When collective bargaining becomes contentious, executives need more than a legal strategy. They need to understand what they are prepared to do, what it will take to execute, and what it will mean for the business.
Before reaching the brink of impasse, leadership should ask the following five questions:
- What happens if operations are disrupted?
Do we know exactly how a strike, work stoppage, slowdown, or other disruptive activity would impact our customers, employees, revenue, and critical operations?
- How long can we realistically sustain disruption?
Have we evaluated our ability to continue operating and at what capacity, if normal staffing or operations are affected?
- What is our actual leverage?
Do we understand where the company has leverage, where the union has leverage, and what assumptions are driving our bargaining strategy?
- Are we prepared to execute our contingency plan?
It’s one thing to have a plan on paper. It’s another to know whether we have the people, resources, vendors, communications, security, and operational infrastructure necessary to execute it.
- What will this dispute ultimately cost the business?
Have we quantified the potential financial and operational consequences of continued bargaining, an impasse, and disruptive activity and compared those costs against the economics of a potential agreement?