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Negotiating integrative collective
labour agreements
Negotiation process factors related to integrative collective labour agreements in the
Netherlands: a comparison of two case studies
Willemien van Helden 5679818
Master thesis Comparative Labour and Organisation Studies, University of Amsterdam
October 2010
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Paul de Beer
Second supervisor: Prof. Dr. Jelle Visser
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Table of contents
1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Framework of negotiation and collective bargaining ..................................................................... 5
3. Method .......................................................................................................................................... 10
4. Case descriptions ........................................................................................................................... 15
5. Analysis .......................................................................................................................................... 23
6. Discussion and conclusion ............................................................................................................. 30
7. Literature ....................................................................................................................................... 33
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1. Introduction
This research was triggered by an observation by Walton and McKersie (1965) in a behavioral theory
of labor negotiations: “one often wonders why under similar circumstances some negotiations
produce innovative solutions and others produce deadlock and conflict” (p. 155). The outcome of
negotiation, in particular collective bargaining as a specific type of negotiation, can be seen as a
product of the negotiation process and its context: economic, institutional and societal (Rojer, 1996).
The classic adversarial relationship between labour and management has been forced into revision.
Especially in the Netherlands, where, faced with increasing competition from abroad and the effects
of the global economic crisis, labour and management have been called upon to work together. One
important way of cooperation for social partners is through collective bargaining, and formulating
collective labour agreements in which this cooperation is agreed upon benefiting both parties. The
focus of this thesis in on Dutch collective labour agreements and on the aspects of the negotiation
process that lead to agreements benefiting both employees and employers (integrative agreements).
In the institutional environment of industrial relations in the Netherlands, several actors are important.
These are the social partners: the tripartite Social Economic Council, bipartite Labour Foundation and
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. These bodies provide recommendations and policy
advice, typically containing calls for labour and capital, and for employees and employers to work
together to tackle issues that pose challenges for the future. A characteristic of these
recommendations is that they call for cooperation between the social partners, and also often advise
that the collective labour agreement is a method or route to effect these agreements.
The Netherlands are faced with a number of economic and labour problems, and the social partners
have been explicitly identified as actors in accomplishing solutions.
Firstly, as mentioned before, competition from abroad is an issue. To ensure that the Netherlands
remain competitive, initiatives such as increasing the employability of the workforce have been
advanced in the Labour Foundation (Stichting van de Arbeid, 2006). Another proposed option is
stimulating smarter working methods and labour productivity through collective labour agreements
(Stichting van de Arbeid, 2008). Furthermore, the Social Economic Council has communicated that
work organisation innovation (“sociale innovatie”) is necessary to maintain the current welfare level
and at the same time emphasising the role of social partners to create agreements on the
management of working hours, training and employability, reducing absence through illness,
modernising labour relations, result driven pay and increasing the quality of work (Sociaal
Economische Raad, 2006).
Another, second, future problem concerns labour market issues, in particular the increasingly ageing
workforce. A proposed solution is to increase the labour participation of women (Taskforce deeltijdplus
report, 2010). Increasing work-life balance for both women and men is seen as an important
contributing factor to allow men to work longer (above the age of 65) and women to work more hours a
week. Increasing the opportunities for teleworking contributes to combining work and private life, and
social partners have been called upon to come to agreements to facilitate this (Stichting van de
Arbeid, 2009).
Thirdly, environmental issues are becoming more and more prominent as a problem to be tackled, for
example, traffic congestion. Teleworking is also seen as a partial solution to this problem and one in
which social partners can step in (Stichting van de Arbeid, 2009).
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Lastly, the current economic crisis is a problem the Netherlands are facing and the social pact that
social partners concluded in the spring of 2009 sees a role for social partners, through collective
labour agreements, to put work above income as a way of combating the crisis.
Considering all these policy advices and declarations, one starts to wonder as to what extent these
types of agreements that should be beneficial to employers and employees, are actually present in
collective agreements, and as to what factors are conducive to creating these agreements. Policy is
one thing, but to actually have it in the collective agreement and having social partners agreeing on a
sectoral or company level, is another.
Thus the need to understand and promote integrative collective labour agreements is becoming more
important and with this, understanding the mechanisms that lead to more integrative agreements in
collective bargaining, is important. The question guiding this research is: How can collective labour
agreements in the Netherlands be made more integrative? Understanding what negotiation process
related factors encourage the creation of this type of agreements is important because it gives
practical directions to act on.
Derived from this general question, the research question of this thesis is: to what extent do aspects of
the process of negotiation between social partners explain whether the collective labour agreements
concluded are more or less integrative considering collective bargaining within similar economic
conditions? Methodologically, by keeping the economic context constant, the negotiation process
related factors can be identified. This research has not yet been done in the Dutch context. By
comparing two cases of collective labour agreements within the same economic circumstances, this
study is exploratory in how process and outcome are related in the Dutch context.
A distinction made in labour negotiations (and negotiation theory in general) is between distributive
and integrative bargaining processes and outcomes. According to Bazerman, Magliozzi & Neale
(1983) “an agreement is said to be integrative when the negotiators locate and adopt options that
incorporate the needs of both parties and produce solutions of high joint benefit “(p. 1). Integrative
outcomes are seen as win-win outcomes (value creating, mutual gains bargaining,
cooperative/collaborative approach, non-zero-sum game), in which both parties benefit, whereas
distributive outcomes are seen as win-lose in character in which one party gains at the expense of the
other ( win-lose, value claiming, competitive approach, zero-sum game). Classically, collective
bargaining has focused on distributive elements and it still always contains these elements when it
comes to wages. Yet there is an incentive to create more integrative agreements in order to deal with
the challenges that both employers and employees are facing.
The structure of this paper is as follows: first the theory on negotiations will be explained, followed by
empirical literature on the relationship between the negotiation process and integrative agreements
and the formulation of the hypotheses to guide the research. Next, the methodology used in this
exploratory case study design research will be described, followed by the case descriptions of the two
cases. Subsequently, the cases will be analysed by means of the hypotheses. Lastly, the results will
be discussed and concluded.
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2. Framework of negotiation and collective bargaining
2.1. Theory of negotiations
A definition of negotiation is “a process by which two or more parties attempt to resolve their opposing
interests” (Lewicki, Barry and Saunders, 2010). Characteristic of negotiation is the interdependence
between parties, in which each needs to give in to the other in order to achieve the outcome they
prefer.
In this part a short overview will be given of the two broad perspectives of looking at negotiations: the
rational (game theory) perspective and the behavioural perspective. These have been converging over
the years (e.g. in behavioural economics), but elements of both perspectives can be useful in studying
negotiations. Negotiation has been studied in a large variety of disciplines, ranging from economics, to
sociology to psychology and management. The rational or game theoretical perspective is based on a
mathematical and classical economical way of looking at negotiations. It assumes humans act purely
to maximise their personal advantage. From a rational perspective, negotiation is seen as “an
economic exchange that is conceptually isolated from the noneconomic bonds between the parties,
their history, and their future relationship” (Greenhalgh & Lewicki, 2003, p 20)
The prisoner‟s dilemma is the most classic example of a rational perspective. The concept of the
prisoner‟s dilemma is that exploitation of the other party results in a higher „utility‟ or gain for the
exploiting party than mutual cooperation. Yet mutual cooperation results in a higher utility than mutual
noncooperation, which in turn creates a higher utility than being exploited. So, summarising in terms of
utility:
Exploitation of other > mutual cooperation > mutual noncooperation > exploitation by other.
The structure of the prisoner‟s dilemma directs the actors to the non cooperative option as the most
rational option for a party (as you gain maximum). The paradox is that if both parties do not cooperate,
they lose more that if they would both cooperate. The strong interdependent character of negotiation is
apparent here. If the game would be a repeated game this would mean that each time, each party
would defect. Yet in reality this is not the case.
A contribution of game theory important to this study is the concept of repeated game and the
negotiators dilemma. These aspects have been further incorporated in the behavioural schools. The
dynamics of a game change when it becomes a repeated game. This makes punishment in case of
non-cooperation possible, as well as reward in case of cooperation. In negotiation, the prisoner‟s
dilemma, also known as the negotiator‟s dilemma (Lax and Sebenius, 1986), refers to the tension that
exists between cooperating to increase your gain and not cooperating to avoid being exploited.
Axelrod (1984) described the tit for tat strategy as a way of managing this negotiator‟s dilemma in
which a party acts cooperatively, in order to elicit a cooperative response, but responds with a
“punishment” of noncooperative behaviour if the other acts noncooperatively in order not to be
exploited. This tit-for-tat strategy is only possible for negotiations that are repetitive in character,
because they allow for successive actions to be punished or rewarded. Collective bargaining, as an
infinite and repeated game, allows for punishment and reward tactics.
Game theory has given some insights into negotiations, but the general critique of the rational
perspective is that it is an oversimplification of reality and has failed to take into account the complex
human interaction that takes place during the process of negotiation. Therefore, behavioural theory
has been developed to provide for a more realistic way to explain behaviour.
The idea of bounded rationality (Simon, 1947) showed that whereas the pure rational perspective
assumes that actors have full information and then choose the optimal option, actors rarely do have
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full information about their options or of the other party. Therefore, it can be expected that the more
information is exchanged between parties, the better the solution.
