I forget the technical name for the kind of bargaining we are doing, but it is a primitive form of problem solving. One side comes to the table with demands and the other side comes in with their demands and then they slug it out. The reasoning part involves one side grabbing the gonads of the other side and squeezing, then telling the other side they will stop the pain if they get what they want.

An example of that occurred a few years ago when an administrator, who has control issues, decided the faculty needed more office hours in the contract. The faculty did not agree and that issue dragged on for months when at the last minute, in order to reach a settlement, management dropped their demand. A more reasonable form of negotiations is called mutual gains bargaining or win-win bargaining.

In mutual gains bargaining, one side brings to the table a problem. If the other side agrees there is a problem, then they discuss possible ways to solve the problem. For instance, management could have explained to faculty that studies have shown that students are more successful if the students have more interaction with their instructors. If the faculty agreed that there is a problem, then both sides could discuss ways to address the problem. They might have decided that the best way would be to encourage faculty to use email for interacting with students. Mutual gains bargaining is a less rigid way of solving problems then making demands. By the way, the position paper Joe Rossi wrote to get his doctorate was on mutual gains bargaining. The people at the table would probably be shocked to hear that.

Win-win sounds good but has not been very successful. It has been tried in a few places in New Jersey. I do not know of any faculty groups using it. It requires hiring a facilitator to train the people in the technique. It does not necessarily shorten the process, and does not necessarily result in better solutions. In addition, it does not work with money issues.

So, back to the table. The next session is Wednesday when the Board’s side responds to Support Staff’s proposed changes in their contract. Will Parsons, Coordinator for the Unity Negotiations Team