Originally Posted by
FDXLAG
This is just business right, if Fred cant come to a deal with Lands End he may or may not fire the team that couldn’t close the deal. Some deals cant be closed and Fred recognizes this. I think we can recognize this too. Does Fred fire his negotiating team because they lose face with the union?]
Fred sends his negotiating team in to Land's End with a set of marching orders. If they can't come to a deal with Land's End that meets Fred's marching orders, then that's not the fault of his team. However, if his team DOES sign a deal that's NOT within the bounds of Fred's marching orders, then yes he does fire them.
In our case, we sent the NC in with a set of marching orders (survey's, etc). They negotiate with those marching orders in mind ("the membership will NEVER approve a TA that reduces vacation"), and we expect that any TA they come back with will be ratifiable by the membership. If it's not ratifiable, then the NC seriously doesn't understand the membership's wishes. And the next time that NC comes to the table and says "we can't touch vacation", management says "How do you know? You don't seem to have a very good read on your constituents."