Communicating & Negotiating with Unions
Work stoppages and strikes can affect productivity levels, increase employment costs and create a negative atmosphere that prevents employers and unions alike from achieving what they want from their negotiations. Yet both sides of the industrial fence can get what they want if they are astute in their industrial bargaining. Success in the bargaining outcome with unions requires strong preparation, a persuasive negotiation strategy and a sound understanding of employment law.
About
Communicating and Negotiating with Unions has been designed to develop your knowledge of the ERA and your rights and obligations concerning unions, collective agreements and good faith. This course is your chance to learn and understand key negotiation techniques and employment law crucial for union engagement.
By attending this comprehensive One-Stop-Shop on Communicating & Negotiating with Unions course you will:
- Develop your knowledge of the ERA and your rights and obligations concerning unions, collective agreements and good faith
- Get more from your negotiations by implementing a systematic approach to the process, select the right negotiation strategy for your organisation and prepare your issues, agenda and options
- Ensure that you can deal with conflict constructively and to your best advantage, and ensure that negotiations move to a close by knowing how to unlock deadlocks and avoid stalemates
- Learn how to get what you need from collective bargaining through an intensely practical and interactive training programme
Outline
Day One
Union News & Views: An Introduction to Union Structures & Strategies
• A union’s role in an open market economy
• The power and influence wielded by New Zealand unions
• Understanding how unions operate and knowing who the key players are
• Where and why union bargaining strategies differ from the employer approach
• Skill recognition versus performance management–the great debate
The Legal Environment: Employment Law and the Employer-Union Relationship
• Understanding the key features of the current legislative environment, including any recent or forthcoming amendments
• Good Faith – your rights and obligations
• The ERA’s core requirements concerning the rights and obligations of unions and employers, collective agreements and the process for collective bargaining
• Understanding different types of employment arrangements and ensuring that you meet your obligations in recruiting new staff
• Essential standard terms
• Multi-party bargaining
• Understanding the nature and implication of strikes and lockouts
Implementing a Systematic Approach to the Negotiation Process
• Understanding the advantages and limitations of conventional negotiations
• Selecting a negotiating strategy for your organisation
• Negotiation strategies: preparatory, ongoing and closing
• Creating an agenda, identifying issues and exploring options
• Understanding and dealing with expectations
• How to cope with the positional bargainer and change the negotiating dynamics
• Strategies to use when working through major issues
• Recognising and dealing with potential traps
• How to respond to the other side’s tactics
Planning and Executing Team Negotiations
• What are the key elements of a strong and effective team?
• How to select and manage a strong team
• Identifying and maximising individual style and building your overall strategy
• How to prepare the team for employer–union discussion so you work effectively together
Day Two
Dealing with Disputes Effectively
• Understanding the nature of conflict
• How to diagnose disputes that arise
• What are the biggest mistakes negotiators make and how to avoid making them
• How to approach and resolve disputes
• What is the logic and the limits of various approaches?
• Optimising your organisation’s consultation process as a basis for employer-union communication, negotiation and dispute resolution
Unlocking Deadlocks and Avoiding Stalemates
• What to do when negotiations go wrong
• Understanding what deadlocks and stalemates are
• Strategies and tactics you can use to unlock deadlocks
• How to work with and handle difficult people
• Managing the potential escalation of interpersonal conflict and major industrial dispute during employer–union discussions
• Looking at ways of keeping both parties in the negotiation process
• How to discover creative solutions to seemingly insurmountable issues
Using Effective Communication Techniques to Resolve Disputes and Reach Mutual Agreement
• Understanding your rights and obligations in communicating in relation to collective bargaining
• Understanding the art of effective communication: soft skill – hard skill
• How to communicate to gain respect and ensure that your position is heard and understood
• Which communication techniques work and which don’t?
• How to understand your employee–union needs, preparing for resistance and getting agreement
• Choosing the appropriate time, venue and way to communicate to ensure your objectives are understood and met
Reaching Closure in a Difficult Union Negotiation
• Strategies and tactics to use when closing a negotiation
• Examining difficult negotiation closures
• Traps to avoid when attempting to reach closure
• How to record an agreement
Facilitators
Stephanie Dyhrberg
Stephanie Dyhrberg is a specialist in employment law practice who is passionate about helping clients to improve their workplace practices and avoid costly staff problems. When problems do arise, Stephanie undertakes mediations and appear in the Employment Relations Authority and the courts.
Prior to setting up her own practice, Stephanie has worked for Russell McVeagh, The Crown Law Office and most recently for human resources specialists Right Management Consultants (formerly Greene Hanson and The Empower Group). Her clients include government departments and other government agencies, companies, charities and individuals.
Philippa Branthwaite
Philippa Branthwaite is experienced in employment relations and is an effective facilitator and training consultant. She has worked for two large state unions and has spent the last ten years as a consultant for unions and the government sector.
Her work has focussed on employment relations including the Employment Relations Act, interest based negotiations, the development of good faith relationships, employment partnerships and employment equity. She is an associate for the Partnership Resource Centre.
In-house Training
Prices and Registration
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