Effectively Negotiating with Trade Unions Workshop

Registration & coffee

THE ACAS VIEW: APPROACHES TO NEGOTIATION

Michele Piertney

Collective Conciliator & Senior Advisor
Acas

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Michele Piertney

Collective Conciliator & Senior Advisor , Acas

Michele Piertney has a dual role as a Collective Conciliator and Senior Advisor and has worked for Acas across a variety of roles for nearly 10 years. As a Collective Conciliator, dispute resolution is a pivotal element of her role and therefore, the relationship between employers, trade unions and employees/ members is of particular interest to her. She is an experienced trainer who has designed and delivered courses covering the full range of employment relations and employment law issues for a wide variety of private, public and third sector organisations. Michele is a member of the CIPD and ITOL and a Council Member of the Manchester Industrial Relations Society.

• Understanding & expectations: the difference between communication, consultation & negotiation
• How can union policies & processes impact your negotiation? : local vs. national policies, dealing with different levels of union representation
• Why do talks break down? : Encouraging and communicating directness & transparency, failure to share information, use of specific terms. 
• How to approach negotiations – attitudes & pre-conceptions: building better relationships with trade unions prior to negotiation & consultation
• 15 minute interactive Q&A with ACAS

Coffee break

WHAT LEGAL ISSUES AFFECT A NEGOTIATION?

Alan Chambers

Partner
DLA Piper UK LLP

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Alan Chambers

Partner , DLA Piper UK LLP

Alan Chalmers has considerable experience in all aspects of employment law, both contentious and non-contentious. Alan acts for high-profile clients in both public and private sectors and across a range of industries including retail, manufacturing and brewing. Alan advises clients on senior executive severance, contract issues and large-scale reorganisation and redundancy programmes. He also manages industrial relations issues. Alan is a member of the Equality and Diversity group and provides training and advice to clients on compliance and best practice relating to discrimination legislation. He also advises clients involved in employment tribunal claims on a wide range of issues including straightforward unfair dismissal, complex discrimination claims and TUPE issues arising from business transfers.

• The difference between recognition, collective and national agreements;
• The legal framework, how a collective agreement works (ie. Incorporation), the formalities required to make a collective agreement;
• How collective bargaining works in practice; 
• Dealing with disputes, internal and external dispute resolution
• Are your employees and representatives prepared for negotiation: what legal & contextual awareness should be in place? 
• Recent case law: what lessons can be learnt? 
• 15 minute interactive legal Q&A

Lunch

MASTERCLASS I – PRINCIPLES OF NEGOTIATION

Derek Luckhurst

Training and Development Director
IPA

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Derek Luckhurst

Training and Development Director , IPA

Derek Luckhurst has been the Training & Development Director of the IPA (Involvement And Participation Association) since December 2000 responsible for consultancy services. Previously he was the Manufacturing, Science And Finance Union’s National Secretary for Legal & General since 1996. He was instrumental in the establishment of a breakthrough partnership agreement, which was signed at L&G in 1997. At IPA he has developed partnership workshops for the Inland Revenue, the Audit Commission, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Aintree NHS Trust, Bolton NHS Trust and Santander. In conjunction with the workshop, he has written a partnership induction programme specifically tailored for people working on partnership initiatives. He is the author of “A Practitioner’s Guide To Sustaining Industrial Partnership” published by the IPA with DTI support in 2004, updated and re-published in 2011. He also wrote a Staff Representatives’ Handbook, which has been commissioned by Sanctuary Housing, Halfords, BP, Coral Racing and Avon Cosmetics. He has worked with many organisations helping them with employee relations including United Welsh Housing Association, Steria, Standard Life, Santander, Norwich Union, Royal College Of Surgeons, The General Medical Council, The Prince’s Trust, Egg, Blue Arrow, Royal National Institute For Deaf People, Bank Of Ireland UK Financial Services, The Independent Police Complaints Commission, The Healthcare Commission, Avon Cosmetics, The Royal Fleet Auxiliary, The National Asthma Campaign, National Grid, Peabody Trust, British Bakeries, The Employers Organisation, Pizza Express, The Communication Workers Union, The Post Office, De La Rue Cash Systems, Peabody Housing, Corps of Commissionaires, The Cancer Research Campaign, South East Water, Inland Revenue, Eurotunnel, Siemens, Pfizer, Terrence Higgins Trust, Electoral Reform Services, Opportunity Links, Kelloggs, the CBI, Skandia, AOL Broadband, Vodafone, Kimberley Clark and BP, Pearson, City & Guilds and HCL. Derek has also introduced the option-based consultation model for the effective involvement of the representatives of employees, be they union or non-union in identifying opinions and influencing the decision making process at a strategic level within organisations. Described by Keith Sisson, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations at Warwick Business School as a ‘landmark in UK industrial relations’, Derek has been busy training managers and employee representatives in option-based consultation in organisations like the Healthcare Commission, Standard Life, Bank Of Ireland, United Welsh Housing and many others. Derek leads the IPA’s influential Best Practice Network and, with them, developed the “15 Strategic Questions” that have proved popular with representatives and senior managers alike. He is also the author of “The 5 Key Steps To Employee Engagement”, published in 2007, which explores the unique role representatives can play in ensuring staff lose the cynicism that blocks engagement. He was a key player in developing a framework for flexible working in Legal & General and was responsible for the training of both managers and union representatives in how the concept should work in practice. A new anti-harassment and bullying procedure was established during his term of office together with improved grievance and disciplinary processes.

