In Whithall (Michigan) schools, a teacher representative is included on the superintendent's administrative cabinet. Teacher participation has improved internal communication, aided in a campaign for a tax millage increase, and helped solve problems with teacher transfers. (MLF)

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)

Interest-bargaining involves focusing on the issues, segregating each issue, and assigning interests by each side to these issues until a mutually satisfactory option is reached. Cites effectiveness of interest-bargaining in 60 California school districts and an endorsement from the New York State School of industrial and Labor Relations at…

Labor studies are often not included or underemphasized in the elementary and secondary school curricula. This ERIC Digest examines major themes of labor studies; inclusion of these themes in the curriculum; likely positive outcomes of labor studies in the curriculum; and available resources for teachers and students. Key historical events, the…

This booklet describes how the effectiveness of a one-on-one internal labor union organizing effort can be improved by incorporating an organizing survey within the one-on-one canvassing process. It also explains how collective bargaining strategies can benefit from the inclusion of a survey of the bargaining unit. To explore these applications of…

This book serves as a practical guide to be used by public agencies that have entered into collective bargaining with their employees and must therefore face the possibility of employee strikes and acts of militancy. Seven major areas are addressed: distinctions between public sector and private sector strikes; the use of interest arbitration as…

This paper provides general guidelines for psychiatric mental health workers who work with children and adolescents in a residential treatment center. Twenty-four questions commonly asked by therapists in these situations are posed and answers are discussed for each question. Topics covered include why some patients appear perfectly normal, the…

An unfair labor practice is the violation of any right granted employees, unions, or employers by a collective bargaining law. This guide answers common questions about unfair labor practices in public sector labor relations. The booklet is divided into two sections, unfair employer labor practices and unfair union labor practices. The section…

Outlines the similarities and differences between traditional degree programs and industrial training programs and offers suggestions for colleges initiating industrial training efforts, covering areas such as administrative responses, the target group, internal communication, faculty, instructional implications, program delivery, finances,…

Negotiations proposals can be evaluated by assigning advantage points and plotting these values on a negotiations analysis graph. Provided to illustrate the procedure are a table containing all proposal items submitted by both bargaining teams showing advantage point evaluations; four figures, each with four graphs, are also included. (MLF)

This guide, which was developed from a list of labor-management best practice guidelines that was constructed by nationally recognized work labor-management relations professionals, businesspersons, and union representatives, is designed to help employers determine whether a consultant has the substantive, process, and interpersonal skills…

Determining whether an employee's First Amendment free speech interests should prevail over legitimate employer concerns for an efficient workplace is a difficult question that this book attempts to answer. To give public employers and public employees an understanding of the legal framework in which free speech issues are decided is the purpose…

A supplement to an earlier-published volume on bargaining tactics, this document presents specific tactics that can be used in the course of public sector collective bargaining to further management's pre-established negotiating strategies. All the tactics suggested are drawn from the author's personal experience as a public sector labor…

A long-term approach to collective bargaining is presented that involves school administrators and the union working together in a collaborative process of negotiation. In this way the bargaining process works as a series of opportunities for both parties to solve mutual problems. (MD)

A trustee of a Canadian public library discusses issues that must be addressed by the library board when the library staff forms a union. Suggestions are provided to aid in dealing with a union. (CHC)