How to use interest-base bargaining to negotiate salary increase?

       For the scenarios where the employees have not received a salary increase, I plan to apply the interest-based bargaining to gather the labor and management parties to discuss and discover a potential win-win solution. The Learning Module’s Interest-based Bargaining section states that interest-based bargaining is to foster problem solving, positive communication, consensus-building, cooperation, respect and trust. Keeping this in mind, I plan to do the following steps: 

1. If the school district has been applying collective bargaining, it is important to provide the union and management training for both parties to learn about the interest-based bargaining. The training before negotiations uses a third-party facilitator to introduce the process and work on developing mutually beneficial interests (Boniface & Rashmi, 2012). Trust plays a paramount role for many practitioners in their adoption of interest-based bargaining. In fact, the manager identified gaining trust as the first step. The first few days of joint training were spent building the relationship, airing old problems and past hurts. Those first days, he said, were a chance for members of both negotiating teams to show their vulnerability and humanity and clear up misperceptions of each other (Kennedy, 1999).
2. Form a labor-management committee to address wage issues (Leavy, 2015).
3. Organize the meetings for the union and management to share the importance of this issue and analyze the underline the interest, such as inflation causing the price of living expenses more expensive, therefore the employees need higher salary to afford housing, food, and quality life. The management party explains the situation of the severe financial trouble like the declining enrollment and the budget shortfall state wide. It is essential to learn the counter party’s needs during the meeting. Instead of fighting because of the position, it is more helpful for both parties to communicate and explain the reason beneath the issue. Honest communication can help to remove misunderstanding and anger. For example, after knowing California schools are running out of money, the employees may stop misunderstanding that the school district does not want to offer the salary raise. Hearing how the employees struggle to afford living expense for the family, especially during the pandemic, the management party may make greater efforts to increase the salary for the employees.
4. Both parties are encouraged to discuss and decide a shared goal from the labor and management parties. Find mutually beneficial outcomes.
5. In the step of negotiation, both parties discuss and decide the salary increasing rate and period of time, then write in the contract. In marked contrast to traditional negotiations, everybody around the table was given an opportunity to participate in the discussions (Kennedy, 1999).
6. Create a win-win solution through satisfying all parties after the discussion and negotiation. As Kenney (1999) states that success means a good agreement negotiated in a relatively pleasant atmosphere, with an enhanced labor relationship. 

         The following video "Negotiation tutorial- Interest-based bargaining", by 365 Careers, introduces the concept of interest-based bargaining which is a approach to achieve a win-win situation. Instead of slicing the pie, it expands the pie. I hope you find it is helpful.

 

Resources:

2021. Learning Module. CUI class material. 

Boniface, M. & Rashmi, M. 2012. Interest-based Bargaining: Innovating from the Basics. International Journal of Selection and Assessment. 3(9): 40-48.

Kennedy, B. 1999. Interest-Based Collective Bargaining: A Success Story. Industry Relations Center. 

https://irc.queensu.ca/wp-content/uploads/articles/articles_interest-based-collective-bargaining-a-success-story.pdf

Leavy, Z. 2015. Interest-Based Bargainings' Impact on Collective Bargaining Outcomes. University of Rhode Island. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=lrc_paper_series