This paper examines the 1991 graduate assistant strike at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the underlying reasons for the strike, and the role of graduate assistants at American universities. It argues that low pay, lack of fringe benefits, poor working conditions, and uncompromising administration attitudes forced graduate assistants…

This book contains the views of 40 contributors on women and unions, organized into 15 chapters on six topics: Closing the Wage Gap; Meeting Family Needs; Temporary and Part-Time Work: Opportunity or Danger?; Homework; Developing a Realistic Approach; New Directions in Organizing and Representing Women; and Female Leadership and Union Cultures:…

This booklet, part of the Education Policy Institute series about teacher union issues, clarifies the concept of parent involvement in educational reform, analyzing the treatment of parents in collective bargaining contracts between teacher unions and school boards and in union policy resolutions. Chapter 1 introduces the issue, offering an…

This document recounts the events, from the administration's point of view, leading to the inception of collective bargaining between the City Colleges of Chicago and the Cook County College Teachers Union in 1967. In this account, Chancellor Shabat recalls the critical closing moments of the negotiations during the spring of 1967. For some time…

A significant change is under way in the organization and management of work. The work force can be managed in two ways, one based on control and the other based on commitment. The traditional--or control-oriented--approach took shape in the early 1900s in response to the division of work into small, fixed jobs for which individuals were held…

Limited research has been conducted on the direct and indirect impact of union-management cooperation (UMC) programs on worker autonomy, work group effectiveness, and worker satisfaction. For this study, a research questionnaire designed to explore these relationships was mailed to four Ohio unions and was returned by 339 members. Workers at…

Adversarial collective bargaining often leads to lingering resentments. Collaborative bargaining, conversely, is a problem-solving approach to contract negotiations based on common interests and mutual respect. Recognizing the interrelationship between trust at schools and trust at the bargaining table, a growing number of school districts are…

This study of available evidence on cooperative union-management efforts to solve employment problems indicates that roughly one-half of the larger unionized manufacturing facilities have embarked on cooperative efforts. Thus, larger firms have already made the decision to cooperate or not, and targeting government money to them to encourage…

The Duluth (Minnesota) Public Schools have used participative management in various forms for several years, involving staff members in district level budgeting, school level budgeting and objective setting, and providing advice on a variety of issues. In 1984, the school board established participative management as a consistent, permanent…

This resource guide outlines the labor/management approach supported in the new legislation regarding worker dislocation and training. It provides companies and unions with the initial information necessary to establish a labor/management committee. Section 1 discusses the benefits to employees and employers of establishing a work force reduction…

Reviewed in this chapter are decisions handed down in 1982 involving aspects of collective bargaining. Much of this litigation is perceived as rooted in attempts by school boards to upset awards of arbitrators or by efforts of employees' associations to consolidate dearly-won power; these actions result from many boards' and associations'…

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…

A theory of strikes in higher education and a statistical analysis of strike activity are presented in this newsletter issue. The report on the theory of strikes in an article by Lisa Flanzraich addresses the absence of strikes on campuses during fall 1982 and the conditions in which strikes occur. The absence of strikes could be proof of the…

Intended as a resource for secondary teachers, this book analyzes the role of unions in the American economy and examines the main forces influencing unions in the United States. This second edition includes important domestic and external events that have affected U.S. economic policy and unions since the first edition was published in 1976.…

This resource booklet was prepared by classroom teachers for use with social studies students at the secondary school level. Ideas and concepts that social studies teachers need to know in order to present the role of labor unions in the current economy are reviewed. These concepts include the principle of scarcity, trade-offs, how wages are…