Just as Oasis begin a weekend of sell-out concerts and the Edinburgh Festival is overflowing with tourists. Just as ardent fans and eager visitors wander the city admiring its beauty and looking forward to a near future of ticket stubs and good times – the buses threaten to vanish! The drivers of East Coast Buses in Edinburgh have voted to strike, right in the middle of the biggest cultural pile up the city has seen in years. Threatening, not just to rain on the parade but to prevent people from ever getting to it in the first place!
The reason? A very familiar one – wages.
Union reps are calling for a 10.3% pay rise, and frankly, after navigating through bagpipers, silent discos and mime artists in the city centre, they probably deserve 15% and a gold medal! 10.3% has already been rejected and there is a very real threat of an all-out strike. Talks have begun between union leaders, transport executives and very worried (I suspect) city officials. Added to that, for locals and visitors alike, it can't help but take the edge off your night of bliss, as an Oasis fan, if you have a 4-hour walk to see your idols and arrive with feet too blistered to jump up and down with delight.
Power for a negotiator can often be as simple as timing. Think London 2012 and the threatened tube strike during the Olympics. Clearly, if the bus drivers waited till the city returned to its post-Festival calm, the imperative for transport executives and city officials to reach a resolution becomes much less pressing. Negotiators gain their power, in large part, from the incentives and/or sanctions that they bring to the negotiating table. It is from these that interest is ignited in the other party to want, or be prepared, to negotiate with us. Typically, in long-term relationships using incentives to ignite negotiating interest is preferable, but if all we have is a sanction and we can use timing to our advantage then sometimes that will yield the desired outcome.
A word of caution, however. In long-term relationships if sanctions are used to force the other side into a deeply uncomfortable place where they feel they have no choice or options open to them and are ultimately being forced to negotiate, then give a thought to the consequences that behaviour may reap in future negotiations. None of us like being backed into a corner and I’ve seen organisations harbour resentment in commercial relationships for just such a situation – often having forgotten the details of the original scenario but remembering negotiations that left a bad taste and a lingering desire for revenge in future deals.
Here in Edinburgh, negotiators are reportedly close to a short-term deal, which may avoid a full-blown strike for now.
And if talks collapse? We will be facing a perfect storm: epic concerts; global arts festival, and no buses.
Well, we’ll always have Wonderwall..... and blisters!
