Adam Baxter Company/Local 190

This prep sheet covers the pre-negotiation assessment that you completed for Viking
Investments, except that you are assessing the negotiation from the perspective of an
outside interested party. Make your best guess as to the interests, issues, BATNA, RP,
ZOPA, targets, and strategies of the representatives from The union and the Management.
Then detail your plan to influence the negotiation. You may also upload any supporting
documents you create as part of your 10 minute presentation.
Instructions: Read your confidential role information for the union. Provide brief answers to the
questions below (strategy should be extended). When thinking about the counterparty, make your
best educated guess. You may bracket the information you need in order to test your assumptions
about the counterparty in the strategy section. There is a Grading Rubric associated with this
assignment in Canvas.
Representative: Local 190
What are Baxters underlying interests?
- Continue to work with the initial contract
without too many changes
- Pursue the management to stay with the
same location and transfer the Local 190s
union employees
What are the negotiable issues in order of
priority to the union?
- Location of the new plant
- Transfer of workers into the new plant
- Operations of the new plant
- Me too clause
- Wages and Benefits
What is The unions probable BATNA?
- If the negotiation fails, the union will
decide to go on strike

What are the managements underlying

interests?
- De-unionize the new plant and strive for
more control to stay competitive
- Shift to new plan and make the union less
What are the negotiable issues in order of
priority to management?
- Wages and Benefits
- Me too clause
- Operations of the new plant
- Location of the new plant
- Transfer of workers into the new plant

What is the managements probable BATNA?

- Hiring new employees and pay the cost of
firing old employees, legal expense and
training new employees
What is the unions estimated RP?
What is the managements estimated RP?
- From the model, RP Value = 55
- Lower of the cost of paying salary and
i.e. we lose the location and half the
wages for 1700 employees for one year
workforce
and cost of hiring and training new
employees and lost sales
Describe the anticipated ZOPA (positive or negative, large or small, fixed or growable)
Location change to no change
50-100% workforce transfer
0-100% operations, me-too and wages
What is the unions likely target?
What is the MANAGEMENTs target?
- Save the location of the plant and transfer - Make Baxter competitive and reduce the
the entire workforce
unions control. If possible, de-unionize it.

What is the unions likely strategy?

- Make the management feel that the union
is with them. The relationship is positive
- Recognize the financial issues, and
portray that the union is willing to work
with the management
- Find out the big concerns for the
management. Separate bluff from
economic reasons to shift location
- Identify the most important concerns for
the management and negotiate on the
most important concerns for the unions

What is MANAGEMENTs likely strategy?

- Establish power by forcing location
change and no workforce transfer
- The management will seek to identify
unions concerns and problems based on
importance
- Discuss the issues important to the
management and forgoing lesser concerns
to make favorable agreement.