June 07, 2012 10:28 PM UTC

union negotiations

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• by: Gray in Mountains

Frequently folks write about all the problems caused by unions. Maybe just as frequently folks write about the benefits unions have brought in the last 80+ years. I’ve never read a diary by anyone who has negotiated any of those contracts so I thought I would make an effort.

In the last 8 years I was responsible to negotiate 3 contracts with 2 small union locals of AFSCME and IAAF. Our city council 1) agreed to negotiate (in CO munis are not required to negotiate with unions, but are required to honor contracts), 2) agreed on what issues we were willing to negotiate on. Some of those issues were the same as the union’s, some were not.

Negotiations were never “against” as one poster suggested yesterday. 0ur city council decided, prior to negotiations, what we could afford to give on and what we could not. In the end negotiations were successful each time. It was never easy, AFSCME sent a negotiator from out of town to try to twist our arms. In the most recent instance we got to a deadline at which time the city can choose to no longer negotiate. Deadlines help.

I have never been in a union. Yet I do recognize their value. And, our city is in a position at the end when we know and the union members know that their concerns were respectfully listened too as were ours. We did get concessions that reduce the potential cost to the city when members retire.

I will always remember our negotiations as a period when we showed the utmost respect for one another even though and where we had an opportunity to demonstrate that respect for working people, the greatest asset our city has.

I believe to my core that our society is best served when there is not a party that says “my way or the highway”. Rather than that we are better served by a society, and governments, that are always willing to talk to one another, to consider the needs of each other. In union negotiations, as with any other contract, it is important to seek legal advice, to share information and to know how to make spreadsheets. With data it is possible to change the mind of hard nosed folks.