1. Labour-management negotiations might be characterized as more distributive than integrative. Do you agree? Why do you think this is the case? What, if anything, would you do about it?

2. If you were advising union and management representatives about how to negotiate an agreement, drawing from the concepts in this chapter, what would you tell them?

There is disagreement whether unions help or hinder an organization’s ability to be successful, however they often figure prominently in the study of workplace conflict and negotiation strategies. Fewer employees in the private sector are unionized compared with those who work in the public sector. Unions can protect the right of workers and negotiating as a collective, they often have been able to negotiate better settlements. But are these settlements sustainable? It is also often more difficult to fire a member of a union, even if performance is exceptionally poor.