Walton and McKersie (1965) provided a model of labour negotiations focussing on the negotiation
process in which four sub processes can be indentified: integrative bargaining, distributive bargaining,
attitudinal structuring and intraorganisational bargaining. Both the integrative bargaining process and
the distributive bargaining processes are joint decision making processes, whereas the attitudinal
structuring and intraorganisational bargaining processes are both processes aimed at managing
relationships. Attitudinal structuring deals with the relationship between two negotiating parties, and
intraorganisational bargaining deals with the relationships within parties between negotiators and their
constituencies.
The process of integrative bargaining involves the activities that allow for common problems between
two parties to be addressed. The aim is to find common interests and solutions to the problems that
satisfy the interests of both parties. Three conditions facilitating problem solving are identified, the first
being that both parties have the motivation to solve the problem. Secondly, information and language
are important, to the extent that the actors must be able to access relevant information and possess
the language and communication skills to exchange the information. The risks of low levels of
information are detrimental to the problem definition, the number of alternatives designed, the
examinations of the possible consequences and the overall quality of the solutions. Lastly, trust is an
important facilitating condition for several reasons according to Walton and McKersie (1965): trust
allows for actors to assess the information provided more accurately, and leads to more creativity and
experimenting with ideas. A lack of trust on the other hand, leads to distortion of information from the
sender to the receiver and leads to defensive behaviour which takes focus away from the problem
solving. The three conditions may also be interrelated, as higher trust may lead to more information
exchange, or vice versa.
The process of distributive bargaining involves activities of a party to attain its goals while these are in
conflict with the goals and interests of the other party. This is similar to the zero-sum perspective of
game theory, in which one party‟s gain is the other party‟s loss. Walton and McKersie (1965) call the
topics around which one party‟s gain is the other party‟s loss “issues”.
The third sub process is attitudinal structuring. This refers to the activities of both parties to influence
their mutual relationship and attitudes. Attitudinal structuring addresses the non substantive aspect of
negotiations, as negotiations also produce an outcome in the relationship. The dimensions that lead
to specific attitudes are: the motivational orientation towards each other, beliefs about the other‟s
legitimacy, feelings of trust towards the other and lastly feelings of friendliness- hostility towards the
other.
Intraorganisational bargaining is the final sub process. The negotiators of the parties are
representatives of their constituencies i.e. unions represent the employees and the employer
delegation represents the company or organisation. There may be tension between the interests and
behaviour of the representatives and their constituency, also known as the principal-agent problem.
Intraorganisational bargaining refers to the negotiation within a party between the agents and the
principal to build consensus as these two may not always be fully aligned to begin with. According to
Walton and McKersie, the union steward may be more subject to intraorganisational bargaining and
constituency pressure than company representatives because unions are political organisations with
elected representatives.
The four sub processes are not completely independent, and they may occur simultaneously. For
example, labour negotiations often contain both distributive potential e.g. wages, and integrative
potential, creating a mixed motive negotiation and thus collective bargaining would show signs of both
processes. Also, intraorganisational bargaining issues may interfere with integrative bargaining as
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pressure from constituencies can affect to what extent negotiators can engage in integrative
bargaining. Also, low trust from the attitudinal structuring process can inhibit integrative bargaining.
In sum, in such a complex situation as collective bargaining with multiple issues and many different actors, where moreover the negotiations are a repeated game and parties have constituencies, the process aspect of the negotiations becomes important in understanding the outcomes. The behavioural theory is a helpful theory to analyse collective bargaining processes. The process eventually leads to outcomes. The empirical evidence on how process and outcomes are related will be explained in the next section.
2.2. Integrative outcomes and the negotiation process
In the empirical literature, several factors have been distinguished that contribute to more integrative
agreements in general and in labour negotiations specifically. Similar to the main theoretical
perspectives, these insights have come from different disciplines and approaches. Some of these
factors are more psychological, referring to negotiators‟ personality traits that contribute to more
integrative agreements (e.g. Barry & Friedman, 1998), and gender (Calhoun & Smith, 1999 and
Rognes & Schei, 2010), but the focus of this research is on the process related factors.
Garaudel et al. (2008) identified several factors that contributed to integrative bargaining between
unions and management in two cases of French restructuring. They emphasise that the relationship
pattern of cooperation and mutual trust increased integrative agreements. Friedman (1993) and
Peterson, Tracy and Cabelly (1981) found that trust between the negotiating parties was an important
factor in successful mutual gains bargaining in labour negotiations. This importance of trust is
consistent with Walton and McKersie‟s theoretical claim that trust between parties is an important
facilitator in creating integrative agreements. Thus, a hypothesis is:
Hypothesis 1: The higher the level of trust between employer and union before and during the
negotiation process, the more integrative the collective labour agreement.
The literature has identified different types of trust in negotiations. Two types advanced by Lewicki and
Bunker (1995, 1996), and Shapiro, Sheppard and Cheraskin (1992) are knowledge based trust and
identification based trust. Knowledge based trust is trust one has in another because his behaviour
can be predicted. Identification based trust includes a cooperative motivational orientation and full
understanding of the other‟s preferences and interests.
Next to trust, Information exchange has been empirically found to improve chances of finding
integrative solutions. (Butler, 1999; Thompson 1991). The other way round, lack of information
exchange was also found to decrease possibilities for creating integrative agreements (Butler, 1999).
Thus, another hypothesis is:
Hypothesis 2: The more exchange of information shared between employers and unions before and
during the negotiation process, the more integrative the collective labour agreement.
There is a difference between integrative bargaining as a process and integrative outcomes. However,
it is more likely that integrative bargaining activities will lead to more integrative outcomes as the
search for integrative outcome through integrative bargaining will lead to more integrative outcomes.
Rognes and Schei (2010) in their comparison of various studies found that integrative bargaining
approach led to more satisfactory integrative agreements. In another study, integrative bargaining
was found to create more mutual gains in collective labour agreements, especially on topics that
address the relationship between parties and the labour contract (Paquet, Gaétan & Bergeron, 2000).
Thus, another hypothesis is:
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Hypothesis 3: The more integrative bargaining by employers and unions during the negotiation
process, the more integrative the collective labour agreement.
Going back to the negotiator‟s dilemma ( tension arising from pursuing joint interests - through
integrative bargaining - may worsen the bargaining position, but at the same time, pursuing
competitive interests - through distributive bargaining - may squander the opportunity of finding
solutions to improve the position of both sides), it could be said that if parties have enough trust,
enough information exchange and engage in integrative bargaining, they are able to overcome the
negotiator‟s dilemma and effectively conclude integrative agreements.
As can be seen from the theory and various empirical results, the process related aspects of trust,
information sharing and integrative bargaining are important in integrative outcomes. They may be not
fully independent (for example: higher trust may lead to more information exchange, and integrative
bargaining may entail exchanging information) but for the purpose of this study, they will be treated
separately. To what extent do aspects of the process explain the outcomes of the level of
integrativeness of collective labour agreements?
2.3. Context of collective bargaining in the Netherlands
This section explains the context of collective bargaining in the Netherlands as well as the usual
process of collective bargaining. The Netherlands are a coordinated market economy (Hall and
Soskice, 2001) and collective bargaining is a highly institutionalised process and an integral part of
industrial relations. A collective labour agreement contains agreements about the terms of
employment between one or more employers (organisations) and one or more employee
organisations (trade unions) for a particular group of employees. The collective labour agreement may
also contain other provisions, such as mutual obligations and agreements to organise and finance
mutual activities (Labour Foundation, 2004). Benefits of collective bargaining have been industrial
peace and fewer transaction costs involved in organisations negotiating terms of employment with
each individual employee.
Collective labour agreements are made at an enterprise level or at a sectoral level. From a legal
perspective, two laws govern collective labour agreements. The first is the Law on the collective labour
agreement (Wet CAO, 1927). The second is the law that regulates the coverage of collective labour
agreements to encompass also those who are employed by companies not taking part in collective
bargaining but in the same sector (De Wet op het algemeen verbindend en het onverbindend
verklaren van bepalingen van CAOs, 1937, Law on mandatory extension). In order for a collective
labour agreement to be deemed generally binding, a request must be placed and acknowledged by
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment.
At the time this research was conducted, mid 2010, the economic context of the Netherlands was
influenced by the consequences of the global economic crisis. The social pact of spring 2009
concluded by social partners stated that employment would be put above income as a way to combat
the economic crisis.
The nature of Dutch collective bargaining holds that employee interests are represented by a
combination of unions. This is also known as union pluralism. Furthermore, collective bargaining is a
multi-issue negotiation, as topics such as employability and safety are addressed, next to wages. In
collective bargaining, the different unions representing the employees usually work together with the
largest union delivering the spokesperson for the negotiations.
The process of collective bargaining in the Netherlands involves both unions and employers collecting
constituency demands and formulating demand letters. These demands shape the agenda of the
negotiations. The negotiations usually consist of several negotiation rounds after which three types of
outcomes are possible: agreement in principal („principeakkoord‟), bargaining result
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(„onderhandelingsresultaat‟) or final offer („eindbod‟). With an agreement in principal, the negotiations
have stayed within their mandate and present the collective labour agreement to their constituencies
with a positive advice. In the case of a bargaining result, the parties have not stayed within their
mandate and the result is presented to the constituency with either a negative or neutral advice. In the
case of final offer, the parties have not been able to agree. The constituencies either accept or reject
the result of the negotiations, leading to the creation and signing of a collective labour agreement if
accepted or going back to the negotiation table if rejected.
