This article examines the legal and political significance of teacher unionization in rural and suburban school districts between 1960 and 1975. While most historians focus on the growth of unions in urban areas, strikes in outlying districts played a determinative role in the development of public sector labor law, particularly in the arbitration…

School superintendents have many roles, and being responsible for collective bargaining is one of those roles in states where collective bargaining is mandatory. This role has changed over the years, and it varies from school district to school district. As teacher associations and unions have increased in number and strength, superintendents and…

Background/Context: Although the dominant narrative of the civil rights movement marginalizes the role of black educators, revisionist scholars have shown that a significant number of black teachers encouraged student protest and activism. There has, however, been little analysis of the work of black teachers inside segregated schools in the…

To examine the perceptions of superintendents regarding the issues involved in teacher strikes and how they see strikes affecting principals, students, school boards, and themselves, a list of the districts throughout the United States that had experienced a strike during the years 1984 through 1987 was obtained from the Government Employee…

Leaders of the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and the American School Boards Association predict problems and possible solutions that teachers will face in the future. Subjects include collective bargaining, strikes, relevant inservice and preservice teacher training, teacher competency tests, and cooperation.…

Offers predictive propositions concerning what happens when the school board is the initiator of change and the union is the protector of the status quo. (Author/JM)

This document proposes a model for the administrative involvement necessary to the negotiation of effective labor contracts in the schools. A historical analysis of laws, statutes, and significant court cases provides insight into the present scope, complexity, and limitations of collective bargaining in the schools of Washington State. Trends in…

Explains Connecticut's Teacher Negotiation Act (October 1979), designed to bring about negotiated contract settlements resolving board/teacher impasses and thereby avoid strikes. Responses to the author's questionnaire of Connecticut board members, district administrators, and teachers reveal broad recognition of the law's effectiveness but doubt…

Teachers made economic gains in 18 of the 25 economically motivated teacher strikes occurring in Minnesota in 1981. Analysis suggests that school boards' prestrike offers strongly influenced strike activity, that public-sector bargaining is in an early developmental stage, and that labor markets for certified teachers are statewide. (PGD)

Beginning with a review of recent literature on social conflict, this study adopts Coser's distinction between realistic conflict, which seeks to balance both sides of a disagreement, and nonrealistic conflict, which seeks domination by only one party. Where nonrealistic conflict develops in intense labor-management disputes in public school…

Researchers analyzed 127 public school teachers' strikes in New Jersey during the 36 school years from 1945 through 1981, presenting their data in over 60 tables. Data were collected from newspapers, magazines, and journals; through personal interviews; and via a questionnaire survey of affiliates of the New Jersey Education Association and the…