- Have a starting position; take it into meetings and ensure your points are on the agenda. Don't be sidetracked into only discussing management's wishes.
- Don't expect to get everything you want. Compromise matters.
- With whom are you negotiating? Often, the person not in the room is more important.
- Duration, and location, of meetings are influential variables. Don't be afraid to insist on longer, shorter, virtual, or in-person meetings to meet your needs.
- Pay deals aren't only about the numbers. Principles, and ancillary provisions such as structures and systems, can add value that cash alone cannot.
- Beware the detail: tax, pensions, student loan repayments, graduates, the soon-to-retire, and brand-new apprentices (to name a few) are all significant 'edge-cases' to consider.
- A later pay deal is better than a bad one.
- Equity ≠ equality.
- Democracy will only go so far; sometimes doing the right thing will cost TU members, and upset reps, but that doesn't make it any less right.
