TheTruck Drivers' Dispute

Case Study

Anon-EUEuropeancountryhasrecentlybeenparalyzedbythedirectactionoftruckdriverswhoareangryatapackageofregulationsthatthegovernmentisconsideringintroducing.Discussionbetweenthegovernmentandrepresentativesofthetruckdriversisnowtakingplaceatasecretlocationtotrytoresolvethedispute.Threeissuesneedtoberesolved:

1. themaximumnumberofhoursthedriverscanlegallydriveperday,
2. whetherornotthegovernmentwillintroduceaspecialfueltaxand
3. whetherornotchargeswillbemadeagainsttendriverswhohavebeenarrestedduringthedispute.

Thepossiblenumberofdrivinghoursthatcouldbeagreedaregivenbelow,togetherwiththechiefgovernmentnegotiator'sroughassessmentofthevalueswhicheachsidewouldplaceoneachoutcome(100=bestoutcome,0=worstoutcome).

Max.No.ofdrivinghours Drivers' value Governmentvalue

11	100	0
10	60	80
9	40	90
8	0	100

Forthefueltaxissue,onlytwolevelsarepossible-eitherthetaxwillbeimposedornot.However,forthearresteddriversthreeoutcomesarepossiblei)seriouschargesii)minorchargesandiii)chargesdropped.Estimatesofthevaluesthatthenegotiatingpartiesputontheseoutcomesaresetoutbelow.

Level ofcharges Drivers' value Governmentvalue

Serious	0	100
Minor	80	90
Nocharges	100	0

Thegovernment'snegotiatorhasalsoestimatedweightstoreflecttherelativeimportancethatthepartiesattachtoswingsfromtheworsttobestpositiononeachissue.Forthedriversavoidingreducingthemaximumnumberofdrivinghoursfrom11to8isthoughttobethemostimportantswing.Avoidingtheintroductionofthefueltaxisthoughttobeonly10%asimportantasthis,whilethereductionofthelevelofchargesagainstthearrestedworkersfromserioustonochargesis50%asimportant.

Forthegovernmentintroducingthefueltaxisthemostimportantswing. Reducingthemaximumnumberofdrivinghoursfrom11to8is60%asimportantasthis,whileavoidingreducingthelevelofchargesagainstthedriversfromserioustonochargesisonly40%asimportant.

Thefollowingtentativedealhasbeenreached:

1. Reducethemaximumnumberofdrivinghoursto9
2. Imposethefueltax
3. Makenochargesagainstthearresteddrivers.

Question

Applydecisionanalysistothetruckdrivers'negotiationproblemandadvisetheparticipantsontheirdecisionproblem.Clearlystateanyassumptionsyouhavemade.