Recently, the English National Opera announced a settlement with its chorus over a proposed new employment contract. Just in time to avoid a novel form of industrial action - the refusal of the chorus to sing, all the way through the first act of the opera Akhnaten at the London Coliseum!

So how did the ENO and its chorus reach a negotiated settlement? And are there any lessons for negotiating informal resolutions in an employee relations setting? In the second of her articles on workplace conflict Joanne Kane, HR Director at Headstogether Consulting, takes a look.

The background to the dispute is that the ENO had just taken a £5 million subsidy cut from its main funder, the Arts Council,