Mastering the Collective Bargaining Process

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Experience the collective bargaining process through hands-on participation in a simulated negotiation. Whether you’re a newly assigned negotiator on the management team or just looking for a refresher, you get realistic insight into the emotional factors that can affect the outcome of any contract negotiation.

This course has been preapproved by the Society for Human Resource Management for 19 Professional Development Credits (PDCs) toward the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP.

This course can be applied to the following certificate:
Labor Relations Certificate

Benefits and Learning Outcomes

  • Apply different communication skills
  • Gain negotiating experience
  • Appreciate what it feels like when the stakes are high

Course Outline/Topics

Part I — How do you begin?

  1. Professional Experience Questionnaire Collective Bargaining Game
    B)     Important negotiator traits
    C)     Legal counsel
    D)     Supporting personnel
    E)     Experts in supporting role
  2. Assessing the Union Bargaining Team
    A)     Composition
    B)     Research of team
    C)     Pay for negotiating
  3. Developing Language Proposals
    A)     Need for proposals
    B)     Contract review by negotiating team
    C)     Grievance review by negotiating team
    D)     Arbitration review
    E)      Perform “triage”
  4. Developing the Employer’s Economic Negotiating Position
    A)     Use of survey and statistics
    B)     Financial health of company
    C)     General economic assessment
    D)     Assessment of company strength vis-à-vis a strike
    E)      Costing the contract
  5. Establish Objective and Strike Authority
    A)     The importance of pre-negotiation authority
    B)     The importance of top management “buy-in”
  6. Strike Preparations
    A)     As a bargaining tool
    B)     Strike manual
    C)     Appropriate security
  7. Pre-Negotiation Communication
    A)     Why important?
    B)     And how much?

Part II — How to Negotiate: Tactics and Techniques

  1. Sites for Collective Bargaining — Advantages and Disadvantages
    A)     Employer’s premises
    B)     Public buildings
    C)     Hotel/Motel
    D)     Attorneys, banks, etc.
    E)      Union offices
  2. Times for Negotiations
  3. Bargaining Techniques
    A)     First meeting
  4. Mediation — Federal and State
    A)     General rule
  5. Strikes
    A)     Types of strikes
    B)     Company rights
    C)     Employee rights
    D)     Settling a strike
  6. Lockouts
    A)     Purpose
    B)     Hiring of replacements
    C)     Employee entitlement to unemployment compensation benefits
  7. Proposals and Articles

Instructor

Mastering the Collective Bargaining Process

Kristofor Hanson

Kristofor L. Hanson is a partner with Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. He maintains a multifaceted management-side labor and employment practice focusing on representing employers in all areas of labor-management relations, including collective bargaining, labor arbitration and litigation in state… read more

Testimonials

Overall I LOVED the class and can’t wait to come back to the university for more training. How exciting that Tom has retired but agreed to stay on; he is a huge asset to what I learned.


RuthAnn Kempker, HR Manager, 2019

Mr. Mackenzie was excellent. Very knowledgeable and approachable. I thoroughly enjoyed this course.


Tim Walsh, HR Coordinator, BWX Technologies, 2019

This course was not only timely in terms of the business impact; it was probably the most germane topic to our business today. Tom’s explanation of
the “real world” was very helpful to me and I think the participants were serious about learning the topics. It gave me several things to bring back to
my company that will help us negotiate our next contract.


John Scime, Federal Industries, 2021