Collective Bargaining

in Public Education

by Craig Curry EDAD 587/522 Summer

Wisconsin 1949

1st state to permit collective bargaining in public sector

Wisconsin 2012

Prohibits bargaining by public employees and becomes ground zero for anti-union movements

A Polarizing Issue in the U.S.Unions Bring Professionalis

mStandards, Certification, Respect

Unions Demean ProfessionalismClock-watching, status quo, minimal duties

Map published Feb. 2011. “X” has been added to states who have abolished bargaining rights since then.

A Right to Work law secures the right of employees to decide for themselves whether or not to join or financially support a union.

Copyright © 2012 The National Right to Work Committee.

CB in PoliticsToday Collective Bargaining & Teachers’ Unions are targeted as a drain on state funds as well as a drain on innovation in schools. Some legislators would choose to eliminate public sector bargaining rights.

Groups Opposed to Collective Bargaining

Stand for Children or STANDhttp://stand.org/illinois/action/chicago/collective-bargaining-101

League of Education Votershttp://www.educationvoters.org

Partnership for Learningwww.partnership4learning.org

Where do you stand?Are you active in your local

union?

Do you respect local union

leaders?

Do you view it as a valuable

service?

From what sources and

information were your current

perceptions of unions formed?

Where will you stand as a principal?

What will be your relationship with union

reps?

What is a principal’s role in bargaining?

Origins of Collective Bargaining

The term "collective bargaining" was first used in 1891 by economic theorist Sidney Webb. However, collective negotiations had existed since the rise of trade unions during the 18th century.

Before the 1930s, collective bargaining had no legal protection.

After FDR’s election in 1932, a series of federal laws were enacted limiting the power of federal courts to issue injunctions against unions, authorizing the formation of unions, and imposing on employers the legal duty to bargain collectively.

Public sector bargaining evolved more slowly but began to gain recognition when Wisconsin passed laws permitting it in 1949.

In 1962, President Kennedy issued an executive order giving federal employees some limited rights to bargain collectively.

Pre-CB Negotiations in WA State 1915: All teachers must have at least a four-year

high school degree as a result of union-backed legislation. College requirements for different levels of teaching also increase.

1923: First statewide retirement act approved by Legislature after years of union pressure.

1959: Union helps pass SHB 135, which guarantees educators 10 days sick leave per year.

1963: Legislature allows districts to participate in health insurance benefits.

Before 1965 no school employees in Washington had the benefits of a collective bargaining contract. A few specific rights for teachers were outlined in state law. Individual contracts contained only an annual salary figure, the length of contract in days and teaching assignments.

WA State Collective Bargaining History

1965: Passage of Washington's Professional Negotiations Act, a one-page law requiring school boards to confer and negotiate with elected employee groups prior to final adoption of key policies. School boards resist the change as an infringement on their authority.

1967: Legislature approves a collective bargaining law for classified school employees.

First real collective bargaining contract negotiated under the old Professional Negotiations Act was won in Tacoma in 1968. The Seattle Teachers Association followed in 1969.

By the early 1970s the number of comprehensive contracts began to increase, but as they increased, boards in other districts drew a line in the dust and declared they would never sign contracts with teachers.

WA State CB History continued As school boards stiffened their resistance to

"teacher encroachment," teachers became more determined and finally resorted to strikes.

The first K-12 teacher strike in WA occurred in Aberdeen in 1972. Some 200 teachers there voted to go on strike protesting unresolved issues such as class size, use of teacher aides, salary, planning time and medical insurance.

Educational Employment Relations Act took effect in 1976. Also created was the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC), which was given authority to administer all of WA public employee bargaining acts.

http://www.perc.wa.gov

Collective Bargaining in WA Today

About 74 percent of the WA state’s 64,000 general government employees are

represented by unions.

Collective bargaining by common school employers and employees are governed by the following statutes:• Chapter 41.56 RCW, Public Employees'

Collective Bargaining• Chapter 41.58 RCW, Public Employment

Labor Relations• Chapter 41.59 RCW, Educational

Employment Relations Act

"Collective bargaining" means the performance ofthe mutual obligations of the public employer and the exclusive bargaining representative to meet at reasonable times, to confer and negotiate in good faith, and to execute a written agreement with respect to grievance procedures and collective negotiations on personnel matters, including wages, hours and working conditions, which may be peculiar to an appropriate bargaining unit of such public employer, except that by such obligation neither party shall be compelled to agree to a proposal or be required to make a concession unless otherwise provided in this chapter.”

Definition of Collective Bargaining

in WA State Law (RCW 41.56.030)

41.56.040 “Right of employees to organize and designate representatives without interference. No public employer, or other person, shall directly or indirectly, interfere with, restrain, coerce, or discriminate against any public employee or group of public employees in the free exercise of their right to organize and designate representatives of their own choosing for the purpose of collective bargaining, or in the free exercise of any other right under this chapter.”

Employee Right to Organizein WA State Law (RCW

41.56.040)

41.56.050 “Disagreement in selection of bargainingrepresentative—Disagreement as to merger of bargaining units—Intervention by commission. (1) In the event that a public employer and public employees are in disagreement as to the selection of a bargaining representative, the commissionshall be invited to intervene as is provided in RCW41.56.060 through 41.56.090.(2) In the event that a public employer and a bargainingrepresentative are in disagreement as to the merger of two or more bargaining units in the employer’s workforce that are represented by the same bargaining representative, the commission shall be invited to intervene as is provided in RCW 41.56.060 through 41.56.090.”

Disagreement on Rep. or Unitin WA State Law (RCW

41.56.050)

41.56.120 Right to strike not granted.

Nothing contained in this chapter shall permit or grant any public employee the right to strike or refuse to perform his official duties.

Where do administrators go for help with Collective Bargaining?Ask your district if they have an ERNN Membership. ERNN is the Employee Relations & Negotia-tions Network, a non-profit affiliate of WASA & AWSP, created 25 years ago to help and educate district administrators in collective bargaining and arbitration/ employee relations issues.

www.ernn.com

QUESTIONS?