Negotiation Case Study: Glenburg

Your assignment: Three rounds of negotiation.
Round One. (1) Assign a role to each member of the group (Mayor, Union Steward, City Administrator….if you have more people, assign 1-2 observers). Assume that role and negotiate a resolution. In that role, agree to a PROCESS to be used to negotiate an agreement. Write up the process. Reach an agreement. Using bullet points, write a summary of the agreement. Keep a written record of the agreements.
Round Two. SHIFT roles. (Mayor becomes city administrator, Union Steward becomes mayor, etc.). Assume that role and negotiate a resolution, same as before. Keep a written record of the agreements.
Round Three. SHIFT roles (shift to a role that each person has not yet played). Assume that role and negotiate a resolution, same as before. Keep a written record of the agreements.
(2) In that role, agree to a PROCESS to be used to negotiate an agreement. Write up the process.
(3) Reach an agreement. Using bullet points, write a summary of the agreement.

Negotiation Case Study: Glenburg
Glenburg, population 100,000, is a small town about 30 miles from a major city. Known as a bedroom community, Glenburg has little industry itself but serves as a residential area for people commuting to industrial and government jobs in the larger neighboring city.
Glenburg was founded in the mid-1800s and has a long history. For years, it was stagnant. Recently, it has made significant progress. Now major crime has practically been eliminated, and petty crime is significantly reduced. Volunteer groups of all socio-economic classes have come together to participate in some major renovation. In fact, the town has been cited in several recent newspaper articles as a model for other small towns.
However, the town is now faced with a major issue. The garbage collection contract has expired. Twenty-five days ago the union agreed to a 28-day extension so that bargaining could continue. They will not agree to another extension, so a strike is threatened.
The Fourth of July parade is on the 29th day. The mayor from Uganza, the city’s sister city in Europe, and the governor of the state are both coming for the celebration.
The union is demanding a $10.00 an hour increase over the next three years. This parallels the wage increase recently won in a local major industry; it is also close to the increase won by a bargaining unit at the nearby major city. Glenburg’s position is that it cannot afford this type of increase. If the city is forced to provide this increase to the union, other areas will suffer. This will cause a setback in the hard won progress seen over recent years. This issue will also affect the citizens and could tear the town apart.
The Mayor is an elected official. He feels strongly that the budget as it stands must be protected to continue the significant progress that has been made in lowering crime and in cleaning up the town.
The Union Steward is an official elected by the union membership. He has been very verbal about getting for his membership the same contract won in the nearby major city. He has been known to work with the Glenburg government on many occasions. However, on other occasions, he has fought hard for his union membership. He is adamant that there will NOT be another informal extension of the contract. He has announced, and seems to have support for, a strike if there is not an agreement.
Glenburg has a city administrator who is in charge of handling the contract. He has been on his job about one year. Appointed by the Mayor, he has examined and re-examined the budget to find the money to cover the new wage demands of the garbage collectors. He does not see a way to fund the increase. However, he wants to reach an agreement with the union because he does not want the Mayor to be embarrassed on the day of the parade. He has seriously thought about asking the union to agree to an arbitrator.