How to Analyze Management Proposals Against Your CBA

When management submits proposals at the bargaining table, your team needs to quickly identify which articles are affected and whether language conflicts with existing contract terms. Speed matters: committees that wait days for a full legal read often lose leverage on time-sensitive packages.

A disciplined proposal review workflow has four steps. First, capture the proposal as submitted — PDF, DOCX, or pasted text — without paraphrasing management’s language. Second, map each demand to the articles it touches (wages, overtime, scheduling, discipline, benefits). Third, compare proposed language against the current CBA and active side letters. Fourth, score risk so officers know what needs immediate caucus time versus what can wait.

Union Boss stores your CBA clauses and runs AI analysis against each proposal — surfacing relevant sections, potential conflicts, and risk levels. Start by uploading your current CBA and any side letters. Then paste or upload each management proposal as it arrives. The system compares proposal language against your stored clauses in seconds.

Use the risk summary to prioritize committee review: high-risk items need immediate legal or officer attention; medium-risk items may need member communication; low-risk items can move quickly. Keep a running log of analyses so successive packages can be compared across the bargaining cycle.

Before you counter, write down the exact clause citations you will use at the table. Cited answers beat general objections. If your local uses stewards on the committee, share the same analysis workspace so everyone works from one reading of the contract — not conflicting binder notes.