a date with the bargaining team

Yesterday afternoon the Olympia EA hosted an informal gabfest over drinks and hors d'oeuvres at Mercato, to hear about pressing issues, but also to give members at least some sense of the complexities and compromises inherent in negotiation.

Before opening up a forum, the bargaining team shared strategy and its operating maxims. Though I won't list them here, I will say that, surprisingly, given some of the discussion, all of the maxims are framed negatively--"Don't do this," "Don't allow that." I tend to find positive goals more encouraging and less of a defensive stance, so I'd encourage the team to think about reworking them as positive statements.

I'll add more thoughts once I've thoroughly digested everything in my notes.

Oh, and word on the street is that I blog about local union activity, as well as a range of state and national educational concerns, offering pithy commentary and sage advice to the masses. But don't tell anyone.