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3. Method
3.1. Research design and method
The research followed a case study research design with data collection conducted in two stages.
First two collective labour agreements were chosen as case studies that differed in the rate of
integrativeness. Subsequently, information on the negotiation processes was gathered using semi-
structured interviews with union executives and employer representatives.
3.2. Case selection: Integrative agreements in Dutch collective labour agreements
Since the research question focuses on the process of collective bargaining, the context i.e. economic
situation of the organisation was kept stable by choosing two cases from the same sector and same
period of time, so that the external influences such as social pacts concluded, or the economic crisis,
would have affected both. Moreover, the cases were negotiated recently, to diminish the effects of
reduced memory recollection.
The case selection was done by gathering information and suggestions from experts in the field of
collective labour agreements and collective bargaining in the Netherlands. These suggestions were
investigated. Within the available time and resources, the cases of the Water boards and the
Watercompanies were found to be suitable and the negotiators were willing to cooperate in the
research.
Two observations were made during the case selection. Firstly, when collective agreements are made
in the same sector, they often imitate each other in terms of employment and collective agreement
(presumably because they want to eliminate competitive advantage of the other, or simply because
the union negotiators are the same and have the same points of view in both cases). Secondly, where
the agreements do differ in collective agreements within a sector, they are often on a different level,
for example a sectoral collective agreement or a company level agreement.
The two cases of collective labour agreements that were examined were similar enough to be
compared in that they were constructed under similar economic contexts as both had public duties
and government ties (the water chain sector) and matching level of collective labour agreement i.e.
both sectoral collective labour agreements. Yet the two cases differed in the number of integrative
agreements in the collective labour agreement, thus being different enough to allow for a comparison.
The level of integrativeness in Dutch collective labour agreements was defined and operationalised by
considering the number of agreements in the collective labour agreement that aim to increase the
productivity of the employees, without negatively affecting their work load or causing a proportional
cost increase for the employers.
From the policy advices and declarations and literature, several indicators of integrative agreements
for both employees and employers in collective labour agreements can be distilled. Qualitative topics
are more likely to have integrative potential than topics with pure economic values, such as wages
(Walton and McKersie, 1965). The indicators that have been defined are:
1. Employability. This refers to agreements that increase the human capital of employees,
making it easier for them to find a new job within or outside of the current organisation of
employment, thereby increasing their value. At the same time, the employer benefits by
obtaining better skilled employees with increased productivity or by a reduction in
outplacement costs when an employee is made redundant.
2. Flexible terms of employment. Agreements which allow for more flexible terms of employment allow for employees to choose the terms of employment that best fit their
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needs at different periods of their lives. This is expected to lead to a better work-life balance, beneficial to both employee and employers, and at the same time does not increase costs for the employer, as it only implies a reshuffling of the already present terms of employment
3. Employment relations on organisational level. Involves agreements to improve
employment relations between social partners in an organisation, through, for example, working groups to tackle joint issues. (Pacquet, Gaéton & Bergeron, 2000)
Three aspects of work organisation innovation („Sociale innovatie‟), which by definition entails
an advantage for both employers and employees, are also indicators of integrative
agreements (Startnota CSI, 2006).
4. Flexible ways of organising. This entails the organisation of working time, such as different daily, monthly, quarterly or yearly windows of working hours, and more control of employees over working hours, resting times such as individual scheduling (Pot, Peltzer and Xavier, 2007 and Pacquet, Gaéton & Bergeron, 2000). Moreover, arrangements (technological, organisational aspects) to facilitate time- and location- independent working („Het Nieuwe Werken‟) are part of flexible ways of organising the work force. An important aspect is increased freedom and responsibility of the employees to organise their work.
5. Dynamic management involves new ways of management, for example when trust plays
an important role
6. Working smarter involves effective production of goods and services and at the same time taking into consideration the interests of the organisation and the employees. It involves improvements and innovations that increase the quality of the products, keep the costs under control and decrease the stress on employees. (Sociaal Economische Raad, 2006)
Table 1 below shows the integrative agreements of both Water boards and Watercompanies cases.
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Table 1:
Integrative agreements in the collective labour agreements of the Watercompanies and the Water
boards.
Types of integrative agreements
Collective labour agreement
Water boards
Watercompanies
Employability
Career guidance with career budget (loopbaaan traject met loopbaanbudget)
Second career with career budget possibilities ( tweede loopbaan met loopbaan budget)
Stimulating labour participation of older workers (arbeidsparticipatie ouderen (stimuleren langer doorwerken)
Training budget per employee aimed at current job (inzetbaarheidsbudget)
Employability budget per employee, aimed at future jobs within or outside the organisation
Flexible terms of employment Individual choice budget (individueel keuzebudget)
Flexible employment conditions budget (Flexibel arbeidsvoorwaarden budget)
Employment relations on organisational level
Research into the impediments and possibilities of flexible working arrangements such as self scheduling and training for management and works councils in social innovation and “the New way of working” (onderzoek naar belemmeringen en mogelijkheden flexibeler werken vb zelf roosteren, training en voor management en medezeggenschap over SI, Het Nieuwe Werken)
-
Flexible ways of organising Arrangements to increase possibilities of telework (telewerken)
Arrangements for volunteer aid givers (mantelzorger) such as flexible working hours.
Increasing the possible working hours
(verruiming dagvenster)
Expansion of the system of
Arrangements to increase possibilities of telework (telewerken)
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overtime and „undertime‟ across a year so that employers and employees have more flexibility to organise work (plus en min uren systematiek verruimd zodat meer flexibiliteit)
Dynamic management
- -
Working smarter
- -
Total number of integrative agreements
9 4
Thus, this overview shows that the collective labour agreement of the Water boards in total contains
more integrative agreements than the collective labour agreement of the Watercompanies, and also
covers more topics of integrative agreements. Not all topics of integrative agreements are covered by
the two water cases. This could be due to the nature and culture of a sector, which makes it more
suitable for some types of integrative agreements than others.
The general hypotheses formulated in the theoretical section can be translated into specific
expectations related to these two cases:
Hypothesis 1: The process of collective bargaining in the Water boards is expected to contain higher
levels of trust between employers and unions than the process of collective bargaining in the
Watercompanies.
Hypothesis 2: The process of collective bargaining in the Water boards is expected to contain more
exchange of information before and during negotiation by employers and unions than the process of
collective bargaining in the Watercompanies.
Hypothesis 3: The process of collective bargaining in the Water boards is expected to contain more
integrative bargaining by employers and unions than the process of collective bargaining in the
Watercompanies.
3.3. Interviews
For both cases, one employer representative and one union representative were approached and
interviewed in order to obtain a complete picture of the negotiation processes. For the Water boards‟
case the secretary chairperson of the Union of Water boards was interviewed as well as the union
executive of the Abvakabo FNV union. For the Watercompanies‟ case, the secretary chairperson of
the employers association of the Watercompanies and the union executive of the CNV publieke zaak
union were interviewed. Due to the time constraints for the research, only one interview for each party
was conducted.
The semi-structured interviews started with an open question “could you tell me about the negotiation
process concerning the most recent collective labour agreement?”. Based on the interviewees‟ stories,
clarifying questions were asked with the aid of an interview guide to delve deeper into answers that
would provide information on the topic of the three hypotheses: trust between union and employer,
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information exchange between union and employer and knowledge and practice of integrative
bargaining of both parties.
The phases of the collective bargaining process were used to help structure the interviewees‟ stories
(see figure 1).
Figure 1: Phases of the negotiation process
3.4. Information processing
Next to the information collected through the semi-structured interviews, documents on the negotiation
process such as demand letters, communiqués were also examined. However, they did not contain
much additional information to the interviews but helped in structuring the chain of events. To capture
the information on trust, information exchange and integrative bargaining several indicators were
prepared beforehand. Some responses from the interviews provided information about more than one
hypothesis.
The level of trust between union and employers was identified by looking at such aspects as the
number of informal meetings in the pre-negotiation and negotiation phases, the length of the
negotiation phase and statements made by the interviewees about the relationship with the other
party. The literature has identified different types of trust in negotiations, as mentioned before.. This
distinction between knowledge based trust and identification based trust proved useful in
understanding the trust demonstrated in the Watercompanies case, as explained further below.
The extent of information exchange was identified by the number of meetings held between parties,
the extent to which the demand letters contained surprises, or the number of surprises during the
negotiation process.
The knowledge and application of integrative bargaining was recognised by two factors in the
interviews. Firstly, the strategy and style of negotiating the interviewees said they had at the start of
the process was an indication. A second indication was the actual manifestation of integrative
bargaining during the negotiation.
Lewicki, Barry and Saunders (2009) identified a number of characteristics of integrative negotiation (p.
72):
Focus on commonalities rather than differences
Attempt to address the needs and interests, not positions
Commit to meeting the needs of all involved parties (Did you feel that you understood the priorities
of the opposing team (person) in the negotiation?)
Exchange information and ideas
Invent options for mutual gain
Use objective criteria for standards of performance.
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4. Case descriptions
The two cases of the Water boards and the Watercompanies in this research are both part of the
water chain. The concluded collective labour agreements are both on the sectoral level, meaning the
collective labour agreement of the Water boards is applicable to all Water boards in the Netherlands,
and the collective labour agreement of the Watercompanies is applicable to all the Watercompanies
that are member of the employers organisation of Watercompanies. Both collective bargaining
processes took place in the same time frame between 2008 and 2010, which meant they were
affected by the same external circumstances such as the spring 2009 social partner pact and the
economic crisis. Both organisations are also linked to the public sector, with the provinces and
municipalities owning part of the Watercompanies and the Water boards being public official entities,
which is also demonstrated by the fact that the unions present are form the public sector blocks of the
unions (CNV publieke zaak, FNV Abvakabo).
