Negotiation skills for effective collective bargaining
Image © Alice Lotti
Negotiation skills for effective collective bargaining
22–26 September 2025
The course is available in English
Introduction to the course
The promotion of collective bargaining at all levels is key to productive, equitable and stable employment relations. While an enabling regulatory framework and other measures to promote collective bargaining are essential, the effectiveness of collective bargaining is often hampered by the poor negotiating skills of the bargaining parties. They may adopt a negotiation style that does not allow them to reach satisfactory outcomes. More often than not, the negotiation skills of the parties are confrontational and undermine trust which is the foundation of sound labour relations. The Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) and Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) lay the basis for democratic and stable labour relations.
The importance of promoting collective bargaining is enshrined in the Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981 (No. 154) and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 163). The skills, knowledge and capacity of those representing employers and workers' organizations are critical in preventing labour disputes and achieving outcomes and agreements that meet the interests of all parties. Effective negotiation skills are not merely 'common sense'. They are acquired through a combination of training and experience. The ITCILO courses on negotiation skills provide those involved in negotiations a firsthand knowledge and practice of negotiation skills and techniques. The course aims to develop participants' capacities to improve their negotiation skills and therefore to reach satisfactory outcomes for their organizations.
Who attends this course?
- Employers and Workers' representatives
- Industrial relations experts and practitioners
Objectives
The ITCILO courses on negotiation aim to develop participants’ knowledge and understanding of consensus-building approaches to conflict management and dispute resolution. Emphasis is placed on how to move from a traditional style of adversarial negotiating to a negotiation style that allows mutual gains and strengthens relationships among parties.
Content
- Identifying typical mistakes made by negotiators
- The conflict dynamic
- How conflict develops into a dispute
- Different approaches to dispute resolution
- Outcomes in negotiation
- Different approaches to negotiation
- What positional negotiation looks like
- A problem-solving model
- The anatomy of needs-based negotiation
- Stages and needs-based negotiation
- The negotiators’ dilemma
- Costs and benefits of different styles of negotiating
- How to maximize joint value and achieve optimum outcomes
- The significance of alternatives to a negotiated agreement
- Reality testing
- How to open up a zone of possible agreement
- The mandating dynamic
- Preparation for negotiation
- Behaviours of effective negotiators
- Working with interests and needs
- Reframing
- Extracting needs
- Finding mutual gains outcomes
- The use of questions
- Generating options and brainstorming
- Managing your own emotion and responding effectively to the emotions of others
- Helping people save face
- Negotiating with difficult people
Languages
The workshop will be conducted in English and participants are therefore expected to have a good command of the English language.
Registration
The ILO promotes equality of opportunities and strongly encourages women’s applications.
To apply for this course, please click on the "Apply now" button and fill out the online form before the application deadline.
If your application is sponsored by your Institution, you will be required to attach a sponsorship letter, covering the course fees.
Applications will be reviewed through a standardized selection process. Successful candidates will be notified.
Accommodation and transportation
The total price of this training activity includes full board accommodation at the ITCILO campus, routine medical care, medical insurance, and use of computer and internet facilities. The listed prices do not include the cost of travel between the participant's home country and the course venue. Participants are responsible for holding a valid passport and obtaining the appropriate visa (Schengen). Listed prices do not include the costs of passports, visas, and airport taxes.
Payment and withdrawal
Payment can be processed by bank transfer or credit card through an electronic payment link. The total price of this training activity must be paid in advance by the participant or his/her sponsoring organization.
If an enrolled participant wishes or must withdraw from a course, they must notify the Centre, in writing, of their decision at least 14 days prior to the start date of the course. Cancellation of participation in regular courses will result in penalties. For more details on this matter, please check our payment and cancellation policy webpage.
