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Confronting Our Confrontational Culture: From Making Laws to Negotiating Labor Contracts, Observers Decry a Breakdown in Public Civility

Published Sunday, June 12, 2005 in the Pioneer Press.

By Dave Beal

Why can't they just get along?

That nagging question is weighing more heavily on the minds of many Minnesotans this spring, as bitter clashes rumble on.

A labor-management dispute between the players and the National Hockey League owners has sidelined the Minnesota Wild hockey team. The clash now threatens to curtail or cancel the second NHL season in a row. By any definition, that's what we call a losing streak.

Northwest Airlines and its mechanics union are near an impasse, locked into an escalating conflict that could lead to a strike.

The Minnesota Legislature, now limping through its ninth special session in the last 11 years, still hasn't reached accord on a state budget. While the legislators' bungling is more of a political saga than a business story, their failure has aggravated the uncertainties for thousands of Minnesota business owners and managers who prefer the more settled tax and regulatory climate that comes with a less combative Legislature.

These three battles are not the only seemingly intractable conflicts out there. Signs abound that it has become more difficult to reach accords or solve problems on a variety of fronts here and around the country.

Dave Cossetta, owner of the Cossetta Italian Market & Pizzeria on West Seventh Street in St. Paul, is among the many calling for more give and take to find middle ground. Cossetta says we need more people like the late Frank Marzitelli.

Marzitelli, who died five years ago, was a consensus builder. A one-time City Council member, head of the St. Paul Port Authority and top state official, Marzitelli was a talented negotiator who had a hand in many community causes.

"He was a listener first and a talker last," says Cossetta. "He was like an ambassador of compromise."

'My Way or No Way'

Chris Puto, dean of the University of St. Thomas College of Business, is concerned about the divisiveness.

"We seem to be evolving into a culture of confrontation," Puto says. Too often, he says, "it's my way or no way."

Puto says psychological approaches to negotiation make compromise tougher. Many economists theorize that decision-makers are risk averse, but might be willing to take big risks if they sense they are falling behind, he notes.

Negotiators for both sides in the hockey dispute saw themselves as falling behind so they took that risk, he says. Each apparently underestimated the resolve of the other to stick to its guns. The result was that last year, the NHL became the first of the big four professional sports to shut down an entire season because of a labor dispute.

Puto says similar approaches are leading negotiators in the Northwest and legislative situations to the same unhappy state that professional hockey finds itself in.

Both Puto and Ron James, president and CEO of the Center for Ethical Business Practices at St. Thomas, cite clarity of the issues as another problem. They say many negotiators need to work harder to reach accord on the terms and measures used to define the issues.

James adds another concern: trust. This is an asset both sides must build over years, not months, he says.

"It's an area we don't spend enough time working on," says James. "It's like a bank account. You have to continue to make deposits by your behavior and your actions."

James also notes that negotiators would be well advised to consider the impact of their actions on stakeholders beyond their immediate constituencies because they may need to call on these other groups for support.

It's not hard to fault the principals in each of the three disputes, both for failing to define their own groups' interests well enough and for disregarding the interests of the other stakeholders.

Toll on Third Parties

In the hockey dispute, the fans obviously have been big losers. So are others in St. Paul who depend on the spin-off effects of the Wild for income and jobs.

Cossetta says his 94-year-old restaurant, just two short blocks from the Xcel Center, where the Wild play, hasn't been affected. It has built up a large, dependable customer base over the years.

But newer businesses near the arena, opened or expanded to cater to Wild fans, have been affected.

A few have gone out of business. One is the 242 restaurant, across the street from Cossetta. "242 will be closed indefinitely, due to 'cost uncertainty and high player salaries,' " declares a sign on the front of the building that once housed this restaurant.

"The real shame to me is the effect this had on the employees," says 242 co-owner Dave Frable. About 50 part-time and full-time workers lost their jobs, he says.

"It irks me so," says Frable. "People blame the players. People blame the owners. I'm trying to ignore it, for my own sanity."

A big ripple hit the Saint Paul Hotel, where the visiting hockey teams stay. Each of the teams typically takes roughly 50 rooms, for about 45 playing dates. Thus, the hotel lost more than 2,000 room nights, plus the revenue from the visitors' meals.

The loss of the Wild has hurt a wide range of other businesses and individuals.

In some respects, the hockey and Northwest situations may be exceptions.

Various measures suggest the NHL is in worse shape than any of the other three major professional sports. That's led the owners to argue they must push for major cuts in the players' pay.

Two-thirds of the hockey teams are losing money. Player salaries take up about 75 percent of revenue, a significantly higher share than is the case for big-league baseball, football and basketball.

Unprecedented Pressures

At Northwest, labor relations have long been stormy, but industry analysts argue that the bankruptcies at United and US Airways have led to unprecedented pressures on Northwest and other "legacy carriers" to cut their fares and their costs.

Happily, the hockey strike could finally be heading toward a settlement.

The Toronto Globe and Mail, which has been following the dispute closely, reported last week that negotiators have "cleared their biggest hurdle" by agreeing on a formula to cap salaries.

That leaves the Legislature, where leaders of both parties continue to play to their bases instead of carrying out their basic obligation: reaching agreement on a budget.

Puto thinks the inability to compromise is mostly a problem in politics. However, he adds that "it's on the verge" of spilling into other segments of society.

John Budd, an industrial relations professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, says the nasty stances in the hockey and airline industries and at the Legislature reflect broader changes in the culture.

Budd cites unsettling signs of a less civil society including the rising occurrences of road rage, inappropriate use of cell phones in traffic, consumers angrily demanding the lowest prices and CEOs or shareholders pushing all-out for their goals at the expense of workers.

"The flip side of lack of compromise is an increased emphasis on individualism, which is turning into selfishness," Budd says. "It's individualism run amok."

© Copyright 2005 Pioneer Press. All rights reserved.

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