Tough Negotiations

When I was young, about a half century ago, I worked in a union typesetting shop. When the union contract came up for negotiation I was selected as chief negotiator for the union. I would be negotiating the contract against the owner of the shop I worked for, since he was chief negotiator for management. There were many shops, and a couple of newspapers that would would be affected by the contract.

It was a long, hard, and brutal negotiation that lasted for many weeks. In frustration, I threatened to call a strike. Management countered with a threatened lockout, nothing was going well. I was sure my days of employment were at an end.

Then management called a meeting on Sunday, the day before the strike. For the first time we got down to the business of hammering out a contract. Concessions were made on both sides and we came up with a contract suitable for a vote. I remained angry with my boss (management). I couldn’t even look at him when it was over, and I’m sure the feelings were mutual. Later the contract was approved and things returned to normal except for the aggravated feelings.

A couple of months later as I was working on a special project, I saw my boss approaching. I figured this would be my dismissal. As he drew near he said: “you know that contract we signed isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.” Startled, I thought he meant to break the contract. He repeated: “you know that contract we signed isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on,” then he added: “the only thing that really matters is how we treat each other.” Stunned with his words, the only thing to do was to offer my hand, and say: “I can certainly agree with that.”

This was the beginning of a friendship that lasted over 20 years. I don’t think I could have said that, my anger was too great. He knew how to break through the barrier that formed between us, and establish rapport. We worked together for mutual benefit from that day forward. I learned a lot from him. Since then, I learned how to break down barriers with former enemies, and call them friends. Wish everyone could do this, put aside false pride and haughty egos to make friends of enemies. This world would be a kinder, gentler place to live.

© 2018, Lekatt. All rights reserved.