Chapter 27 - Planning for a Negotiation
Ryan P. Fuller and Linda L. Putnam
Synopsis
Unions in the entertainment industry are complex and multilayered. Specifically, the Cartoonist Union is linked to a larger group called United Crew, but the cartoonist union bargains separately for their own contract with management. Dave, the chief negotiator for the Cartoonist Union, faces a dilemma. In planning for the upcoming negotiation, management is pressuring them to adopt a settlement that is less in overall dollars than what the United Crew received in their recent contract negotiations. Two of the Board members for the cartoonist group, however, believe that they need more from their settlement than the United Crew union attained; hence, they need to get tougher with management. To maximize bargaining leverage, these members advocate delaying the negotiation until a date that is close to the contract deadline. Yet, other members of the union believe that management sees the cartoonist group as weak and ineffective; thus, they do not believe that this delay tactic will work. With dissension in the ranks, what should the union do to present a coherent strategy in the upcoming bargaining with management?
Keywords: Conflict, Framing, Negotiation, Labor Unions, Entertainment Industry
Key Takeaways and Take a Stand Form
Key Takeaways
After reading and analyzing this case, students will understand the following:
- The entertainment industry involves considerable project-based work and unions play a critical role in protecting workers who have short-term contracts. Consequently, they often have greater ties to the union than to one particular employer.
- Labor unions in the entertainment industry function within multiple layers of interconnectedness. Some unions represent the same type of workers (i.e., writers in animation), and these representational conflicts often ignite inter-union feuds.
- Labor unions also exist as an inter-organizational system. For example, after one union settles a contract with management, the specifics of that settlement provide a comparison for the remainder of the industry.
- Labeling or naming an issue is linked to the language or phrases that an organizational member uses. These labels can become ways that individuals co-construct collective meanings about an on-going event. Several examples of phrases that name events include Stacy’s claim that a three percent raise over three years would be “a fair deal, and a win for your membership,” and Eleanor’s claim that Management’s view of the union based on something that happened 20 years ago is “a steaming pile of B.S”. The Board members of the Cartoonist Union illustrate types of framing categories (Brummans, Putnam, Gray, et al., 2008), including identity labels (Chuck: “No offense to our brother unions – we’re not caterers….” and power (Dave: “The studios can always outlast you. They have deep pockets”.
- Labeling is also connected to conflict escalation. Board members, Chuck and Eleanor, label management’s actions as showing a lack of respect, and argue to take a tougher stance in the bargaining. Chuck has also introduced a strategy that might escalate the conflict: getting the Writers Union involved expands the number of parties in a dispute, a characteristic aligned with escalation (Deutsch, 1973). Delaying the negotiations past the contract deadline is likely to escalate the conflict through increasing union commitment to their position.
Take a Stand Form
- Take a Stand Form (DOC 15KB)