The following section contains an introduction to both cases including the aim of the organisations, the
context of the collective bargaining process and the actors and a description of the events of the
negotiation process following three phases of the process: the pre-negotiation phase, the negotiation
phase and the finalising phase. The comparison of the process will be discussed in chapter 5.
4.1. The Water boards
The Union of Water boards consists of twenty six Water boards, with a total of 11000 employees. The
aim of the Water boards is to ensure clean waters, including the purification of waste water, protection
of the country against flooding and controlling the volume of surface water. The case description of the
Water boards refers to the negotiations leading up to the collective labour agreement 2009-2011
concluded by the unions and the Union of Water boards representing the employers.
Context
Certain events and circumstances have impacted the negotiations of the Water boards‟ collective
labour agreement 2009-2011. Firstly, the negotiations took place within the context of the social pact
that had been concluded between social partners on a national level. This social pact, agreed upon in
March 2009, stated that the economic crisis necessitates prioritisation of employment above income.
This meant that resources must be used for job security and employability and training measures
rather than for income increase. The main purpose of the social pact is to maintain the purchasing
power of all employees and consumers. The pact influenced the position of social partners in the
Water boards case regarding the topic of wage increases.
A second contextual aspect and also an effect of the economic crisis was the loss of capital of
speculating pension funds. The Water boards‟ pension fund was one of the pension funds that had
lost greatly in the crisis, and therefore had informed the Water boards that they would be increasing
their pension dues. This meant that employers‟ contributions for the pensions would also increase.
Thirdly, even though the Water boards enjoy a degree of independence from politics and other
governmental organisations because they raise their own taxes, they are at the same time facing
economising measures. The Water boards are affected by discussions on the division of tasks within
the public sector, particularly between the Ministry of Waterways and Public Works, the Water boards
and the municipalities. Furthermore, there is a current political discussion on the future of the Water
boards, and the Water boards have committed themselves to a retrenchment of 100 million euro‟s.
There is also political pressure on the Watercompanies not to increase the water prices, which affects
the Water boards as well as they are the supplier of the clean water that the Watercompanies deliver
16
to consumers. This economising has also affected the negotiations of the collective labour agreement
and the employers‟ financial leverage.
A last contextual aspect which interfered with the negotiations was that the cabinet, and the minister of
interior affairs in particular, had been following the negotiations with the Water boards closely to keep
track of how the employers proceeded with sticking to the income freeze called for in the social pact. It
was important for the Water boards from an employer‟s point of view to demonstrate externally to
politics and the general public that they were not a rich sector and were not offering any income raise.
The cabinet was pushing for this because an income increase for the employees of the Water boards
would mean a spill over effect could take place and other sectors would demand the same.
Actors
Two delegations of negotiators were involved in the collective bargaining, a union and an employer
delegation. The union delegation consisted of three unions: Abvakabo FNV, CNV publieke zaak and
CMHF. Both the Abvakabo FNV and CNV Publieke zaak unions were represented by a union
executive (vakbondsbestuurder) from the central union and a union steward (kaderlid) from within the
organisation. As is customary in collective bargaining in the Netherlands, the largest union also acts
as a spokesperson. In this case, the interviewed Abvakabo FNV union executive was also the
spokesperson. The employers were represented by a delegation consisting of the secretary director of
the Union of Water boards (management level), two dike wardens (with political responsibility) a policy
adviser of the Union of Water boards specialised in terms of employment and a secretary chairperson.
Furthermore, the employers‟ delegation consisted of an adviser from the General Employers‟
Association of the Netherlands (AWVN).
All three lead negotiators on the union side were new to the process i.e. they had not previously been
involved with collective bargaining in this specific collective labour agreement. The negotiator
interviewed for the union side was from the Abvakabo and had nine years of negotiating experience.
This was the first time he negotiated in the Water boards‟ collective labour agreement. He had
previously negotiated in the municipality collective labour agreement as second negotiator. On the
employers‟ side, the secretary director and the secretary chairperson were both new to collective
bargaining. The secretary chairperson of the union of Water boards was interviewed for this research
to represent the employers‟ side. The union density in the Water boards is 33%.
Pre-negotiation phase
The prepatory pre-negotiation commenced in March 2009. During this phase the employer
representatives and the three unions (FNV Abvakabo, CNV Publieke Zaak and CMHF) prepared their
demands. The employers‟ delegation formulated their demands based on their general agenda for
terms of employment and the mandate for the agenda points was confirmed by the members. At the
same time, a working group consisting of union members and employers presented their advice on
increasing flexibility and extension of the annual bonus, a decision which had been agreed upon in the
former collective labour agreement. Parallel to the preparation period, regular meetings between
employer and unions continued, as is usually the case throughout the year. Apart from the advice on
the working group and the regular meetings, there was no further exchange of information during the
preparation phase.
The interviews of the union executive and the secretary chairperson of the Union of Water boards
differed in that, according to the secretary chairperson, there were regular meetings between unions
and employers during the pre-negotiation phase, as well as the joint working group results, whereas
the union executive maintained there was no exchange of information at all (formal or informal) during
the pre-negotiation phase.
17
The three unions prepared for the negotiations jointly and agreed on the themes they wished to
address. For the unions, retaining purchasing power and employment were the most important items.
They indicated they were prepared to moderate wages in exchange for clear agreements on job
security. The unions also wanted to strengthen the control employees had over working hours, work-
life balance and working from home. The social pact agreed on by social partners in spring 2009 was
leading in their demands. The unions also coordinated their demands with those in other „lower‟
government bodies, such as the municipalities and provinces.
Negotiation phase
On August 31st, at a specified time, the demand letters were exchanged by email. Shortly following
the exchange a meeting was held to explain and clarify the content of the demand letters. The
secretary director of the Union of the Water boards acted as chairman of the meeting and he initiated
the process of jointly seeking the common themes that were to be found in the demand letters. The
four themes that emerged were „employee development and career flexibility‟, „work-life balance‟,
„modernising terms of employment‟ (e.g. individual choice budget) and „maintaining purchasing power‟
and the „pay/wages paragraph‟. The unions‟ representative stated and then discussed with the
employers‟ delegation that their starting point would be the social pact that had been decided upon in
spring, which meant maintaining purchasing power and job security. According to the unions, the
employers agreed to this point of departure.
The search for these common themes took three formal meetings and consisted of discussions that
aimed to clarify the underlying motives for the wishes of both parties. Questions asked were: what do
you aim to achieve, how to achieve this, what would be the best route. For example, unions requested
a job rotation measure and employers wanted an „algemene dienst‟ („general service‟ meaning
employees are not pinned to one job and job title but may change from time to time). Eventually both
discovered for this topic that they both wanted the same i.e. a way to increase employability and
create flexibility as well as interesting career opportunities. The bottleneck was that the expression
„algemene dienst‟ was one with negative connotations for the unions. Once parties had discovered
this, they were able to move on with the discussions.
In October and November working groups met to discuss the practical implications of the first three
themes and calculate the effects. The theme of maintaining purchasing power and wages was not
treated in the working groups, but was explicitly left for a later date. These working groups consisted of
the union executives and the secretary-director of the Union of Water boards.
On 2nd
December parties met in another formal negotiation meeting and concluded they had reached
agreement on the three first themes, yet realised they could not find agreement on the topic of
maintaining purchasing power and wages. The employers wanted to maintain an income freeze, while
the unions were prepared to moderate the wage claim but not to freeze incomes. The parties
adjourned to decide on their positions on the topic. The union executive interviewed maintained that
the employers had given a final offer of an income freeze. The employer representative interviewed
claimed that the employers did not want to put pressure on the situation, and therefore did not make a
final offer, but that all parties agreed they differed too much on the wages topic so would consult their
respective constituencies on what their positions would be.
The union executives went to their constituency who agreed they would not be accepting the offer on
the table. The unions saw two options, either joining the actions directly, or search for alternatives.
The idea of proposing a 36 hour working week instead of 37 was launched and tested with the
constituency. Some were against the idea, but most thought it was a good solution under the
circumstances the Water boards were in.
18
On January 25th, the union spokesperson contacted the chairman of the employers informally to
propose a solution. They offered the option of reducing the working week from 37 hours to 36 hours in
exchange for letting go of their wage claim. The unions also threatened that they would join the
actions that the unions of the municipalities had started if the wage claim would not be honoured.
The employers‟ representatives took the proposal to their constituency, and emphasised that it was a
chance to increase a reduction in capacity. The benefits would be that with equal labour costs and
equal employment, a reduction of 11000 productive hours could be achieved. The employers also
added that taking into consideration the whole atmosphere of negotiations, which had been
constructive for the most part, and the fact that they had continuously vented that the sector and
employment were under pressure, it would be impossible to not treat the proposal seriously now that
the unions had provided a solution. The employers‟ delegation told their constituency that they would
treat the union‟s proposal seriously. The members were not in favour as they felt the solution was too
expensive but eventually agreed on conditions under which the proposal would work. The general
employers association (AWVN) was asked to develop these plans.
