Assessment of a Training Program for Approaches to Problem Solving in Collective Bargaining

Résumé 0

This paper is based on a survey of 20 collective bargaining cases following a two-day joint training of management and union negotiators on interest-based bargaining (IBB). In each case, the union and management chief negotiators were interviewed. Most of the negotiators trained had no previous experience with IBB. The interviews revealed that IBB was part of the bargaining process in 16 of the 20 cases. In most of these cases, several IBB techniques (brainstorming, more information sharing, and searching for mutual benefits) were experienced by the parties. In 25% of the cases in which IBB techniques were utilized, the parties appointed a facilitator to assist them in implementing IBB in their negotiations. The majority of respondents reported that they were satisfied with IBB. Their overall assessment of the impact of IBB is that it increases trust between management and union negotiators. Finally, 80% of respondents indicated their intent to use IBB approaches in future negotiations.