Sunday, May 9, 2010
First Class
Today I learned differences of Interest Based Bargaining and Traditional Bargaining for collective bargaining. The school I currently work at is union free and negotiations are compared to "working things out at the dinner table"; contrary to the conception, negotiations best resembles Traditional Bargaining. There is not much dialogue in understanding the interests of each side. The teachers present a proposal with few requests and the board/superintendent are quick to accept a few changes and then state what financial concessions can be made. The offer is brought back to the whole and voted on for acceptance. Interest Based Bargaining would be beneficial to allow for, if nothing else, hearing what concerns each side has. Growth of the organization and continued health can be accomplished through this approach. Both sides are forced to work together, build relationships, and develop trust. All of these skills can be applied to other areas of a school organization. A "ah ah" moment was seeing how bargaining changes when one or both parties have little to lose in a relationship. When one or both sides are disconnected, it is easy to try and take advangage in the bargaining.
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I have been through the IBB training. It was long and much of the training was common sense. My experience was IBB in a wall-to-wall union. We had over 30 people at the table. There were bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, board members, administrators, and the superintendent. In addition, the uniserve person was present for the union and Ron Booth was present for the management side. The IBB trainer was also present to facilitate much of the discussion. It gets frustrating when, for example, the bus driver has an opinion about something that has nothing to do with him (faculty dress). The process was long but if it were not for the sub-committees, it would have taken much longer. There was no conflict and an agreement was reached with little controversy.
ReplyDeleteI have had no experience with collective bargaining (thank goodness)so yesterday's class was fairly interesting. Growing up in a pro-union household, I remember the labor/management struggles. I remember the strikes. Dad coming home angry after union meetings. I remember the struggle that the traditional bargaining methods brought. It was the "us" versus "them" mentality. The IBB philosophy just makes so much more sense. I use a form of it almost daily dealing with staff and issues. I have discovered that my staff comes up with some great ideas. I haven't experienced IBB in negotiations, but it just seems to make sense.
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