The first in a series of two modules, this learning module introduces you to a collaborative approach to bargaining: interest-based bargaining.

Traditional enterprise bargaining is often adversarial, with both sides, or parties, approaching the process with pre-determined positions or claims. Interest-based bargaining is different: it focuses on the interests that are behind people’s positions and seeks to ensure that each party’s interests have been addressed.

This learning module:

• explains the features and benefits of interest-based bargaining, and how it is different to more traditional, positional bargaining
• unpacks the differences between positions and interests
• provides case studies to show how positional and interest-based bargaining work in practice
• features interviews with employer and union representatives who have used interest-based and positional approaches to bargaining.

Want to know more? Find out about how we can help with interest-based bargaining through our Collaborative Approaches Program. You can access guides, videos and case studies which show how the program has worked for other workplaces.