The tables have turned on Michigan's public school boards and other school officials. As a result of changes to the state's labor law in 2023, school districts face the risk of losing some authority to determine who should be teaching in their classrooms. Teachers unions are empowered once again to demand districts treat teachers as if they are…

School districts implement a variety of initiatives that too often fall short. This case study investigated how one public school district in southeastern Michigan implemented interest based-bargaining (IBB). The study also sought to understand the factors that influenced the decision-making process and what was considered when making…

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…

The literature on collective bargaining in public education typically argues whether such bargaining is good public policy or bad, sound or unsound, and so forth. No studies to date have measured the actual impact of differing kinds of collective bargaining legislation on local school boards' decisionmaking powers. This study examined whether two…

Surveys of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin school board members indicate significant impact of state collective bargaining legislation on perceived ability of board members to perform legislatively prescribed duties. (Author/JBM)

The history of events leading to the merger of the Flint, Michigan AFT and NEA units Plus some observations on merger steps being taken elsewhere. (MF)

Examines the use of final-offer arbitration in public sector collective bargaining in five states. (PKP)

A policies and procedures manual for all administrators in the multicampus Macomb County Community College district, with the exception of the highest executive officers at the district level, and for all administrators at the campus level, including the dean of the campus, i.e., president, is provided. Following a preamble, the articles of the…

This study measures the amount of agreement among rural, urban, and central city superintendents, principals, and teachers concerning the role of the principal in collective negotiations and the scope and structure of the negotiation process. Analysis of data obtained from Indiana and Michigan respondents revealed that administrators desire to…

The purpose of this booklet is to place in perspective the role of the Michigan State Board of Education, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Michigan Department of Education in collective bargaining in education. Part 1 discusses the role of the State Board of Education in developing policy with respect to teacher-school board…

A STUDY OF 10 SCHOOL DISTRICTS TESTED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT CLASHES BETWEEN SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS AND TEACHERS' UNIONS ARE DUE LARGELY TO THE CONFLICTING PERCEPTIONS OF THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR'S LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR AS DESCRIBED BY THE ADMINISTRATOR HIMSELF, BY THE SCHOOL BOARD, AND BY MEMBERS OF THE TEACHERS' UNION. ACCORDING TO THE LEADER BEHAVIOR…

As faculty and other public sector unions become more sophisticated in collective bargaining, they tend to lay a greater variety of demands on the table. This, in turn, forces the employer to ask, Do I really have to bargain about these subjects? As more employers refuse to bargain, more unions charge them with failing to bargain in good faith,…

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…