Dirty Stuff

I really enjoyed the "Dirty Stuff" negotiation, even if it was a little intense. For a quick background, I (a factory representative), an environmentalist rep (Amy), a union rep (Laura), and a government agency rep (Nicola) were all trying to find middle ground on issues relating to the dirty stuff chemical that my company was using to produce its goods. We were attempting to hold this meeting by means of a lead facilitator (Dawn). Beforehand, I knew I was going to be seen as the "bad guy" by the environmentalists and the union. So, with that in mind, I decided to first try to kill that image from the very beginning. I attempted to be reassuring that we as a company were not the bad guy, and that we wanted a cleaner, safer environment for both our workers and the community in general. Maybe I was a little too soft. I'm not sure. However, I was firm in my stance that our current working conditions were "safe" according to recent reserach findings. In the end, I did get most of what I wanted. My company stayed open in the city, we got the 1% usage, and we got to choose and evaluate who tested us. I only fell victom to one dirty trick. Even though Amy and I both wanted a cleaning every 24 hours, she suggested every 4 hours. I thought, "Wow, that's harsh". But I decided to use that as a leverage point for other things that I wanted and promised a cleaning every 8 hours ... only to find out that she would have been ok with every 24 hours in real life.