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Negotiating with Trade Unions - Inhouse Training

Negotiate effectively with trade unions to achieve the best outcomes for both the organisation and the employee

This is a sample learning overview that we can design and deliver specifically for your organisation.

How can HR handle industrial relations without sparking confrontation? Learn how to negotiate with Trade Unions.

The last few years have seen a resurgence in action by the trade unions. The subsequent industrial actions have highlighted how critical good industrial relations are to our economy and business confidence. Trade unions play an important role in the complex interaction that takes place between management and workers.

The interests of both employer and employee and their representatives may overlap but they are not identical. A degree of disagreement is inevitable. HR line managers and HR support specialists must be able to negotiate effectively with trade unions to achieve the best outcomes for both the organisation and the employee.

JSB’s masterclass will equip delegates with key skills and practical guidance to manage trade union negotiations, bring the negotiation to a successful conclusion, avoid issues which can escalate into costly industrial action and work towards building a long term relationship.

View typical programme content

Programme

09:00

Registration and coffee
09:30

Welcome, introductions and objectives for the day
09:45

Case Study 1 - Dealing with Working Practices

  • Preparation, Practice and Review
10:15

Personal experience, motivation and organisational culture

  • How can differences in your motivation and theirs affect the negotiation process?
  • Appreciating variations in organisational culture and how this might impact on the outcome
  • Distinguishing between what is said, how it's said and what is meant
10:45

Coffee
11:00

Managing the process and choosing your style

  • Distinguishing content from process
  • The legal framework
  • Managing the process
  • Choosing the style appropriate to the situation and modifying your own behaviour accordingly
12:00

The negotiation relationship

  • Pay negotiations - what makes pay different from other issues?
  • Constituency relationships - yours and theirs
  • Recognising your preferred style and its impact
13:00

Lunch
13:30

Negotiation - the process

  • Agreeing the ground rules
  • The importance of setting the right climate
  • Responding to and influencing the style used by the Trade Union
  • The proposal - putting your case across clearly and persuasively
  • Responding to claims - dealing with Trade Union Claims and demands effectively
  • Influencing the decision - understanding different tactics and when to use them
  • Receiving and interpreting signals
  • Responding appropriately
  • Managing conflict - recognising the early signals and keeping your cool
  • Avoiding and dealing with deadlock
14:15

Personality Types

  • Yours and theirs - how can this impact on how you communicate and influence?
  • The impact this has on how you and they behave
14:30

Case Study 2: preparation
15:00

Case Study 2: The Wage Demand - a team negotiation
16:00

Action planning

  • Key actions and priorities to implement when you return to your workplace
  • What will you do differently?
16:30

End of seminar

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