Three persistent misconceptions about collective bargaining for public employees are 1) that public employee organizations are singularly culpable for strikes in the public sector, 2) that strikes necessarily follow collective bargaining and will not occur unless the right to bargain has been granted, and 3) that public employees have less right…

This speech chronicles the history of the teachers' strike in Faribault, Minnesota--the longest teachers' strike in the state's history. After the breakdown of collective bargaining, the school board refused to submit to arbitration by the state's Bureau of Mediation Services. Then the teachers voted to walk out. The Faribault schools were closed,…

Problems have arisen with the Michigan Public Employment Relations Act, which allows collective bargaining for public employees, because the act does not extend the right to strike and has no provision for a final resolution of a bargaining impasse in the event that voluntary settlement is not achieved. Neither voluntary negotiation nor…

The speaker establishes himself in opposition to teacher strikes, outlines the scope of teacher strikes, discusses arguments for and against the right of teachers to strike, presents the kinds of strikes that are possible, outlines what a board and the administration can do to head off a strike, and presents the American Association of School…

This paper describes the context and conditions leading up to the November 1998 Jersey City Education Association (JCEA) strike, including the JCEA's history, state takeover of the district, and constraints in New Jersey's collective bargaining law that hampered the union's ability to address teacher dissatisfaction with curricular issues that…

Even though usually no one wants a strike in the schools, the trend during the last decade has been toward greater union activity on behalf of teachers, administrators, and other groups involved with the schools. The inevitable result has been an increase in the number not only of teacher strikes, but of administrator strikes as well. But usually…

The lessons of collective bargaining suggest a permanent, political, adversary relationship between teacher associations and school boards. Therefore, administrators must speak for good education, learn well the bargaining skills, and emphasize give and take in bargaining. Teacher associations may be expected to justify their existence, assume…

One of the biggest errors that boards of education make in collective bargaining concerns the selection of their bargaining team. A negotiator should be used who knows labor law, understands the educational process and its common practices, and is knowledgeable about school law. In addition to the negotiator, who should be the spokesman, the…

The attitudes that Mississippi public school teachers hold toward the use of collective, militant actions was the focus of the present research. Four-hundred and fifty elementary and secondary level teachers, representing a 75 percent response rate of the 600 randomly selected sample, responded to questions on the "Demographic Information…

An identity identification model may be used to isolate and understand the conflicts in communication that teacher's unions experience with the surrounding community when they strike. A union's identity is those attitudes held in common by the members; its identification is the attitudes toward it held by those in the surrounding community. During…

The fact that public employees do not have particular rights accorded private employees may not be inequity if public employees enjoy benefits not shared by private employees. Public employees' political influence on public sector bargaining is probably the most important difference between the two sectors. Political activity pays the teacher…

The responsibility for education in Australia rests with the states. Teachers in the state of New South Wales, as in other Australian states, are employed by the Public Service Board, which determines working conditions. Teachers are administered, however, under the Department of Education. Labor disputes in Australia are settled not by formal…

This document contains edited presentations given during a conference on teacher negotiations and solutions to impasse in Rhode Island. The principal speakers were Henry J. Nardone, chairman of the Elementary and Secondary Education Sub-Committee of the Board of Regents; Julius C. Michaelson, Attorney General for Rhode Island; and Dr. Peter…

A study used structuration theory to examine the climate of a school prior to a teachers' strike and explored the theory's value and explanatory power. The school is an older, established elementary school in a small town which borders on a major metropolitan area in the midwest. Data (collected over several weeks during school district…

In March 1990, teachers in 80% of the counties in West Virginia participated in a teacher strike. In this study, 83 striking teachers answered 10 open-ended questions put to them either through an interview or a questionnaire. The information was analyzed through a thematic analysis process. Teachers overwhelmingly felt they were not given the…