Product Description
Abstract
Representatives from the Town of Amity Island and the Amity Island professional firefighter’s union are engaged in an ongoing dispute over the union’s collective bargaining agreement. Their last contract expired two years ago, but in the meantime a new agreement has not been reached. The key issues still on the table are wages and proposed reductions to health and retirement benefits. Negotiations have broken down to the point that it appears that firefighters and town leaders will soon enter arbitration. Both parties agree on one point—arbitration is not a good outcome for anyone. As such, they have agreed to hire Consens-R-Us to provide a broad assessment of the conflict and offer recommendations for moving forward. The purpose of the focus group is to provide a better understanding of the current breakdown in collective bargaining. This includes learning more about the issues facing the department, the obstacles to agreement, and other insights about the bargaining process.
This product includes:
- General Instructions for Facilitators and All Party Roles
- Confidential Instructions for Captain Hendricks
- Confidential Instructions for Chief Brody
- Confidential Instructions for Firefighter Quint
- Confidential Instructions for Firefighter Watkins
- Confidential Instructions for Union President Vaughn
- Complete Teacher's Package with all files listed above
Learning Objectives
To provide experience facilitating a focus group where participants bring a diverse set of concerns; to develop and manage a process for facilitating conversation; to develop the ability to work with a partner; to uncover underlying interests of parties.
Subjects Covered
Facilitation Simulation; Multiparty Negotiations
Setting
Geographic: United States
Industry: City Government
Hard Copy
For hard copies, please contact the HLS Case Studies Program at hlscasestudies@law.harvard.edu or +1-617-496-1316. When ordering, please let us know how many copies of confidential materials that you will need.
Accessibility
To obtain accessible versions of our products for use by those with disabilities, please contact the HLS Case Studies Program at hlscasestudies@law.harvard.edu or +1-617-496-1316.
Educator Materials
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Additional Information
Multiparty Negotiation, Group Decision Making, and Teams
Copyright Information
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