• Perceptions – TU strengths & weaknesses
• Strategic planning: Core Business Objectives: Identifying the actual issue from the 'noise'
• How to prepare for a negotiation using principles: 15 questions & their multiple uses including : 
• Dealing with confrontation 
• Moving away from point-scoring to constructive dialogue and building shared outcomes 
• Supporting representatives facing issues with members 
• Effectively managing media & communications issues
• Strategy & Implementation: How do you use models to aid negotiation? 
• A detailed insight: How does the negotiation process work? 
• How can this be practically applied in the workplace?
• Option-based negotiation model: Decision making timescales – in the moment vs. considered
• Ensuring best outcomes & better operations: focussing on the acceptable implementation of organisation's policies
• Interest-based negotiation model: Making progress when the scope for negotiation is extremely limited
  
  

Afternoon tea break

MASTERCLASS II – NEGOTIATION SCENARIO EXERCISE – TOUGH TRADE UNION SITUATIONS

Derek Luckhurst

Training and Development Director
IPA

View Bio

Derek Luckhurst

Training and Development Director , IPA

Derek Luckhurst has been the Training & Development Director of the IPA (Involvement And Participation Association) since December 2000 responsible for consultancy services. Previously he was the Manufacturing, Science And Finance Union’s National Secretary for Legal & General since 1996. He was instrumental in the establishment of a breakthrough partnership agreement, which was signed at L&G in 1997. At IPA he has developed partnership workshops for the Inland Revenue, the Audit Commission, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Aintree NHS Trust, Bolton NHS Trust and Santander. In conjunction with the workshop, he has written a partnership induction programme specifically tailored for people working on partnership initiatives. He is the author of “A Practitioner’s Guide To Sustaining Industrial Partnership” published by the IPA with DTI support in 2004, updated and re-published in 2011. He also wrote a Staff Representatives’ Handbook, which has been commissioned by Sanctuary Housing, Halfords, BP, Coral Racing and Avon Cosmetics. He has worked with many organisations helping them with employee relations including United Welsh Housing Association, Steria, Standard Life, Santander, Norwich Union, Royal College Of Surgeons, The General Medical Council, The Prince’s Trust, Egg, Blue Arrow, Royal National Institute For Deaf People, Bank Of Ireland UK Financial Services, The Independent Police Complaints Commission, The Healthcare Commission, Avon Cosmetics, The Royal Fleet Auxiliary, The National Asthma Campaign, National Grid, Peabody Trust, British Bakeries, The Employers Organisation, Pizza Express, The Communication Workers Union, The Post Office, De La Rue Cash Systems, Peabody Housing, Corps of Commissionaires, The Cancer Research Campaign, South East Water, Inland Revenue, Eurotunnel, Siemens, Pfizer, Terrence Higgins Trust, Electoral Reform Services, Opportunity Links, Kelloggs, the CBI, Skandia, AOL Broadband, Vodafone, Kimberley Clark and BP, Pearson, City & Guilds and HCL. Derek has also introduced the option-based consultation model for the effective involvement of the representatives of employees, be they union or non-union in identifying opinions and influencing the decision making process at a strategic level within organisations. Described by Keith Sisson, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations at Warwick Business School as a ‘landmark in UK industrial relations’, Derek has been busy training managers and employee representatives in option-based consultation in organisations like the Healthcare Commission, Standard Life, Bank Of Ireland, United Welsh Housing and many others. Derek leads the IPA’s influential Best Practice Network and, with them, developed the “15 Strategic Questions” that have proved popular with representatives and senior managers alike. He is also the author of “The 5 Key Steps To Employee Engagement”, published in 2007, which explores the unique role representatives can play in ensuring staff lose the cynicism that blocks engagement. He was a key player in developing a framework for flexible working in Legal & General and was responsible for the training of both managers and union representatives in how the concept should work in practice. A new anti-harassment and bullying procedure was established during his term of office together with improved grievance and disciplinary processes.

Delegates will have the chance to put what they have learnt throughout the day into practice and develop their negotiation skills and approaches in this valuable training exercise. Attendees will receive detailed feedback including lessons learnt from other examples and insight into how we can get tricky negotiations right. 

Wrap up & outstanding questions

End of workshop