Labour relations and collective bargaining may have taken a back seat in recent years, but all this changed in 2010. The rules seem to have changed. Settlements have come in at double the inflation rate, and more. Strike action has increased in number and duration. People have been hurt.
We believe that these developments are not inevitable. But it takes two to tango. There must be a belief that there is another way which can deliver an acceptable outcome.
This two-day workshop will provide you with the understanding and tools to fashion a different experience in 2012 and beyond.
Workshop objectives
- To provide you with knowledge and understanding of the macro-economic situation relative to wage bargaining, current collective bargaining trends and associated business risks.
- How to fashion a realistic mandate for negotiations.
- What it takes to build long-term relationships. The “how” is more important that the “what”.
- Discovering the real needs behind proposals.
- How to create common goals as an alternative to adversarial positions.
- Develop Code of Best Practice on Negotiation Behaviours.
- How to find solutions out of deadlock.
- What makes for effective implementation of agreements.
PROGRAMME
Strategic Influences and Options
- South African Economic prospects including impact of above inflation wage settlements.
- Outline of 2010 wage settlements.
- Cosatu’s growth path to full employment.
- Labour market reforms to deliver higher employment – an external view. OECD Economic Surveys – South Africa 2010.
- Assessment of these strategic influences for labour relations in general, wage bargaining and mandate setting.
Building long-term labour/management relationships
- What it takes to have successful and constructive negotiations.
- How we negotiate (face-to-face behaviours) is more important than what we negotiate.
- Do’s and don’ts of collective negotiations.
Discovering the real needs behind proposals
- Different negotiation styles.
- The risks associated with positional bargaining.
- Going behind proposals to establish read needs.
- Interest-based negotiations.
- Creating a common agenda.
Good faith bargaining and inter-personal skills
- How to show negotiators have an open mind and genuine desire to reach agreement.
- How to set common ground rules.
- How to assess proposals objectively and rationally.
- The good and bad of bargaining trends and what we can do differently.
- Key inter-personal behaviours to promote constructive dialogue. What to do and not to do.
- Develop your Code of Best Practice on Negotiation Behaviours.
Solution-finding mechanisms
- How to break out of dead-end situations.
- How to guide negotiation partners towards solutions.
- How to maintain links with mandate givers.
- Are there alternatives to strike action?
Ensuring effective implementation
- The live-with situation is more important than the settlement.
- Guidelines on effective wording of collective agreements.
ABOUT YOUR EXPERT PRESENTER
Mike Beaumont of Peloton Consulting will facilitate the workshop. Mike was a pioneer of interest-based negotiations in South Africa during the 1980s and was instrumental in partnering clients to find extraordinary solutions in difficult economic and social circumstances. Mike is a labour lawyer by profession, experienced facilitator and change management consultant. He keeps abreast of local and international trends/developments in the fields of labour relations, human resource strategies and change.
An economist will share the platform with Mike on macro-economic review.
