Labor mediation is one of the most powerful methods of labor dispute resolution and is often used to solve issues related to labor contracts, particularly when each party has a lot to lose if the conflict isn’t quickly resolved.  Last year, the benefits of labor mediation were most evident in talks that occurred between the NBA players’ union and federal mediator George Cohen.  In these talks, Cohen was able to understand the nuances surrounding the 118-day lockout and forced cancellation of the initial two weeks of the season.  Later in the mediation proceedings, Cohen related these nuances to the NBA league.  After repeating the process over a period of six months, a resolution was achieved.  

John Hancock, an attorney who has worked in employment law for over 30 years, related the benefits of mediation in solving labor disputes like this:  “You tell [the mediator], ‘These are the things we need.  These are the things we want.  These are the things we have been negotiating but we’d be willing to sacrifice.’  When you’re doing head-to-head negotiating, you never want to show the other guys your cards.  But that is where a mediator has an advantage.  He knows the cards both sides hold.”

In the labor problems last year between the NBA players’ union and the NBA league, the issue at hand was that both sides were seeing things as very black and white.  The mediation process, however, allowed room for the gray, focusing on nuances and details that weren’t readily apparent to each side before the process of mediation began.  The end result was mediation talks that encouraged a solution that was more agreeable to everyone at the table.  After almost 6 months of negotiations, the NBA players’ union and NBA league finally reached a tentative agreement, ending the infamous lockout that was hurting everyone involved. 

Mediation, as an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process, is one of the most effective ways to end labor disputes in which both sides have a lot to lose in a stalled business agreement.  When there is incentive to reach a solution and reach it quickly—in this case, at the behest of millions of fans—mediation can work in everyone’s favor to get back to business as usual.  When a trained mediator works with parties in conflict and reframes their issues in language that both sides can understand, issues become easier to deal with and easier to work through.