Media Coverage
New Path urged in Am West talks
Win-win deal best for both sides, outside experts say
BY PETER CORBETT
It is an emotionally charged standoff between entrenched opponents – flight attendants vs. America West – with both sides fighting for the upper hand in the fading hours of negotiation before Friday night’s strike deadline.
The traditional approach is for one side to try an gain and edge and be the big winner, while the other side is battered and beaten. But it doesn’t have to be that way, according to some experienced negotiators who suggest some fresh ideas for conflict resolution that avoid the scorched-earth policy of winning at all costs.
It doesn’t have to suggest the attitude of Lt. Col. Kilgore in the movie "Apocalypse Now," who says: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning – it smells like victory."
Reaching a Deal:negotiation tips from the experts
*Find non-threatening approaches and creative problem solving techniques
Don’t fight over the size of the slices of the financial pie; work together to make the pie larger
*Try to work out an agreement that helps both sides
*Focus on the other side’s interests as well as your own
Ron Shapiro, a sports agent for Cal Ripken Jr. and a recognized negotiations trainer, urges flight attendant union negotiators and America West management to work out a deal that helps both sides achieve their objectives, instead of one side going home bitter and feeling put upon.
His negotiating philosophy, described in his book The Power of Nice®, is that a win vs. lose strategy is destructive and often results in everybody losing, because neither sides wants to give in.
Negotiation reopened Wednesday in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to avert a strike after the 10:01p.m. deadline. Shapiro said there could be a lot of losers if the settlement isn’t reached.
The company loses revenue as flights are canceled, passengers are stranded and angry with the Tempe-based airline and the flight attendants. And the flight attendants don’t get the pay raise they have been trying to negotiate since organizing their union more than four years ago.
"Damage already has been done, but if you pull the chestnuts from the fire before the strike I don’t think the damage is severe," said Shapiro, who just visited Arizona as part of his tour of spring training baseball camps there and in Florida.
Dialogue needed to develop trust
Another observer, Thomas Webb, president of Corporate Strategies Inc. of Scottsdale, agrees that a non-threatening approach and some creative problem solving can avoid an outdated solution to the labor standoff. Webb, who has 20 years experience in labor relations from the union side and has negotiated on behalf of the Boston and Philadelphia transit systems, said it will take some open dialogue to develop trust and reach a solution that has some mutual risks and rewards.
"This idea is for one side to say, ‘Here’s my problem, I can’t get to your interest until my problem is solved,’ " said Webb, who consults with companies trying to improve employee relations.
In the case of the America West flight attendants, they’re seeking a pay increase that brings them in line with the other top 10 airlines. But America West, the ninth largest airline, says it can’t pay top industry wages because its revenue is far below the top carriers. In the first quarter last year, No. 1 United Airlines had $4 billion in revenue, double of what America West reported all of last year.
Shapiro suggests that instead of fighting over how to divide the pie and being left with crumbs, the union and America West work together to increase the size of the pie.
Shapiro sees parallels between the America West standoff and the Baltimore Symphony strike he helped resolve in 1982. The symphony had matured into a nationally recognized orchestra and wanted to be paid on par with its peers. The musicians wanted $620 per week, while the non-profit symphony management argued that they could only afford $580 per week.
The dispute was as much about status and recognition as it was about pay, according to Shapiro. His resolution involved a commitment by management to pay the $620 per week, but only after additional funding was found to make up the difference between the $580 it was offering. A Baltimore television station agreed to a telethon to raise money for the orchestra and the disharmony disappeared, Shapiro said.
That’s "The Power of Nice®," which is about doing business in a way that you can continue to have good working relationships, he said.
‘Don’t destroy the other side’
It’s unrealistic to expect the win-win outcome to negotiations, Shapiro said, because ultimately one side will achieve a bigger win than the other side. But there has to be something positive for both sides, he added.
"WIN-win is realistic," he writes in The Power of Nice®. "It isn’t easy – it requires focus and discipline but its achievable. And it doesn’t turn negotiation into war. Because it’s not Win-lose, WIN-clobber, or WIN-ransack-pillage and obliterate. You don’t have to destroy the other side."
But going into the final round of negotiations, it appears that the flight attendants union and America West are poised for that kind of win-lose confrontation.
"Nice is integrity," Shapiro said of his negotiating philosophy. "It’s focusing on (the other side’s) interests as well as your own. The power of hate or the power of battle isn’t going to induce that kind of settlement."
"Not nice is ‘I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it.’ The Power of Nice® is, ‘I’ll build that bridge when I come to it," said Shapiro, who represents Diamondbacks pitcher Brian Anderson and former baseball greats Kirby Puckett, Brooks Robinson and Jim Palmer.
The Baltimore-based sports agent and attorney is careful to point out that his nice-guy approach to negotiations is not wimpy. It’s about having the confidence to come up with creative solutions, he said, and that’s what needed to resolve the America West standoff.
Webb agrees, saying that the two sides need a settlement that helps both sides solve their problems.
"My personal opinion is that the parties are very close to an agreement," Webb said. "The difficulty is coming to the finer points of the agreement."
Negotiators need to send some signals that show they’re interested in developing a relationship after the settlement, he added, but building that trust is the hardest thing to accomplish.
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