The employers asked the unions if their counter offer including the conditions was interesting enough
to refrain from action. Unions concurred with this, but stated that if no agreement was reached on 11th
February, they would still join the national actions on February 12th. This put pressure on the process,
although according to the employer representative interviewed the unions were more in a hurry to
conclude negotiations than the employers, as the employers did not assess the willingness of their
employees to go on strike to be very high.
Information meetings were held throughout the country at different Water board locations during which
the unions explained their point of view to the employees and the employers explained theirs.
On February 11th parties met and agreed on an “agreement in principle”. However, the unions felt that
the counter offers were severe deteriorations to the offer, such as handing in local holidays and
starting the 36 hour working week in January 2011. The unions offered that a 100% coverage of the
hours lost with the change to a 36 hour working week would not be necessary, as a way to lessen the
financial burden on the Water boards. Also, they proposed a one off payment for 2010 to account for
the 36 hour working week coming into effect in 2011.
Unions were however uncertain whether their constituency would agree to the agreement in principle.
They were right, as the union stewards did not accept the agreement in principle due to the income
freeze of two years and other changes, such as the cancellation of local holidays, and the unions
informed the employers that the agreement in principle had been rejected and they would join the
actions. Again information meetings were held throughout the country. The employers felt they could
explain their point of view well, as they felt the agreement in principle was attractive for a large part of
the employees, particularly those that were not organised in unions. The unions represented only 30%
of the employees, who were mostly older men. The employers‟ delegation thought the offer on the
table was a good one.
On April 1st the union spokesperson and the secretary-director met informally. The union
spokesperson had called the secretary director to discuss the issues that the unions‟ constituency had
provided. In May parties met informally to discuss and set the agenda for the topics the unions wanted
to discuss and identify the aspects that the employers agreed to investigate. In two subsequent
meetings the topics were explored further.
On 3rd
June parties met formally to agree on a new agreement in principle. After two formal meetings,
the actual text of the collective labour agreement had to be formulated. For the three themes decided
on the year before, this had already been done. But for the final theme on the topic of wages the text
still needed to be written. There had been no time to do this between 25th January and 11th February,
19
when fast reaction was called for to avert union actions. A technical meeting was held to address
some content issues. At the same time, the agreement in principle had been sent to both
constituencies so both delegations felt no changes could be made in the meantime, as it would not be
fair to make changes after the constituencies had seen the agreement. It would not be possible to ask
for approval for one version and at the same time alter it. It was decided that the remaining points
would be dealt with in the fall.
Post negotiation phase
The agreement in principle was agreed upon by both parties‟ constituencies and the negotiating
delegations signed the agreement on 7th July 2010. During the signing of the agreement in principle,
which would make it a formal collective labour agreement, the unions addressed some additional
points, such as the loss of local holidays for some water board employees in the new collective labour
agreement. Employers did not want to respond to this during the signing, and it was decided to
address these issues at a later date.
4.2. The Watercompanies
The Watercompanies are part of the water chain and their main task is to produce and distribute clean
drinking water. The collective labour agreement examined is the agreement signed between the
Employers Association of Watercompanies (Werkgeversvereniging Waterbedrijven WWb) which
consists of fifteen Watercompanies, encompassing 5500 employees, and the unions FNV Abvakabo
and CNV publieke zaak. The union density in the Watercompanies is around 40%.
The collective bargaining case examined in this study is the process leading up to the last collective
labour agreement, which has a term of two years, from 1st August 2009 until 31
st July 2011. The
process from exchange of demand letters until the final agreement in principle was reached took six
months.
Context
The collective labour agreement for the period of 2009-2011 was formed against the backdrop of a
number of contextual factors that are important for understanding the process fully. Firstly, in the
collective labour agreement concluded in 2007 the remuneration system and job grading system had
been thoroughly revised. Even though this had not led to actual pay decreases for the current
employees, it had damaged the employment relationship because it had resulted in employees
distrusting their employers. Employees were found to be apprehensive of change if it meant things
were taken away from them. This also seemed to have affected the relationship between employees
and their union executives.
Secondly, just before the start of the present collective bargaining cycle in the summer of 2008, both
union executives of Abvakabo and CNV were changed, so both union executives were new to the
collective bargaining in the Watercompanies and were less affected by the problematic history of the
remuneration system.
Thirdly, the social pact of the spring of 2009 influenced the process. In this social pact, employers and
employee representatives in the Labour Foundation agreed to an income freeze in exchange for
keeping employment as a way of combating the economic crisis.
Actors
The main task of the employers‟ association is to represent the Watercompanies‟ management
interests in collective bargaining. They are a member of the general employers‟ society of the
20
Netherlands (AWVN). The interviewee of the employers‟ association of the Watercompanies was the
secretary chairperson of the association, with ten years of experience in the negotiation delegation.
Employees of the Watercompanies are represented by two public sector specialised unions, CNV
publieke zaak and FNV Abvakabo. Both union executives had been changed in summer 2008. The
CNV publieke zaak union executive interviewed for this case had eleven years of experience in
negotiating, and had joined the CNV one year before the start of the current collective bargaining
cycle.
The delegations taking part in the negotiation process consisted of five representatives of the
employers, amongst which the director of the Employers‟ Association of the Watercompanies, the
secretary chairperson, and an advisor from the general employers association of the Netherlands. On
the union side, there were two representatives from CNV and two from Abvakabo. Next to these two
formal negotiating delegations, there was a group of technical experts, in which for example also trade
union stewards were present to help in developing ideas in more detail.
Informal meetings often consisted of the secretary chairman of the employers association WWb, the
director of the employers‟ association, the advisor of the general employers‟ society of the Netherlands
(AWVN) and the two union executives.
Pre-negotiation phase
The previous collective labour agreement ended in 2009. During the pre-negotiation phase of the
collective labour agreement studied, a number of informal meetings were held in which both unions
and employers expressed their wishes to modernise the collective labour agreement and exchanged
their motives for wishing to change certain aspects, such as age discriminatory clauses. The unions
had invested in creating a close relationship between themselves so they would be able to operate as
one solid actor. The new union executives knew each other before they started on the
Watercompanies‟ Collective Labour Agreement and decided to make sure they were fully aligned to
present a uniform position to the employers. This was important because in a previous collective
bargaining period, there had been disagreement amongst the unions on special holidays that were
found to be age discriminatory. The employer had been able to use this to their advantage by
speaking to the CNV and therefore putting pressure on the Abvakabo to rejoin the discussions.
In 2008 parties had decided to start a research on age discriminating clauses in the collective labour
agreement. This was an exercise dealt with by equal representation groups (“paritatire” werkgroep). A
working group of around ten people was established, with HR professionals and union stewards. The
general employers‟ association AWVN was asked to conduct the research into the age discriminatory
clauses.
Subsequently, during visits to ten different Watercompanies throughout the country, meetings were
held in which HR professionals, union members, members of works councils and employees
discussed the alternatives to the age discriminatory clauses. The ideas and options generated were
the basis of further research into feasible solutions. The solution was found to be an employability
budget (Inzetbaarheidsbudget), which would use the freed up funding from the former clauses to
increase employability for employees of all ages. Employers and unions met to discuss how to shape
this employability budget, in three more meetings, and in the autumn of 2008 a mid-report was
presented to all parties. The plans were developed further up until the start of the negotiations. The
mid-report was a joint communication, in newspaper form with the logos of both the employers‟
association and the unions.
In the process a suggestion came from one of the larger Watercompanies Vitens to not only include
the freed up funds from the age discriminatory clauses into the employability budget, but to create a
broader flexible employment conditions budget (Flexibel arbeidsvoorwaarden budget – FAB). This
21
would also include holiday pay, annual bonus etc. There was agreement amongst both parties that
this was a good idea to redistribute the resources equally amongst all employees.
A joint communiqué for both constituencies was made. However, the union executives learnt that their
constituency did not approve of the flexible employment conditions budget, so this was omitted from
the communiqué at the last moment. According to the employer interviewed, the reason why the union
constituency was against the flexible employment conditions budget was because it was an idea that
came from the employers, and thus the history of distrust influenced the process. There was informal
contact between the union executives and the employer representatives to explain this change in
position on the flexible employment conditions topic.
In technical committees the effects of a number of the proposed changes in the employability budget
(Inzetbaarheidsbudget) were calculated. Union stewards and employers were represented in these
technical committees.
Several informal meetings were held throughout the pre-negotiation phase indicating regular contact
between unions and employers. These were usually working groups with equal representation to
discuss the agreements made in the previous collective labour agreement and preparations for the
new collective labour agreement. The dates for these informal meetings were 7th March 2007, 12
th
February 2008, 2nd
April 2008, 13th May 2008, 14
th October 2008, 3
rd December 2008, 26
th January
2009 and March 2009.
Negotiation phase
The demand letters were exchanged in May 2009, with de demand letter of the unions sent to the
employer association on the 4th May 2009, and the demand letter of the employers association sent to
the unions on the 8th May 2009. The employers had included the flexible employment conditions (FAB)
in their demand letters, and as announced, the unions had left it out. The first negotiation meeting
was on 18th May 2009. The pre-negotiation phase and negotiation phase seamlessly flowed into each
other, as there was still a working group meeting after the start of the negotiations. The formal
negotiation meetings were held on 18th May 2009, 2
nd June 2009, 22
nd June 2009, 8
th July 2009 (first
agreement in principle signed), 8th October 2009, 19
th October 2009, 4 November 2009 (second
agreement in principle signed). It took a period of six months between the exchange of the demand
letters until the last and final agreement in principle was reached.
