Capt. Jason Ambrosi, ALPA’s president, welcomes attendees to the first Advanced Negotiations Training Seminar.

ALPA held its inaugural Advanced Negotiations Training Seminar (NTS) on September 23–26 at the Association’s McLean, Va., offices, bringing together 30 pilot volunteers from 13 pilot groups to further their training in collective bargaining. They were joined by nearly 20 facilitators, including experienced negotiators from the union’s Collective Bargaining Committee and staff from various ALPA departments.

Capt. Jason Ambrosi, the Association’s president, welcomed pilots to the event, noting the importance of their work for their respective Negotiating Committees. “We’re always negotiating,” he proclaimed. “You’re always looking for improvements—negotiations are always happening and always essential.”

This importance is why ALPA developed the new, advanced course. A previous seminar, now NTS 101, was held in spring and covered an introduction to negotiations and pilot responsibilities. The advanced course provides more in-depth instruction and more hands-on experience.

Jeff Loesel, a manager in ALPA’s Representation Department and the moderator for the event, began the seminar by congratulating the pilots on their “appointment” to the Negotiating Committee of fictional Oceana Airways.

Over “a pretty intense four days,” he said, attendees would be provided background information on important negotiations taking place at Oceana. They’d be taken through a series of interactive exercises designed to mimic the negotiating process at their respective airlines, including planning and preparing, communications, proposals, negotiating, and “endgame” bargaining to reach a ratifiable deal.

As they went through the exercises, they received constant feedback and input from facilitators who included both ALPA staff and experienced negotiators.

“Negotiations is much more than what you do at the table,” Loesel explained. He remarked that time actually negotiating at the table is “0.1 percent of the work you do,” emphasizing a strong focus on planning and communication. Loesel reminded pilots of the six steps for an effective negotiation taught during the introductory NTS course:

1. Develop your plan.
2. Tell members about the plan.
3. Implement the plan.
4. Tell members how you’re implementing the plan.
5. Complete the plan.
6. Tell members how you completed the plan.

Additional presentations included a review of the elements necessary for a successful bargaining outcome and the importance of fostering trust and support within the pilot group as an essential element of a successful negotiation.

During a presentation on planning, bargaining, and communications, Bruce York, ALPA’s recently retired lead negotiator, reinforced to attendees, “Executing at the table is a very small part of your responsibilities and work.”

He discussed the importance of building trust in the leadership team, formulating a plan and getting buy-in, gathering information and data, and frequently communicating—all in addition to executing at the bargaining table. “Think about this like an organizing campaign almost,” he advised.

Capt. Dana Dann-Messier (Delta), ALPA’s Strategic Planning Committee lead, highlighted the need to develop trust and gain support from members in order to move forward. He emphasized, “Building unity starts on day one—you’re building unity ahead of negotiations.” The pilots, he said, “need to have ownership and feel that they’re part of the process.”

Capt. Ronan O’Donoghue (Alaska), ALPA’s Strategic Preparedness and Strike Committee (SPSC) chair, emphasized the need to have numerous plans established, including a master executive council strategic plan, a negotiations plan, communications plan, SPSC plan, and a ratification plan, the latter of which must be in place before reaching a tentative agreement with management. “Coordination is the key to a successful ratification,” he said, remarking that preparation and updating your plans need to start long before completion of a deal.

Through presentations and exercises—and reinforced by facilitators—attendees secured not only a greater understanding of negotiations theory and process, but also gained hands-on experience in some of the “soft skills” that will help them in their task, such as working with the other side, learning their needs, and managing the various relationships—with both pilot leaders and management.

Capt. Emilee Gauld (Flair), a member of her pilot group’s Negotiating Committee, remarked that being in a room with experts in the field and learning from their decades of practice was a very valuable experience. “The key takeaway for me was that success is more dependent on factors outside of the actual negotiation,” she said. “Things like being prepared and staying current with all the available information, forming a plan based on that information, and constantly communicating along the way. The exercises really served to drive this concept home, and the final group negotiation brought it all together.”