Labor Relations Role-Play:

Brachton Collective Bargaining Exercise

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$0.00 – $6.00

Two-team, multi-issue employment contract negotiation between three teachers' union representatives and three school committee representatives; includes internal team meetings before external negotiations

Quantity

Please note: you must order a copy (a.k.a. license/usage fee) for every person participating in the simulation in your course. This simulation has multiple roles, so you will be unable to complete your purchase without meeting the minimum quantity requirement of copies per role.

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PON Teaching Negotiation Resource Center

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Soft copy vs. hard copy

You may order this role simulation in either soft copy (electronic) or hard copy (paper) format. If you select the soft copy option, you will receive an e-mail with a URL (website address) from which you may download an electronic file in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. You will have one week to download your materials from when you receive the email. You are then only authorized to use, print, or share the materials as many times as the number of copies you purchase. The TNRC charges for use of this simulation on a per-participant basis. Therefore, you must purchase a separate copy of this simulation for each person who will be participating, regardless of the number of roles in the simulation. You will only receive a link to one electronic file, which includes all general instructions, confidential instructions, and any teaching notes for the simulation. You should separate out the instructions before distributing to participants.

If you select the hard copy option, you will receive paper copies of this role simulation via the shipping method you select.

For additional information about the soft copy option, please visit our FAQ section, or contact the PON Teaching Negotiation Resource Center at tnrc@law.harvard.edu or 800-258-4406 (within the U.S.) or 301-528-2676 (outside the U.S.).

Please note: At the present time, Teaching Negotiation Resource Center soft copies are compatible with the following versions of the Adobe Acrobat Reader: English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Korean. If you have a different version of the Acrobat Reader, you may wish to download one of these at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html, or contact the PON Teaching Negotiation Resource Center at tnrc@law.harvard.edu, 800-258-4406 (within the U.S.), or 301-528-2676 (outside the U.S.) for further assistance. This restriction does not apply to the freely available Teacher’s Package Review Copies.

Ordering a single copy for review

If you wish to review the materials for a particular role simulation to decide whether you’d like to use it, a PDF, or soft copy, version of the Teacher’s Package for the simulation is available as a free download from the description page of most role simulations and case studies. All Teacher’s Packages include copies of all participant materials. In addition, some Teacher’s Packages (but not all) include additional teaching materials such as teaching notes or overhead masters.

Ordering copies for multiple participants

To order multiple copies of a role simulation for use in a course or workshop, simply enter the total number of participants in the box next to “Quantity.” There is no need to calculate how many of each role is required.

If you are ordering hard copies, the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center will calculate the appropriate numbers of each role to provide, based on the total number of participants. For example, if you wish to order a 2-party role simulation for use with a class of 30 students, you would enter “30” in the box next to “Quantity.” You then would receive 15 copies of one role and 15 copies of the other role, for use with your 30 participants. As another example, if you ordered 30 participant copies of a 6-party role simulation, you would receive 5 copies of each role.

In the event that the number of participant copies you order is not evenly divisible by the number of roles in the simulation, you will receive extra copies of one or more roles. Participants receiving the extra roles may partner with other participants playing the same role, thus negotiating as a team. So, for instance, if you ordered 31 copies of a 2-party role simulation, you would receive 15 copies of the first role and 16 copies of the second role. One of the participants playing the second role would partner with another participant playing that same role, and the two would negotiate as a team.

Bulk Pricing Discount

For bulk orders, we offer the following pricing discounts. Please note that these only apply to bulk orders of the same simulation.

  • Between 100-250 copies – 10% discount
  • Between 251-500 copies – 25% discount
  • More than 500 copies – 50% discount
Log In or Register to download the free Teacher's Package Sample.

Also known as Brachton School

SCENARIO:

The Brachton Teacher's Union has been negotiating with the city's School Committee over teacher contracts which will shortly expire Lately, Brachton public schools and teachers, funded largely through local property taxes, have come under some fire. Some fear that political and personal commitment to the Brachton schools has diminished. There is pressure on the school committee, headed by the mayor, for a tax cap and moratorium on all city salaries, including teachers. The issues have been identified and all that is left is for the two groups to hammer out an agreement.

 

MAJOR LESSONS:

  • There are often legitimate differences within bargaining teams. These internal conflicts ought to be worked out before serious bargaining begins as unresolved internal conflict can create problems when it comes time to ratify carefully crafted draft agreements. This exercise creates opportunity for team participants to practice techniques and strategies of managing internal team conflict.
  • In most collective bargaining situations, each side begins by staking out its position. both usually do this before they even hear what the concerns are of the other side. This often leads to the process of trading concessions which results in minimally acceptable outcomes. To achieve maximum joint gains it is necessary to focus instead on listening to the interests of the other side before staking out opening positions. The best techniques for probing interests can be studied.
  • This exercise allows the players to explore the influence of threats on the behavior of other parties.
  • The game raises questions of relationship, precedent and reputation. all sides have important long-term interests.

 

TEACHING MATERIALS:

For all parties:

  • General Instructions
  • Present Salary Schedule

 

Role Specific:

Confidential Instructions for the Union

  • Union Representative: Bornhofft
  • Union Representative: McKeller
  • Union Representative: Whitesides
  • New Union Representative

 

Confidential Instructions for the School Committee

  • Representative: Gray
  • Representative: Pedrotti
  • Representative: Sehnert
  • New School Committee Representative

 

KEYWORDS:

Agenda control; caucusing; competition v cooperation; consensus building; dovetailing; threats; recurring negotiations; labor-management; school budgets; role of agents

 

SIMILAR SIMULATIONS:

Collective Bargaining at Central Division

MAPO- Adminstration Negotiation

Brachton Collective Bargaining Exercise Attributes

Time required: 3-5 hours
Number of participants: 6
Teams involved: Yes
Agent present: Non-lawyer
Neutral third party present: None
Scoreable: Yes
Teaching notes available: No
Filed in:
Labor Relations, Role Simulations
Tags:
agent, agreement, agreements, bargaining, collective bargaining, Collective Bargaining at Central Division, competition, concession, concessions, conflict, conflicts, consensus, consensus building, contracts, cooperation, HNI, interests, negotiating, negotiation, negotiations, relationship