As the preparations had been extensive and both parties were to a large extent aware of the others‟
wishes, most topics in the formal negotiations were treated with relative ease. The main bottleneck
was the topic of the flexible employment conditions budget. Employers maintained that they would not
let go of the topic and wanted it in the collective labour agreement and threatened to stall negotiations
if this topic was not addressed. Eventually, with the unions realising it was a serious topic for the
employers, both parties agreed to take on the flexible employment conditions budget, with the
exclusion of the length of service bonus (diensttijd gratificatie) until 2016, so that this would only go
into effect after the oldest union members had retired. Throughout the negotiation process, there were
around four moments of informal contact between employer representatives and union executives, in
whom they discussed the difficulties experienced, how to proceed with the negotiations without the
pressure of actually negotiating and discuss the sentiments of both parties‟ constituencies and how to
handle these.
On 8th July, the first agreement in principle was reached. This was presented to the constituencies with
a positive advice, and subsequently rejected by the union constituency. The union interviewee
explained that the transitory arrangements for employees from the new to the old situation regarding
the age discriminatory clause were not fairly distributed and this caused the union constituency to
reject the agreement. One reason for this rejection, advanced by the employer interviewee was that
22
the transitory arrangements were unclear and not well presented for the employees on the shop floor,
and therefore too threatening. Secondly, the Abvakabo union executive had left on maternity leave
and her colleague who had come to replace her had not been able to convince the constituency of the
plans. Both interviewees mentioned that due to her upcoming maternity leave of the Abvakabo union
executive, there was extra time pressure to reach an agreement quickly, leading to some inaccuracies
in the agreement text.
After the rejection, unions held a general meeting with their constituency to find out what the exact
issues were that had led to the rejection and discuss possible solutions. The lack of transparency of
the transitory clauses and the unfairness of some of these clauses for certain groups of employees
was the main issue, and in an informal meeting the negotiating parties discussed what had gone
wrong in the process and what to do about the points raised by the union constituency. Both union
and employer delegations accepted the arguments of the employees and adjusted the agreement text
accommodate the points raised.
On 4th November a new agreement was reached. The union executives did not call it an official
agreement in principle yet but first wanted to check with their union stewards if they would accept this
agreement. They concurred; so on 11th November a new agreement in principle was reached. The
main difference between the two agreements in principle was more transparent transitional
arrangements for the employability budget (Inzetbaarheidsbudget).
Post negotiation phase
No particular events took place between the signing of the agreement in principle and the signing of
the collective labour agreement.
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5. Analysis
In this section, the two cases are analysed according to the hypotheses. To summarise the purpose of
this research, it was found that the case of the Water boards contained more integrative agreements
than the Watercompanies. The question was to what extent do aspects of the negotiation process
explain this. The hypotheses were that in the collective labour agreement with the most integrative
agreements (the Water boards), the process would be characterised by higher trust, more sharing of
information and more knowledge and application of integrative bargaining than in the agreement with
fewer integrative agreements (the Watercompanies). In addition to the hypotheses, other aspects of
the negotiation process that emerged from the research are treated.
5.1. Water boards
5.1.1. Trust
In the case of the Water boards, the level of trust changed over time and parties also did not seem to
trust each other equally. Unions were wary of the employers to begin with during the pre-negotiation
phase, as they had experienced during collective bargaining with the municipalities and the provinces
that the employers did not want to adhere to the social pact. However, at the beginning of the
negotiation phase the union executive was hopeful. He claimed "we were happily relieved that the
Water boards appeared to be differently inclined" [and did seem to want to stick to the social pact].
Both parties said that the negotiation process started constructively and positively. The employer
interviewee maintained that the atmosphere stayed constructive during the entire process, whereas for
the unions the turning point came when the topic of wages came onto the table, and the unions felt
confused when the employers stated they were not offering any income increase and had never
intended to do otherwise. The unions had expected that some form of wage increase would have been
possible as there had been positive signs pointing at that direction. The union executive said: "All
signs seem favourable. If you hear they are offering 0 for two years, then the relationship is strained.
You get a bit of distrust. You kept us up dangling while you weren‟t planning it all along, while you
knew we asked for x percent. Should have told us from the start".
After the agreement had been made with the 36 hour working week and unions had asked for a one-
off payment to compensate for 2010, the employers introduced some topics which were perceived as
deteriorations to the agreement by the unions. The unions felt all solutions had come from their side
and that the employers were in no hurry to take action, thus decreasing the level of trust even more:
"your trust in the process just gets less and less. You trust less that you will get out of the situation.
And we had several moments that we thought we should break it off. If this is the way it will go, then
it's finished, then we should just take action".
The employers, from their side, did not demonstrate significant changes in the basic level of trust they
had from the start and the employer maintained that the relationship between both delegations was
constructive and there was a willingness to search for solutions. However, the employer did mention
that the demand letters were exchanged at exactly a specified time and date. The reason for this was
said to be so that you would not know each other‟s preparations, as the other party‟s ambitions and
preparations would be visible from these documents. This does also demonstrate some reservations
in trust of both parties.
Furthermore, during the negotiation phase, there were two instances of informal contact, in which the
union‟s spokesperson telephoned the chairman of the employer delegation to approach the other
carefully about a possible way for a solution. Even though it can be seen as a basic level of trust to
24
hold informal discussions, the fact that the union used the threat of actions was also a sign of little
trust during the negotiation phase.
The employer interviewee indicated that towards the end of the process they did not quite understand
why the union had some problems with the content when signing the agreement in principle as they
thought all matters had been settled. Similar issues came up during the signing of the collective labour
agreement. Also, according to the employer both parties had agreed that no changes could be made
to the agreement in principle, so it was perceived as a futile action.
The whole negotiation process lasted from 1st September 2009 with the exchange of the demand
letters until 3rd
July 2010 with the agreement in principle. This was a period of ten months and can be
seen as a long time to conclude a collective labour agreement, which also indicates a low level of trust
between parties during the negotiation process. The parties themselves also thought this was a long
time to conclude a collective labour agreement.
In sum it can be said that the level of trust from the point of view of the unions was basic, but
weakened to a fragile state over time. From the employers‟ side there was a more stable basic level
of trust in which both parties were seen as open minded and willing to for the common problems and
solve issues, yet it weakened towards the end of the process. An important side note is that both
interviewees were new to this collective bargaining of the Water boards, so they had no previous
experience with each other.
5.1.2. Information exchange
The sharing of information between parties was average with frequently meeting working groups and
some informal information exchange. There were several informal moments of information exchange,
when the union spokesperson and the employer spokesperson phoned and met for preliminary
discussions during the negotiation period, for example on the topic of the 36 hour working week.
However, there were a number of surprises for each party. There were also differences in the
accounts of the process of both interviewees, showing differences in the information exchanged.
Interestingly, there was a difference in perceived exchange of information during the pre-negotiation
phase. The union interviewee held that there was no contact between union and employer delegations
before the exchange of demand letters, while the employer interviewee held there were regular
meetings between unions and management, as well as a working group consisting of union members
and management that had given advice to the regular meeting on a social statute.
During the negotiation phase, unions were surprised that the employer was not willing to offer any
wage increase, and that this was only made explicit in December, after all other communal themes
had been successfully tackled. There was also a difference in perception of the „final offer‟ that had
been given by the employer in December. The union spokesperson maintained that it had been called
final offer by the employer, signalling unwillingness to continue negotiations. The employer
representative maintains that they explicitly did not make a final offer, so as not to put more pressure
on the process. Whatever the case, the information exchange was not clear at this point
5.1.3. Integrative bargaining
In the case of the Water boards, certain aspects of integrative bargaining were present at the start of
the negotiation phase. Firstly, both parties committed to identifying the different problems they had
addressed in their demand letters and fit these into themes, thus turning individual problems into joint
problems. The employer interviewee mentioned that this way of working helped in uncovering the
concerns underlying the statements in the demand letters. For example, it turned out that the job
rotation method called for by the unions and the „general service‟ method called for by the employers
addressed the same, mutual concerns: flexibility and creating more attractive jobs. Yet „general
25
service‟ had a negative connotation for the unions, as it was associated with simply an administrative
change in job title. Through the discussions, both parties were able to achieve these insights. The
initiative for working with the idea of common themes came from the employer.
Solutions to problems that arose later on in the negotiation process, such as the stalemate posed
when employers stuck to the income freeze, were tackled with much creativity meeting the interests of
both parties. The initiatives however came mostly from the union side. It was the unions who proposed
the solution of the 36 hour week, so that both interests were met („invent options for mutual gain‟): the
unions received their wage increase indirectly and the employer could maintain to the outside world
that they had not given in to letting go of the income freeze. Furthermore, after the employers had
accepted the 36 hour week proposition, they introduced some wishes of their own which were
perceived as deteriorations to the agreement by the unions. The employers however called it a
package deal. The unions asked to discuss the matter, but the employer stated it was non-negotiable,
according to the unions. Eventually the unions conceded they were willing not to pursue the demand
for a hundred percent compensation of lost hours, so no extra costs for employer would be made. The
employer interviewee stated that “In the delegations there were very different characters. The power of
differences could really be seen, creativity, always someone to side with, [...]. Both delegations were
prepared to look for solutions and be creative”. It seems difficult to join the different sides of the story,
even though both parties agree that the solutions found were creative. It seems that the unions were
more forthcoming in coming up with solutions to negotiation stalemates, and that the employers were
more reactive. The employers felt that they were cooperative towards the unions‟ suggestions, yet the
unions did not always feel this cooperative attitude. Even though there were problems with trust,
parties did manage to return to integrative bargaining tactics.
