Executive Education Program

Negotiating Labor Agreements

New Issues, New Approaches, New Negotiators

We have a bold vision – shaping collective bargaining so that it best meets the needs of 21st Century workplaces.

At this two-day virtual workshop, you will build capabilities in…

  • Forging constructive labor-management relations.
  • Negotiating first contracts that are a foundation for success.
  • Negotiating continuing contracts that combine good jobs with high-performance.
  • Advancing equity, trust, and voice through collective bargaining.
  • Aligning long-standing collective bargaining traditions with the expectations of the next-generation workforce.
  • Addressing the benefits and risks of new technology.
  • Taking into account the interests of diverse stakeholders – within labor and management, as well as others (suppliers, customers, clients, communities).
  • Learning how to be hard on the issues, not each other.

Labor and management participants will learn from each other through interactive exercises.

The instruction team features world-leading experts in negotiation and conflict resolution, labor-management partnerships, high-performance work systems, equity and fair treatment at work, labor and employment law. The program features interactive exercises, practical worksheets, and keynote talks (each with dialogue sessions):

  • “Collective Bargaining in the 21st Century” by Thomas Kochan, MIT
  • “Leading a Bargaining Team” by Dennis Dabney, Kaiser Permanente (retired) and Kris Rondeau, AFSCME
  • “The Economics of Collective Bargaining” by Lisa Lynch, Brandeis University
  • “New Frontiers in Labor Law” by Wilma Liebman, NLRB (retired)
  • “Facilitation, Mediation, Conciliation, and Arbitration” by Javier Ramirez, FMCS
  • “Bargaining over new technology in the workplace” by Søren Viemose, Konsensus, Denmark
  • “Collective Bargaining as an Engine of Innovation” by Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Brandeis University

Upcoming Sessions:

  • July 23-24, 2024 (Tuesday/Wednesday) 5:00pm-11:00pm US ET
  • October 17-18, 2024 (Thursday/Friday)10:00am-4:00pm US ET