Doyle Budget Would Restore Fair Collective Bargaining
Governor Doyle's 2003-05 state budget plan not only
repeals the onerous Qualified Economic Offer law but replaces it with
a fair system of teacher collective bargaining that will allow more
innovation in education, according to a new WEAC budget brief.
Key points of the brief:
- The QEO law has taken decision-making power away from teachers,
and it is having a negative impact on the quality of our schools.
- The QEO law allows school boards to limit teacher compensation and
avoid a fair process in bargaining.
- If teachers reject the school board's offer, the board can unilaterally
impose a QEO, leaving teachers with no legal means to achieve resolution.
- Actual practice shows that when districts impose a QEO, teachers
do not even keep up with the rate of inflation.
Under the new teacher collective bargaining law proposed as part of
the governor's budget:
- School districts will no longer be able to avoid binding arbitration
by offering a QEO to its employees.
- To be consistent with the state Supreme Court decision in Vincent
v. Voight, when collective bargaining goes to arbitration, arbitrators
must consider whether the final offers promote an equal opportunity
for a sound basic education.
- Education policy issues must be subjects of bargaining, but not
subject to arbitration without the agreement of both parties.
- The teachers' bargaining unit may 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.
Read the entire budget brief
Posted February 26, 2003