Understanding of each other‟s concerns was generally quite high. Both interviewees were able to
explain the contexts of the other party. For example, the unions understood the political pressure the
Water boards were under not to let go of the income freeze, and the employers understood that the
name „general service‟ was problematic for the union constituency.
The unions‟ strategy at the beginning of the negotiation process was to assure joint commitment to the
social pact, so that a common framework for the negotiations would be established. They also aimed
to ask for more than they would need at the beginning so they would be able make concessions on
minor issues in exchange for more important issues. The employers‟ main strategy was to discuss the
common themes at the beginning of the process and depart from there. This was also the approach
that was taken during the process. Both strategies show evidence of the intention to engage in the
“focus on commonalities instead of differences” aspect of integrative bargaining.
5.1.4. Additional factors
In addition to the process related factors formulated in the hypotheses, two important factors emerged
from the interviews. These are intraorganisational bargaining and time pressure.
Intraorganisational bargaining
The intraorganisational bargaining between union executives and their constituencies emerged as a
factor influencing the negotiations. The issue of union constituency is complex as the union
constituency consists of the employees of the employers. So there is at times a joint responsibility,
where the unions are mostly tied to their members, and employers feel responsible for the entire
employee population. For both parties the union constituency of older men was seen as a barrier to
modernise the collective labour agreement. This was seen by both employers and unions. Employers
were sometimes frustrated because the unions only represented part of the employees, and unions
negotiators were caught in the middle because their ambitions were more modern than those of their
members. This influenced the process because it caused the agreement in principle to be rejected two
26
times. It also affected the union interviewee‟s satisfaction with the outcome because part of the union
constituency was unhappy with the collective labour agreement.
Time pressure
Time pressure played a role in the negotiations as some aspects of the agreement had not been able
to be adequately transferred to texts in the pressure period between the end of January and early
February. The unions had doubts and reservations about some aspects of the eventual text, and
addressed these in the process and during the signing of the agreement, but by then the agreement in
principle had already been presented to the constituencies so it was deemed unacceptable to change
these in the process.
5.2. Watercompanies
5.2.1. Trust
The cycle of collective bargaining for the 2009-2011 Watercompanies Collective Labour Agreement
started off with new union executives, who had changed in 2008 and new members of the employer
delegation. The union interviewee commented that there was an advantage to him and the FNV
Abvakabo union executive being new to the process, as they were not contaminated with the past.
The union executives were able to tell the employer and the union constituency that the mistakes and
hard feelings were “before our time”. The history of scarred employment relations due to the new
remuneration system was still fresh in employees‟ minds, as well as the role their employers and union
executives had played in agreeing on this solution.
From the interviews it seems that there were two different types of trust between the employers and
the unions in the Watercompanies‟ case. The first type of trust is the acknowledgement of the
expertise of the other as a negotiator and negotiating partner at the table (identification based trust).
The second type is the trust as a belief in the legitimacy of the other party and the mandate they have.
(knowledge based trust).
The identification based trust was high, as on a personal level the relationship was trusting. In many
informal moments the parties exchanged how they felt about and saw the process, even in the pre-
negotiation phase. Also, when the employer needed to inform the unions that there was little room for
a wage increase, this was first done informally. The union interviewee also stressed the mutual
interest in solving issues in a positive manner and to maintain a good relationship. There were never
threats of action. He also said that parties had agreed in the pre-negotiation phase to solve a number
of issues, and that surprising each other in this process would not be considered fair play. Another
token of the trust between parties in the pre-negotiation phase was that the General Employers
Association of the Netherlands (AWVN), at the suggestion of the unions and by mutual consent, was
given the task of carrying out the research on age discriminating clauses. As the employer interviewee
noted: “Because we had regular meetings with the union, we could do those kinds of things, yes,
discussing amongst ourselves how are we going to do that, the research. And we said should we write
out a tender and have companies react, and research companies. [...] and then the unions said, on the
basis of that good relationship, can‟t the AWVN do that?”. Furthermore, the demand letters were sent
at different dates, which also shows that the two parties were already so knowledgeable about each
others‟ demands that the bargaining advantage of having information first before disclosing your own
was not an issue. Also when the employer interviewee was asked when exactly the collective labour
agreement was signed, i.e. when the final agreement in principle was translated into texts and signed,
he said “that is completely irrelevant. If you agree on such an agreement, and you agree on the text,
which was between 4 and 11 November, and there has been an exchange of the draft, [...] then it
doesn‟t matter if you sign it. We only just signed it recently”. There was trust that even an unsigned
27
collective labour agreement would be effective and signing it was merely a formality. Certain
publications to both constituencies were also done jointly, and demonstrate a high degree of trust.
There was lower trust when it came to the employers trusting that the unions were legitimate enough,
and had enough mandate from their constituency to conclude agreements that would hold. The
employer interviewee mentioned that the employers sometimes felt the union executives were „yoyo‟s‟
of their constituency, always needing to go back and forth to check with their constituency. The
employers were also shaken in their trust when the first agreement in principle was rejected by the
union constituency, even though the unions had agreed to present it to their constituency with a
positive advice. “That is the yoyo effect I mean, the union executives that are hanging by a thread.
They don‟t dare. They don‟t know the room [ to manoeuvre], are too afraid to be shot down by their
constituency. It sounds a bit crude, but that is the way it is.”
Thus, the employers and unions can be seen as having high identification based trust, as they worked
together, had common goals, yet the employers had low knowledge based trust of the unions as they
found the unions unpredictable to the extent that they were capable of convincing their constituency
of the agreements made during negotiations.
5.2.2. Information exchange
The level of exchange of information about interests and options between unions and employers was
high. There were many meetings between parties. In total, there were eight informal meetings,
additional informal contact moments by phone, and seven formal (negotiation) meetings. Next to this,
there were working groups who met regularly and discussed the topics in more depth.
The union executive interviewed commented that in the pre-negotiation phase the employers and
unions discussed what would be necessary to gain support for a result. Information was shared on
how the union executives perceived their constituency, which was deemed important for the employer
to know, particularly since the relationship between employees and employers had been strained in
the past. He also mentioned that discussing the process of negotiation without the content was an
important part of the process, and occurred about three to four times. Furthermore, he also mentioned
that it was necessary to discuss the bottlenecks of the negotiations with the employer in an informal
context. For example, an indication of the little room for income increases was also exchanged
informally. Another demonstration of the high level of information exchange was that both parties
acknowledged that there were no real surprises in the demand letters of the other party. In other
words, they had exchanged sufficient information in the pre negotiation phase to know what to expect
of the content of the demand letters.
Information exchange about the union constituency was found to be important and done frequently.
The union interviewee commented that it was necessary for the employer to hear what the union
executive knew of their constituency. The union side repeatedly explained to the employers the
necessity of sharing the information from the negotiation table with the union constituency, to stay
transparent. In the employer interview, it became apparent that the employer understood this, yet
found the very frequent communication between union and employees somewhat disturbing.
During the negotiation phase, information exchange continued both formally and informally.
Information was exchanged on topics such as: why is it important to change certain regulations? The
informal meetings were deemed crucial to hear each others‟ views freely without pinning the other
down on what was said. Also, with the research on age discriminating clauses, a feedback group was
made with representatives from both unions (union stewards) and employers (HR officials) and to
discuss the topics that arose. In addition, when at the last moment the flexible employment conditions
budget (FAB) needed to be cut from the communal publication due to union constituency reservations,
there were informal phone calls to understand why. The employers also informed the unions that they
28
would be putting it into their demand letters, so there was no surprise when the topic of flexible
employment conditions budget eventually did show up in the employers demand letter, but not the
unions‟ one.
5.2.3. Integrative bargaining
The level of integrative bargaining was high for the Watercompanies, both in strategy and in
behavioural manifestation.
The strategy of the unions was to find a way to come to agreements that would benefit both parties.
The union interviewee commented that he wanted to “attain a result in which everyone felt they had
won something, the constituency, but also the employer”. The employer had also said that they did not
simply want to delete the age discriminatory clauses, but create something beneficial to all in return.
The union interviewee did stress that working on a good relationship with the employers was
important and that it was important to start negotiations with informal meetings as starting with formal
meetings would push parties to negotiate from positions instead of looking for common ground.
Turning to what was behaviourally evident of integrative bargaining, there were various attempts to
understand and meet the needs of both parties both in the pre-negotiation phase and negotiation
phase. In the pre-negotiation phase for example, alternatives were discussed in equal representation
working groups such as alternatives to the age discriminatory clauses. This is part of the integrative
bargaining aspect „invent options for mutual gain‟. In the negotiation phase, after the first agreement in
principle had been rejected, an informal meeting was held to discuss the obstacles that the union
constituency had, leading to adaptations to accommodate these.
The use of integrative bargaining also led to some creative solutions. The unions at first wanted to
push the topic of the flexible employment conditions budget to the next collective bargaining cycle, but
the employers insisted on using the momentum present. The solution found was to agree on the
flexible employment conditions budget in the current collective labour agreement, but to include that
this agreement would only come into force in 2016 when many of the union constituency not in favour
of the arrangement would have retired.
