Getting in Touch How to contact Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service. Call the district office for your own geographic area. FMCS mediators work from more than 60 field offices. See the FMCS website (http://1.usa.gov/1cH5Ag5) for the office nearest you. The FMCS’s national office: 202-606-8100. When to contact FMCS. “This doesn’t have to await the period immediately before contract expiration—it can be between negotiations,” Cohen stresses. “If people are talking to each other every six months or a year about the state of the industry and the state of the world they live in, and start sharing information and looking for recommendations or suggestions, negotiations will go more smoothly.”
could not do it at all. But we will provide that service to the other side.” We have had several situations—St. Louis comes to mind—in which I was called by both sides and we are working with the parties. We do that on a regular basis, and the almost uniform response after detailed relationship-building training is, “This has been very helpful. In fact, it has led to a more constructive problem-solving mentality, which is the key touchstone to having good collective-bargaining relationships.” Rosen: The business environment that orchestras operate in is very different today than it was twenty years ago. What have you observed about how management and unions have navigated change? Cohen: One thing my colleagues and I have observed is that any time someone claims they need major change, there is immediate resistance. That leads to one self-evident conclusion: you don’t drop bombs on people about the need for change 30 days before your contract’s due to expire, because you know the reaction you’re going to get. As the need for change develops, both sides should be apprised of the nature of the change being sought. The working men and women through their union have to be advised, be informed, be given the opportunity to question, to comment, and to get the notion that this is now a joint problem. If parties understand and agree they have a
16
joint problem, they are much more likely to work their way through it. Rosen: Tell me, if you can, the biggest traps people get into, or wrongheaded mistakes that they make in bargaining. Cohen: The biggest ingredient for problems in my experience has been distrust: “We do not trust what you are telling us is the situation.” If you can’t come to an understanding of the relevant facts, then the likelihood of coming to a substantive solution is zero. And to get to the same page we’re going to spend a lot of time together, not apart. You’re not the enemy and we’re not your enemy. We have to be in some notion of a partnership. Number two, what I hate to see happen is that before the parties even hand a proposal to the other side, they have drawn up their “dream” or “wish” list and designed a strategy for “winning.” “This is what we’re going to do to you in the next round of bargaining and, by God, we’ve convinced ourselves we have to do this.” Not to discuss the situation that we’re dealing with and start looking for ways to resolve it, but by handing people pieces of paper and making presentations. For example, “Unless and until we get a 33 percent reduction of salary, we’re not going to be able to reach an agreement.” That is what is known in the trade as a “non-starter.” Now, conversely from the union side, to walk in with 62 pages of revised language to an existing collective-bargaining agreement leads most managements to throw those pages in the wastebasket. Instead, people should start by saying, “We want to discuss with you the following five problems that cry out for a solution,” and get a discussion going. At the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s also what I call the battlefield mentality. “They’re out to get us and, by God, we fought for 35 years to get this pension and this health care benefit and a satisfactory scale arrangement, and no one’s going to take that away from us, because we’re still performing at the highest professional level. We do whatever’s asked of us. And if they can’t manage this orchestra the way they should, why should we be the victims?” That’s a very common
reaction, because people are hunkered down. Once you create a hunkered-down mentality, then each side is equally complicitous. You’ve got a battleground. Each side should respect each other’s ability to communicate before the writings and the pieces of paper get generated. That’s the model for success which I have embraced and placed high on my proactive agenda: create and build upon a mutually respectful relationship notwithstanding the strongly held competing views of the parties; the need for transparency through the exchange of relevant facts and information; the desirability of approaching bargaining with a problemsolving mentality; and, last but not least, recognizing the desirability of meeting regularly and informally in advance of contract expiration. Experience has also shown that the creation of joint labormanagement cooperative committees on such vital issues as health care, pensions, and safety and health can pave the way to maximizing successful relationships. Rosen: As a consequence of your reaching out to the League, in June we mounted a seminar produced by your team of mediators, with input provided by musicians and management. Cohen: Several years ago, you arranged a group who you thought might be interested in a presentation by me about the model. And it was made clear that the FMCS was willing, able, and prepared to provide that to any orchestra that wanted it. The same summer, I went to ICSOM [International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians] and ROPA [Regional Orchestra Players’ Association] and made similar presentations. Rosen: I would love to get your reflections on your experience with ROPA. Cohen: At the request of ROPA’s officers, FMCS was asked to make a presentation at its recent Spokane conference concerning our training capability. In response to our trainer’s presentation, we’ve gotten excellent reports back, and the indication was that ROPA orchestra musicians were going to ask for additional training. The more people become aware of what we have to offer, our experience is symphony
fall 2013