Collective bargaining is a process that requires all parties in a negotiation to have several strong points that they will base their bargaining on, with few to none weak points that may be used against them by the other party to their detriment. Public sector unions use collective bargaining as tools to articulate their demands which are often made with public interest as an underlying factor ( Chambers, 2013). The management teams of public sector departments have no choice but to sit with the unions and negotiate with them for the sake of the public who will suffer if services are interrupted and this is the case with the Concord Fire Department.
Labor Team Strong and Weak Points
The strongest point for the labor team has to be the huge wage disparity between the lower cadre firefighters and their seniors, the Chief and Assistant Chiefs, despite the firefighters being the ones at the forefront of the job risking their lives. A situation where an Assistant Chief is making close to thrice the annual amount made by a firefighter despite the Assistant Chief rarely risking their life while on the job is demoralizing to the staff and also unfair. The Chief earns way more than triple the amount of a firefighter which makes the situation look even worse. To leverage on this point, the Union can insist on having the pay gap bridged either by increasing the basic pay of the firefighters or by cutting on allowances/ benefits accorded to the Chief and his assistants since their salaries are already way higher. The saved benefits can then be redistributed to the firefighters. An efficient formula will see the firefighters get the extra $2000 that will get them to par with their Manchester counterparts. It will also help stem the growing resentment of the firefighters towards their higher-earning seniors. This position should not very hard to reach as it ensures the City does not increase its costs while addresses the pay gap issues in one stroke; win-win for all.
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The weakest point for the Labor team may be their quest to have a comparison made with Manchester on the basis of Manchester having a lower median income than Concord. Manchester may have a lower median income but its population is double that of Concord meaning they definitely work with a bigger budget which attracts economies of scale and may allow for some slight benefits which the Concord Fire Department may not afford. To ensure that this point is not used to water down their negotiations, the Union should make a comparison with Manchester based on the job qualifications required and the amount of work done by the firefighters to push for an equal-work-equal-pay formula. This is a much better sell than that of a median income comparison with a city that has double the population of Concord.
Management Team Strong and Weak Points
For the management team, the fact that the budget projections do not allow much room for adjustments upwards could prove to be their strongest point. This is because it creates a maximum cost ceiling that all teams have to work with regardless of the needs that are there in the department. It may look like a harsh way to negotiate but laying the budget issue on the table and revealing the budget projection to the Union takes the workers back to the drawing board to look for other means of achieving their goals that do not include going past the budget projections which is a win for the management team. It also shows the Union that it is not about the management refusing to cede to the demands of the workers as they are simply trying to manage the resources at their disposal. To gain more from this point, the management should emphasize the fact that there is no money to cater for additional benefits and salaries for the workers and that they are willing to work with the union to come up with alternative ways of compensating the firefighters that do not include significant increases in costs e.g. health insurance co-payments. This approach makes the management not look selfish and softens the stance of the Union to come up with these alternative compensation methods.
The weakest point for the management team has to be their idea of threatening the employees with layoffs and closures as this will be counter-productive as the department will not be able to serve the citizens of Concord effectively due to lack of personnel or also a demoralized workforce which may be an even bigger issue than the pay negotiations being prepared for. The management should adopt a more collaborative approach which is firm on the issue of a maximum cost ceiling while open to implementing alternative compensation techniques to meet the demands of the Union.
Impact of Factors influencing public sector management-labor negotiations on the Negotiations.
Public sector management-labor negotiations are influenced by a number of factors including politics, policy and general public good among others ( Bowman, Thiel, Deemen, & Rouwette, 2019). In CFD’s case, the chief of the fire department is a political appointee and is also a friend of the mayor meaning that any decision he makes is perceived to be the opinion of the political class in the city. He therefore has to ensure that whatever decision the management come up with does not antagonize the firefighters who are able to sway public opinion against the political leaders in the city. The decision also has to seem to appeal to general public good since these are public sector workers who do not work for profit but for the general good.
Likely Outcome of the Negotiations
This bargaining process is most likely to result in a compromise from both sides where they will have to settle for less than they would have wanted. The management is likely to stick to their argument and not add any money to the workers but they may be forced to review the pay structure which would see the Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs agree to either a lower salary with good benefits or continue with the high salary and lose some of their benefits. The money saved from this cut would then be redistributed to the workers who at the same time would feel that there is a reasonable pay gap between those who risk their lives in the line of duty and those who sit behind a desk most of the time. The management is also likely to push for a more flexible working schedule for the workers meaning longer hours before overtime kicks in and in return offer longer leave periods to the workers. The management may also have to agree to a longer contract period with the workers, preferably three years, which would work better for both parties since it would be some time before they have to sit down again for another round of talks.
References
Bowman R., Van Thiel S., van Deemen A., & Rouwette E. (2019). Public Performance and Management Review , 42: 1164-1185 . Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15309576.2018.1553720
Chambers, M. (2013). An Exploration of the Challenges Facing Public Sector Relations: A Literature Review and Analysis. Journal of Public Relations and Governance , Vol 3:4. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/39a3/085197233651cd065145f10e560981e6aa94.pdf
