Collective bargaining improvements
Background
In order for the great teachers and staff members in Wisconsin’s
public schools to be fully effective, they must be part of the decision-making
in how the school is run. If Wisconsin is to recruit and retain the
best and the brightest educators, it must restore fairness to the state
bargaining law. Additional improvements in the collective bargaining
process must be adopted.
Legislative history
Governor Doyle’s 2003-2005 budget bill offered new innovative
improvements in the bargaining law. However, the legislature never permitted
a vote on these new bargaining concepts. Members of the Joint Finance
Committee stripped the items from the state budget calling them “non-fiscal
policy."
WEAC position
The Wisconsin Education Association Council supports bargaining law
changes included in Governor Doyle’s 2003-2005 biennial budget
bill. These improvements would:
- Be consistent with the state Supreme Court decision in Vincent
v. Voight, require collective bargaining arbitrators to consider whether
the final offers promote an equal opportunity for a sound basic education.
- Require that education policy issues be subjects of bargaining,
but not subject to arbitration without the agreement of both parties.
- Authorize the teachers' bargaining unit to include, in its final
offer, items it believes are needed to meet pupil performance standards
if the employer's proposal links teacher compensation to pupil performance.
- Repeal the minimum 3.8 percent annual compensation increase for
nonrepresented school district employees. This provision was intended
to operate in conjunction with repeal of QEO provisions also included
in the budget.
Talking points
The new bargaining law will improve the quality of education
- The improvements would repeal an onerous law and replace it with
a system that will allow more innovation in education. Educators are
respected authorities on education policy and their wisdom and experience
need to be considered. Parents and communities look to educators for
advice about their children’s education.
- Education professionals are held increasingly responsible for delivering
a sound basic education. They should have the corresponding authority
to make the decisions that shape their ability to deliver a quality
education. If an employer makes a proposal that relates employee compensation
or performance expectations to student performance, then the employees
should be able to bargain ways to meet those performance requirements
or expectations, even if such proposals concern education policy.
- The state must fulfill the Supreme Court's constitutional standard
articulated in the Vincent v. Voight case (2000 WI 93, 236 Wis.2d
588, 614 N.W.2d 388). In order to fulfill this standard, the state
must develop programs and appropriate funding levels for high-needs
students, including: special education students, limited English-proficient
students, and students in poverty. The new bargaining law will foster
innovation at the local level in ways that will help to achieve the
standard established by the Supreme Court
The new bargaining law will restore fairness to the bargaining process
- Education employees will once again feel a level of respect that
has been missing for nearly a decade. This new law will help local
communities attract and retain the best and the brightest in the education
profession.
- A new bargaining law that understands the nature of the modern
classroom will help us with our goal of providing every child with
a great school.
- The changes in the bargaining law will provide ample notice for
those involved in the local bargaining process to anticipate the bargaining
law changes.
Additional information
Contact Bob Burke at WEAC at 800-362-8034 ext. 254 or by e-mail at burkeb@weac.org
with any reactions, comments or questions.
Posted March 30, 2004
