Asymmetries in the Bargaining Process

Although both sides in academic collective bargaining state that they are interested in the best interests of the institution, there are, of course, differences as to what these interests are and how they are to be achieved. Some of the divergences are differences of degree (the union may look for much larger raises for the economic good of their members and the administration team may look to maintain economic viability for the institution), while others are differences of kind, asymmetries in the process. The present paper considers the latter kind of difference, considering the teams, their planning processes, and their behavior at the table. In the last section are suggestions for some ways to decrease these asymmetries