Final Offer- Movie

Final Offer, the movie, was an interesting documentary on an negotiation that took place between General Motors and the Canadian Union workers. The negotiation took place in the 1980s and what made it so interesting is that the American union workers had already worked out a deal with General Motors, which meant that GM could not give the Canadian workers a much better offer because this would change how the Americans felt and could create future implications. The film was centralized around Bob White who was leading the negotiation on the union's side. He wanted to work out a deal with getting the leader, Owen Beiber involved. Bob feared that if they were not able to work out a deal, Owen Beiber would step in and work out something that may not be fair for the union. GM wanted to go with a different type of contract, where the union would share profits that GM made. The union would rather get a cost of living allowance increase of 3%. The agreement was pushed off and eventually the workers went on a wildcat strike that started 16 hours before it was intended (which showed some lack of control and organization by Bob White and the union officials). There was now a deadline that was set for the workers to go on a more long term strike if there is not a deal made so the pressure was really on. Bob White used a bluffing strategy by saying he had 10 million dollars in strike funds when he did not. This made the other side feel that there was less pressure on Bob and the union then there actually was. GM had some leveraging power of their own. They were able to threaten the closing of plants and loss of jobs. Owen Beiber threatened to take over control of the negotiation and make a contract that was similar to the deal that the Americans came up with, which is not what the Canadians wanted. After 8 days of the strike by the Canadian Union, General Motors had flinched. They offered Bob White a 2.25% increase for three years, which was not the 3% that the union had wanted, but Bob convinced them that it was a good enough deal to take.

During the negotiation, when working with GM, Bob White was able to keep calm and control his emotions, even though cameras showed that he was stressed over the situation. By being able to control his emotions, GM was able to sense his confidence and this was probably able to help the union with the negotiation.