5.2.1. Additional factors
In addition to the factors described above, additional factors emerged from the interviews that
influenced the process.
Intraorganisational bargaining
Intraorganisational bargaining played a role for the unions especially. The legacy of low trust due to
the remuneration system was still hanging in the air and the union constituency was wary of having
rights taken away from them again. This meant that unions spent a lot of time discussing and checking
with their constituency. Indirectly, the intraorganisational bargaining influenced the trust between the
parties at the negotiation table as it decreased the knowledge based trust (legitimacy and
predictability) between unions and employers.
Time pressure
Both employers and unions agreed that the time pressure that was put on the process to achieve an
agreement in principle before the Abvakabo union executive went on maternity leave, caused it to be
rejected. The replacing Abvakabo union executive had had the difficult task to promote to his
constituency the plans he had not helped to construct, and the time pressure had led to wordings in
the text that were not transparent.
29
5.3. Summary of results
A summary of the results is given below in table 2. It shows that the process of the more integrative
collective labour agreement (the Water boards) was characterised by medium trust in the beginning to
lower trust later on. Information exchange was a medium level and the level of integrative bargaining
was high. The process of the less integrative collective labour agreement (the Watercompanies) was
characterised by high identification based trust, low knowledge based trust from the point of view of
the employers and a high level of information exchange and integrative bargaining (both strategy and
behavioural manifestation).
Table 2:
Summary of results
Water boards Watercompanies
Trust Medium during pre-negotiations, Medium at beginning negotiation phase, then deteriorated to low trust
High identification based trust and low knowledge based trust employers for unions.
Information exchange
Medium High
Integrative bargaining High
High
Additional factors Intraorganisational bargaining between union and constituency and time pressure affected process
Intraorganisational bargaining between union and constituency and time pressure affected process
Level of integrativeness of collective labour agreement
More integrative than Watercompanies
Less integrative than Water boards
30
6. Discussion and conclusion
The aim of this research was to gain insight into the negotiation process related factors that contribute
to integrative agreements in collective labour agreements in the Dutch context. This study followed a
case study design, so it is exploratory in nature and generalisations to other collective bargaining
cases are not possible. Yet a number of conclusions can be drawn contributing to theory and also
giving rise to future research suggestions.
The three hypotheses are not supported as they predicted that in comparing the two cases, the Water
boards process, which resulted in more integrative agreements, would show higher levels of trust,
information exchange and integrative bargaining than the Watercompanies process, which led to
fewer integrative agreements. Trust was higher in the Watercompanies than the Water boards case,
but there was a difference in trust between negotiators personally, which was high, and trust as
legitimacy of union executives as seen by employers, which was low. Information sharing was higher
in the Watercompanies case than Water boards case and both cases showed high levels of integrative
bargaining. These results point out that the negotiation process factors of trust, information exchange
and integrative bargaining alone do not explain the difference in the rate of integrativeness in the
collective labour agreements studied.
One explanation of the results relates to the importance of crisis and conflict in achieving integrative
solutions. In the case of the Water boards the negotiators faced a crisis at a certain point when the
threat of strikes from the unions put pressure on the negotiators and their relationship. Crises and
oncoming conflict have been found to aid in forging integrative outcomes. Garaudel et al (2008) found
that the threat of unions acted as a catalyst for cooperation between parties and better outcomes for
both unions and management. Also, Bacon and Blyton (2007) found that where union negotiators
applied conflictual tactics in collective bargaining, more integrative solutions were achieved than
where there was purely cooperative negotiating. The mechanism through which this works can also be
explained: negative emotions elicited through the use of threats and upcoming crisis can be used to
indicate the seriousness of the problem and the focus on the problem. As Shapiro (2002, p. 72) notes:
“Emotion serves a forward-looking communicative function and conveys an imperative about a desire,
concern, or goal in an interpersonal relationship.” This in turn serves to motivate both parties to
address the problem and look for a solution. If parties are able to address this satisfactorily, then the
outcome is beneficial to both (Lewicki, Barry & Saunders, 2010). A combination of forcing (threat)
followed by problem solving was found to be effective in achieving integrative outcomes (Van de Vliert,
1999). This was the case in the Water boards case.
Another explanation is that trust is a less important factor contributing to integrative agreements than
theory would dictate. This is consistent with some mutual gains bargaining scholars who claim that
integrative solutions can be found without trust. According to Fisher and Ury (1981), and their claim
“separate the people from the problem”, trust between parties is not an important aspect of achieving
integrative solutions. Indeed, Walton and McKersie mitigate the importance of trust: “some caution is
required in relating conditions of trust and support to effectiveness in problem solving. We are
convinced that some minimum level of trust and support is a precondition to the process [ ...] However,
there is no clear evidence that a completely harmonious context is the one most productive for
problem solving” (p. 143). It is not my claim that trust is unimportant in negotiation or in achieving
integrative outcomes, but this research shows that trust may be less important than thought before.
Thus, theory may need to be revised as to the importance of trust in achieving integrative solutions.
However, as this study stopped at the point the collective labour agreement was reached, it has not
taken into account the implementation of the agreements made. It may well be that trust plays a very
important role in this phase, where the words need to be put into action and further cooperation based
on mutual trust between unions and employers is needed.
31
A third explanation for the unsupported hypotheses is that other process related factors are important,
which were not included in hypotheses. In addition to the information gathered in this research on trust
between union and employers, level of information exchange and integrative bargaining, two
additional factors emerged in both cases that help in better understanding the dynamics of the
negotiation process of collective bargaining in the Netherlands. These should be included in the
theoretical model.
Firstly, time pressure was found to influence the agreements made during the negotiation process in
both cases. Indeed, time pressure in general has been found to increase the making of concessions,
and reduces the possibilities of win-win agreements (Carnevale and Lawler 1986). An explanation is
that finding innovative integrative solutions takes time, as information must be assembled and options
tried out. By going back to the drawing board after the first failures, the actors in the cases studied
were able to overcome the effects of time pressure to a large extent.
Secondly, intraorganisational bargaining strongly influenced the process. It was not taken into this
research as a hypothesis as it addresses the relationship between negotiators and their constituency,
yet this research has shown that it also strongly affects the relationship between negotiators at the
negotiating table. In the case of the Watercompanies, it affected the trust between parties by lowering
knowledge based trust. The problem of representativeness of union negotiators of their constituencies
is a theme that has been around for several years and has caused union legitimacy to be under
attack. Interestingly, the intraorganisational bargaining in the two cases was between the union
representatives and their constituencies, but no mention was made of intraorganisational bargaining of
union executives with union executives of other collective labour agreements or with their superiors
(such as union leaders).
The theoretical implications of this exploratory study are that the importance of allowing conflict
potential in negotiations is made apparent. It shows that more creative integrative solutions are
possible when there is a combination of conflict (potential) and integrative bargaining. In sum, when
both stand to lose from a potential conflict, this may increase the ability to find integrative solutions.
This does not mean that actors should intentionally aim for conflict, but that they should allow for the
possibility of conflict and not aim to maintain a harmonious and cooperative stance at all costs. Within
this framework, elements such as trust and information exchange, time pressure and
intraorganisational bargaining, coupled with integrative bargaining are important.
This research hopes to have contributed to the better understanding of the process related aspects in
integrative agreements. There are however some limitations to the study and suggestions for future
research. The aim of this exploratory study was to guide future research on process related factors
important in achieving integrative agreements.
To obtain a better picture of the negotiation process, an observation of the whole process would have
given more information than retrospective accounts of a number of the interviewees. This was
however not feasible within the time and resources available.
Secondly, the level of integrativeness of the agreements was calculated as the total number of
integrative agreements in the collective labour agreement. Future research could also take the depth,
impact and level of successful implementation of the integrative agreements into account. In addition,
the collective labour agreements were each examined as more or less independent cases, without
assessing previous collective labour agreements, or expectations of the future. Even though some
information on the history was gathered through the interviews, both the content of the collective
labour agreement and the process related factors may be cumulative in nature. Only looking at one
single collective labour agreement may not be enough to understand the dynamics between process
and outcome. For example, it is to be expected that trust is built up through many rounds of collective
32
bargaining. However, the negotiators interviewed in these cases were mostly new to these sectors
and had no previous negotiating experience with each other. Also relating to the level of
integrativeness, it is important to note that although in this research the cases were compared as one
being more integrative and the other less integrative; they did both contain integrative agreements.
Using cases with larger discrepancies may provide clearer results.
Thirdly, the process related factors seem interrelated and more research is needed to understand how
precisely they interact. For example, low trust may influence the amount of information exchange,
which in turn decreases the amount of integrative bargaining possible. And intraorganisational
bargaining may influence integrative bargaining negatively, by shifting focus to the own constituency
instead of the other party. Alternatively, intraorganisational bargaining may influence integrative
bargaining positively if both parties stand to lose by not reaching agreement and this motivates one
party to put in some extra effort to find an integrative solution. Future research would be needed to
distinguish the exact interplay and unique contributions of each factor.
Lastly, integrative bargaining does not only revolve around integrative topics. In the Water boards
case the topic of retaining purchasing power in the Water boards case, which is a distributive topic,
was solved by introducing the thirty-six hour working week which is an integrative solution. Thus,
future research could also examine collective labour agreements not only by limiting the rating of
agreements to integrative types of agreements, but also distributive issues. These distributive issues
may be solved in ways that lead to integrative solutions.
33
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