Posted by
Waski_the_Squirrel on Thursday, July 27, 2006 10:10:17 PM
I want to describe how the union and the school board at one school have managed to create a really unpleasant teaching environment. I also want to talk about how I wound up being misquoted on the cover of two different major North Dakota newspapers. This is a long story, so to do it justice, I'm going to break it up over several days. I'm going to try to make Fridays a happy blog day, so I'll pick up this story again on Monday. Today, I'll summarize the legal side.
Before I get into that, I would like to give a shout out to
flagwaver who wrote an interesting blog about the need to support teachers instead of tear them down. Though I largely agree, I think my story will show how the unions themselves have turned people against them.
In North Dakota, schools boards negotiate a contract with teachers. Most schools do this once every 2 years because our legislature meets every 2 years and they want an idea what Bismarck is going to do before they decide how to budget for contracts. Negotiations can get heated or even nasty, but usually the board and union come to some kind of agreement. North Dakota is that kind of a place.
If an agreement cannot be reached, one side or the other declares "impasse". This means they have asked for an outside committee to come in, hold a hearing, and make recommendations. After the committee issues its recommendations, the two sides have 20 days to accept or reject the recommendations. If, after 20 days, a settlement is not reached, the committee publishes its findings in the local paper and assigns blame. This is where the process ends (but without a contract). The school board then has the power to simply impose a contract. Game over. Teachers are not allowed to strike, and I haven't heard of any other labor actions in the state.
If teachers don't like the imposed contract, they are, of course, free not to sign it. They will then need to find new employment. Very few are free enough to take this option.
A school at which I was recently employed has gone to impasse 4 times in the past 6 years. Three of those were right in a row. This school chose to bring in a one-line contract (which I described earlier). The union opposed it for reasons I described.
On Monday, I will pick up this story and get into the specifics. It may end up taking me until Tuesday or Wednesday. I may know the final ending by then. For Friday, I want to end the week with something happy and optimistic.