total agreement and then build on items where agreement is only minor and compromise can be made easily. It is usually the last major economic concessions desired by the Union that are the most difficult and here packages are almost essential.  Perhaps the organization can give in one area but not another.  Dealing with each item, item by item, very often will hamper a management negotiator's ability to seal an agreement.  By packaging the "gives" with the "takes" the Union team has a greater ability of looking at and accepting the big picture.

Last but not least remember the Ten Commandments of Negotiations!