In "The Courage to Collaborate," school turnaround expert Ken Futernick makes the case that collaboration between school management and teacher unions is a necessary condition for educational improvement. The author cites evidence showing that collaboration often leads to increased trust, stronger professional relationships, better…

It is hard to imagine a more critical time for helping the low-skilled and disenfranchised youth in our communities to become gainfully employed. Even as the nation suffers through its worst economic downturn in decades, America's business and industry leaders are predicting an unprecedented shortage of educated and skilled workers to meet the…

Research and experience in school labor relations suggest that superintendents can be more effective during contract talks by acting like unbiased education leaders--not tough negotiators. Superintendents can avoid taking adversarial positions by staying off the bargaining team and following suggested guidelines for their role as educator,…

In "Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority" (1985), the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Tenth Amendment does not preclude application of the federal minimum wage act and the Fair Labor Standards Act to state and local government employees. This paper explains "Garcia" history and implications for…

Instead of taking an adversarial approach to bargaining, a school district in Palmer, Alaska, now uses collaborative negotiation. Benefits from collaborative bargaining have included shorter contract negotiations and the filing of fewer grievances. Selecting and training the teams is a crucial element for success. (MLF)

Union and school board representatives studied basic negotiating techniques at a five-day workshop. Improved relations and cooperation were the result. (MLF)

Examines "Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson," a United States Supreme Court decision guaranteeing non-union government workers specific protections of procedural due process that certain educational and teacher unions had failed to recognize. Decries the "Hudson" decision for separating labor law from laws governing the rest of…

A training program used successfully in more that 40 school systems consists of an intensive 5-day workshop involving lectures, role-playing exercises, simulated negotiations, and indepth discussions about bargaining issues. (MLF)

Public employers, including school districts, are faced with unionized workers' demanding a larger share of public resources. The formation of regional bargaining associations for employers to counteract union demands is proposed. A case study of a successful association is provided. (MD)

A strike by teachers in the David Douglas School District of suburban Portland, Oregon, in 1978 lasted only a week and was unsuccessful in obtaining contract concessions. This document describes how the district's administration, board, building principals, and public relations specialist cooperated as a team to limit the strike's effects. Key…

This manual presents a collaborative "situational negotiations" approach to collective bargaining. After a brief introduction, part 1 describes the traditional adversarial bargaining model, using a case study from a medium-sized school district in the state of Washington to illustrate how the aftermath of confrontational bargaining is…

In Toledo, Ohio, teacher union and school system leaders have collaborated on a controversial, but apparently effective, plan to purge the staff of incompetent teachers. It combines rigorous evaluation, training for new teachers, remediation for veteran teachers, and peer review by a corps of highly skilled consulting teachers. (TE)

As their second decade draws to an end, Canada's community colleges are confronted with budgetary constraints and increasing demands for more accountability. While in many ways their performance has been impressive, these institutions face a number of issues which defy satisfactory solutions. Four of the more demanding issues are: (1) increasingly…

This report describes a problem-solving approach to grievance settling and negotiations developed in the Brighton, Michigan, school district and inspired by the book, "Getting To Yes," by Roger Fisher and William Ury. In this approach teachers and administrators come to the table not with fixed positions but with problems both sides want…