'Getting to Real' - A Practical Approach to Interest-Based Labor & Management Negotiation

Interest-based negotiation has now been on the collective bargaining scene for over 25 years. Not long after the 1983 publication of Fisher & Ury’s Getting to Yes, labor and management began experimenting with this “new and improved” approach to resolving conflict in the workplace. Now, after a quarter century of contract, grievance, and partnership application ‘the wheat has been separated from the chaff’ and a more realistic, sensible and practical version is the result. You’re invited to join us as TNI Faculty explore the latest thought leadership in labor and management negotiation in this groundbreaking one-day event, the 2014 TNI Art of Negotiating for Labor & Management Conference Getting to Real: A Practical Approach to Interest Based Labor and Management Negotiation.

The Labor Management Relationship is largely defined by negotiation; bargaining contracts, resolving grievances, handling gripes, and sometimes working together in consultative fashion on topics which the parties are not bound to tackle, yet choose to do so for the betterment of the operation (labor/management cooperation). Think three-legged stool: one leg being contract bargaining, the second being contract administration, and the third being consultative negotiation. The manner in which these various negotiations are conducted not only impacts the quality of the deals themselves, but also the quality of the parties’ consequent relationship. That is to say, companies and their unions are either caught up in a vicious cycle (distrust leading to constrained communication resulting in sub-optimal solutions, further reducing trust, etc.) or are constructing a virtuous cycle (improved trust freeing up better communication resulting in higher quality deals further building trust, etc.). Depending upon where you are in your particular relationship, this seminar can help you break the vicious cycle or accelerate the virtuous cycle. The day will toggle back and forth between lecture and simulated negotiation exercises. Both grievance (individual) and contract/partnership (systemic) issues will be addressed in this fashion. The afternoon session will conclude with a “final exam” in which participants will be tasked with applying new skills, techniques and structures on a simulated contract issue.

October 8, 2014

The New York Athletic Club (N.Y.A.C)
180 Central Park South
New York City

The New York Athletic Club is a private social club occupying a central location with panoramic views of Central Park in New York City. When visiting the N.Y.A.C., please comply with the following Dress Code: Business attire, with jacket, at all times. Comparable attire for ladies. The following are never appropriate: Jeans and other denim wear; sneakers; shorts; t-shirts and athletic wear. Ladies may not wear halter tops, leggings and clothing that reveals bare midriffs. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Dr. Michael Gaffney

Since 1985 Dr. Michael Gaffney has provided in-house negotiation training, consulting, and facilitation services to over 500 organizations throughout North America and overseas. A graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, he worked for several years as a licensed officer and pilot aboard deep-sea and Great Lakes commercial vessels (Masters, Mates & Pilots, MM&P– ILA, and Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, MEBA District II). He later became an anthropologist (M.A. New School for Social Research, Ph.D. Ohio State University); and it was during a study of merchant seamen in Europe that Mike was introduced to the field of work redesign, employee involvement, and labor/management cooperation–his subsequent specializations. At the National Academy of Sciences, Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and most recently at The Negotiation Institute, Mike has focused his research and teaching on organizational change in industry, particularly with regard to the negotiation of change. To date, Mike’s ’15 minutes of fame’ consists of having been an expert witness in the civil trial of the grounding of the Exxon Valdez.

Jack Simony

• TNI Executive Board
• Portfolio Manager and Co-Head of Litigation Finance & Credit, Platinum Partners
• Trustee, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Jack Simony is Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of The Negotiation Institute, bringing with him decades of experience negotiating complex transactions in a variety of business sectors throughout the world. In addition to the Board of TNI, Mr. Simony is a portfolio manager and Co-Head of Litigation Finance and Credit at Platinum Partners, a hedge fund that originates loans in markets underserved by traditional sources of financing, including litigation, consumer finance, secure trade finance and real estate. At Platinum, Mr. Simony arranges complex credit facilities, finances equity investments and acquisitions, and structures multi-party corporate transactions. Prior to Platinum, he was the co-founder and CEO of Whitehaven Group, a pioneering company in the field of litigation financing, which he ran until 2008. Whitehaven invested in over 10,000 legal claims, and Mr. Simony was responsible for its litigation funding goals and its operations, new business development, acquisitions, and communications. He successfully directed Whitehaven to a nationwide enterprise. Earlier, Mr. Simony was a partner in Knightsbridge Equities, a trading/clearing firm that provided capital and technology to professional traders, hedge funds and family offices, which he successfully sold in 1999. Mr. Simony headed Knightsbridge’s proprietary trading desk and served on its committees for strategic planning and execution, capital market management, and risk management. Mr. Simony is a frequent speaker at finance, litigation, and academic forums around the world, and is involved in a number of non-profit organizations, including Human Rights Advocates International, a United Nations NGO, where he served a three-year term as the group’s representative to the UN. As a CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), he is a certified expert in the field of fraud prevention. Mr. Simony serves as a Trustee for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, is a member of The Army and Navy Club in Washington D.C. and active supporter of a number of philanthropic organizations. Mr. Simony earned a Masters in Financial Strategy from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, and a Masters in Business Administration from HEC Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris.

…plus Featured Panelists and Special Guests

8:00 AM – 12:00 PM Morning Session
-Nothing so practical as a good theory — distribute and integrative bargaining
-Forgive but don’t forget — how thick is your contract?
-Helpful and not-so-helpful exaggeration
-What interests should and should not be revealed — how trust factors in Good vs. Bad compromise
-Positions without being positional
-Converting options to offers
-Whence creativity — how new ideas are generated
-Issue Analysis Format — the basic tool
-Convert positions to interests
-How to judge whether or not to accept an offer
-Emotion (and humor) in bargaining
-Really listening rather than waiting to speak
-How to avoid anchoring
-Project management contract bargaining — best use of bargaining time
-Principals (constituents), agents, spokespersons, facilitators, subject matter experts

12:00 PM – 1:15 PM Lunch Keynote & Featured Panelists

1:15 – 4:00 Afternoon Session
-Bargaining ergonomics — meeting time, frequency, tables, seating, lighting, visual aids, record keeping,
-Single committee vs. subgroup bargaining
-“Your problem is my problem (…sorta)”
-Beta testing tentative agreements
-Labor Management Committees as an assist to contract bargaining
-Appropriate use of power
-Communicating with constituents — don’t be Anwar Sadat
-Becoming a more empowered agent
-The caucus dilemma
-Distributive vs. Integrative bargaining
-How to resolve money issues — the use of external standards
-Ponies and pony parts
-One hand clapping — how to use interest based bargaining when the other side is not
-Creating vs. claiming values
-Don’t be Anwar Sadat
-There is never enough time — time management

$625 USD

^{*Includes lunch, coffee/soda, and program workbook}

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