Negotiating Lessons from Hollywood Labor

Art of Supply

The last two years have brought us many news stories about labor unions throwing their weight around.

First there was the fear that the railway workers unions would stop freight in the lead up to Christmas, then we watched as the Teamsters negotiated with Yellow and UPS, managing to avoid a strike in both cases, the United Auto Workers union is now actively on strike, and Kaiser Permanente’s workers have a tentative deal on the table for ratification by their members in the largest healthcare labor movement in history.

So why did the writers union strike take so long to resolve and why is the screen actors guild still on strike?

The Hollywood labor strikes are a classic multi-party negotiation. In these scenarios, it is much harder for each party to get what they want, anticipate the other party’s motivations and objectives, or try to outmaneuver them.

In this week’s Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner draws negotiations lessons from news stories about the Hollywood strikes:

• Who the parties in this negotiation are, whether they are officially at the negotiating table or pulling the strings from backstage
• Why the changing economics of the entertainment industry are raising the stakes for everyone involved
• How to recognize the dynamics of a multi-party negotiation are currently complicating matters for the studios and actors’ guild

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Dial P for Procurement on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement