Describes the attempt by members of the 1974-75 Illinois General Assembly to pass legislation allowing collective bargaining for all employees of all public schools and discusses the reasons for the failure of such legislation. (For availability see EA 507 343) (JG)

School boards must recognize that bargaining with unionized teachers is becoming inevitable. Attempts to postpone formal negotiation usually result in giving away more by accident than would have been the case in the formal situation. While it is true that formal bargaining involves an adversary relationship between school boards and teachers,…

The performance evaluation of tenured teachers in the public schools raises significant legal issues particularly in the context of recent education reform efforts. Collective bargaining has expanded to become a central part of labor relations in public schools and has served often to neutralize threatening evaluations. As reform efforts demand…

Although Illinois has not enacted a comprehensive bargaining statute, school districts have been using the collective bargaining process to determine teacher salaries, benefits, and conditions of employment for more than a decade. Nevertheless, since the 1977-78 school year, Illinois public schools have experienced 139 teacher strikes. The purpose…