Five reasons to strike, five steps to a deal

Prague, November 29 - Could the prime minister have avoided a strike by trade unionists? He couldn't. Neither ministers, nor advisers, nor officials, not even possible concessions from the government, could prevent this from happening. There are several reasons for this:

1) trade unionists declare that they care about employees and people of work. And they have to trust them. They have to take the opportunity to get their tattered confidence back and now they have the best opportunity. Neither the prime minister nor ministers are overachievers in crisis communication.

2) every escalating situation such as a strike (or at least a strike emergency) increases the number of members. That's revenue, and union bosses are also thinking in economic contexts.

3) neither the Prime Minister nor the trade unionists wanted to negotiate. For trade unionists, the reasons are obvious. The Prime Minister knows the status quo is more beneficial to him than any deal with the unionists because he would have to make concessions. He can't make concessions, he's already made too many of them in coalition.

4) The Prime Minister and his advisers believe the unionist pressure will subside and then he will be able to sit down to the negotiating table. They're going to be talking about 2025 and that's where he's going to have to allow and give away. Like any prime minister before an election.

5) There are two things that we could blame on both sides from a negotiating point of view:

5.1) trade unionists have unfortunate allies and divide their supporters unnecessarily.

5.2) the prime minister says vehemently that trade unionists are not telling the truth. By doing so, it directly attacks the personal integrity of trade unionists and creates coercion. But this also increases the power of the subsequent counter-reaction, the unionists will have to bring more. E.g. Bill Clinton knew this well: outwardly treat your counterpart with respect, behind closed doors without cameras you can escalate the pressure all the more. No one will forgive you for losing your face.

Note that both camps are talking about negotiations, and they both know the division between negotiation and negotiation.

5 steps to an agreement:

1) both parties shall establish negotiating teams and their contact persons. There's no prime minister or union boss there. They have informal conversations.

2) both camps get their representatives “under control”, today everyone says what they want and go where they want.

3) both sides express themselves publicly sharply but with respect. Insults deepen the trenches.

4) the Prime Minister lacks one crucial statement: understanding for a difficult situation. 5) do not say what you will not do. Firstly you are deepening ditches and raising tensions because you don't give an alternative, secondly you can enumerate it until the end of time, that's how long that list can be. And no one can stand that. Neither the government, nor the trade unionists, nor the employees, nor the voters of the quintuplets.

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