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Shaping agreements with employee representatives
The negotiations are coming up, and the demands of the union or works council exceed what the business can carry. Management, employee representatives and, where involved, the employers’ association have their own views on how far to go. The first statements are already shaping expectations.
What is at stake
A collective agreement fixes labor costs for its full term and often sets the baseline for the next round. A strike disrupts production, deliveries and customer relationships; a stalemate with the works council holds up the measures the business depends on. A settlement beyond what the business can carry shifts the cost into the coming years, through investments that are not made or jobs that move elsewhere. How management conducts the round also shapes its relationship with the workforce long after the agreement is signed.
What typically goes wrong
- Management responds to the demand of the union or works council instead of defining its own position first.
- The employers’ side has not agreed on its limits, and the other side learns this before management does.
- Public statements are made before the negotiating team knows what it can deliver.
- The negotiation is reduced to the percentage increase, although term, structure and flexibility offer more room.
- The relationship with employee representatives is left to HR, and line management is not prepared for the round.
What changes for you
- A position with clear limits, agreed by management and, where involved, the employers’ association.
- A negotiating team that is prepared for the likely course of the round, including escalation.
- Clear limits for what the business can carry over the full term, and options beyond the headline percentage to trade with.
- A way of conducting the round that protects the working relationship with employee representatives.
How we approach it
Before management responds to the demands of the union or works council, we work out its own position with it: what the business can carry, where there is room to negotiate and which terms beyond the headline percentage matter. Where an employers’ association is involved, we clarify the limits and objectives that need to be aligned across the employers’ side. We prepare the negotiating team for likely proposals, counterproposals and escalation, including the messages communicated outside the room. Throughout the round, we keep the immediate agreement connected to its longer-term consequences for the business and for the working relationship with employee representatives. When the round becomes critical, we stay with the negotiating team throughout, at the table or behind the scenes, as the situation requires.
What we clarify first
- What can the business carry over the full term, and where exactly is the limit?
- Which elements beyond the percentage matter to you, and which matter to the other side?
- Who speaks for management in public, and what has already been said?
Tell us what’s at stake
Thirty minutes, no pitch. You describe the situation. We tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.