Reflections of a mediator and facilitator - Mahamed Rajah on collective bargaining 2022

Marion Shaer, Conflict Dynamics Director, speaks with Mahamed Rajah about current trends in collective bargaining.

Mahamed makes the following observations, amongst others:

• inter-union rivalry is a difficult new dimension to collective bargaining;
• at the bargaining council level there is also rivalry between employers;
• facilitators can assist manage these challenges from an early stage of the negotiation;
• failure to disclose information undermines the negotiation process and failure to provide information often causes delays in the process;
• parties to collective bargaining are less skilled in negotiation than in the past, resulting in highly positional negotiation;
• training in negotiation skills makes a difference to the quality of collective bargaining;
• joint union-management training gives the parties a similar understanding of negotiation, vocabulary and skills;
• communication and relationship building between bouts of collective bargaining smooths the way for the next round.

This podcast is a key resource for representatives in collective bargaining.