With the continued backlog of cases mediation is even more so now than ever the best choice to find a resolution for your dispute. Get your dispute resolved now while you can’t go anywhere you can really concentrate on what’s important and what deserves your time and energy.
Northwest Mediation continues to use Zoom, Skype and FaceTime as well as the phone and emails to resolve disputes should we add we also do live in person mediation too! So please do not feel that you cannot contact us if you would like to mediate but wish to do so remotely.
I’m assuming that by the time this goes out we’ll still be on Richie Rich as PM but if not welcome to the new PM. Actually Richie must have done some considerable mediation work to get together his cabinet with at least three ministers sacked for breaches of code and security and the other roundup of horrors just in time for Halloween, whenever you are dealing with people (one or a cabinet full) it’s always a negotiation and mediation is a specialist guided form of negotiation that can help in nearly all areas of dispute.
Starting with employment this week and the South African government has appealed for mediators to assist in the ongoing pay row. Yoliswa Makhasi the Department of Public Service and Administration Director General has asked Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration to step in to help work out a deal between the government and the public workers’ union (the Public Servants Association).
There’s a difference of positions with the government having offered a 3% pay rise and the union (and others) seeking 10%. Set against the recent inflation rate in South Africa of 7.5% you can imagine the same arguments we hear in the UK about real term pay cuts set against limited government funding. Which of course in the UK doesn’t apply when bailing out the banks (which I don’t recall getting all our money back for).
The growth of mediation as a dispute resolution method is further evidenced by the huge attendance in the US The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service’s (FMCS) week long webinar covering everything from cognitive bias to new technology in mediation.
Deputy Director of Field Operations for the FMCS Javier Ramirez said "As we celebrate our 75th anniversary, we are delighted to share many of the tools, insights, and lessons we've learned throughout our rich history with this audience of industrial relations practitioners from both management and labour, academics, and career neutrals."
The FMCS’ main focus is on labour (yes I know they’d ignore the U) relations and to promote peaceful resolution between employers and employees.
It sounds from reading about the FMCS that they are like the US version of ACAS being recognised as the primary non-government employment dispute resolution practice.
And in the familiar family mediation arena we have the case of former Mayor Breea Clark of the city of Norman and her ex-husband Kevin.
Kevin was seeking what would be here a non-molestation order but was refused by the court, the pair are already heading to mediation in respect of their child arrangements and the judge urged them to seek mediation in respect of the problems now alleged by Kevin (all of which Breea denies vehemently – confirming on one occasion she had supposedly been at Kevin’s house that she was in a different city).
Such was the “frivolous” nature of the application the judge awarded costs against Kevin and hopefully the message that mediation is the way forward was hammered home by that not inconsiderate order!
For my regular reader the carpet is now in the furniture back in place but the contents of darling daughter’s room have yet to be moved back in totally as she was busy baking/revising/procrastinating – however it’s half term so she’s been given a three line whip to get up and get it sorted.
The three pillars of mediation remain it’s voluntary (except apparently when it won’t be anymore), it’s confidential, the mediator is independent, by using those pillars to support your work the parties keep control, save costs, save time and energy and reduce stress. Finally this one is mediation, mediator jointly appointed, areas of discussion agreed and intention to be bound by the outcome.
In person or via electronic media as we’ve said before choose to mediate early and resolve your issues effectively, timeously, and with less stress and costs than going to your solicitor so you can get out choose a different path, not quite the road less travelled but perhaps the path less adversarial. You have an interest in the outcome the sooner you get round the mediation table the quicker you can move forward and avoid the grilling a cross examination in court would put you through.
By having a deep and meaningful discussions with parties the mediator elicits what the true “red-lines” are and where there is the potential for compromise, it is with this structured period of reflection that the parties are then able to reach an accord.
The flexible nature of mediation and the possible outcomes make it an ideal way to resolve disputes in an ever-changing world and the open nature of discussions in mediation whilst remaining confidential allows all sides to engage fully in the process and understand the needs of all involved allowing parties to reach a conclusion which both sides can live with and move on.
There are so many situations which could have been resolved by early intervention of mediation it continues to surprise me the lengths the public will go to avoid referral.
Whether you need a mediator to help out with a construction matter in the Northwest, or council’s plans in Cheshire, a civil mediator in London, a commercial mediator in Manchester, a dispute resolution for your family in Liverpool, a neighbourhood mediation in Stockport, then our mediators at Northwest Mediation can help.
Mediation is cheaper, quicker and less stressful than running any case to court, it can help with any dispute whether it's an employment issue or the sale at an under value of a property, a fight with a neighbour, family issues, commercial disputes, civil mediation or inheritance, wills and probate arguments contact me at Northwest Mediation on 0161 667 4418 or via email at ed.johnson@northwestmediation.co.uk
neighbour mediation; commercial dispute resolution; civil mediation; commercial dispute; corporate dispute; commercial mediator; family mediation; inheritance wills probate mediation; property mediator; civil mediator; civil litigation; fast track mediation; injury mediation
Comments