Negotiators Agree on Goal: Repeal the QEO

Local association negotiators who assembled at the Statewide Bargaining Conference November 9 reached a clear conclusion: The state's collective bargaining law has to be changed.

"We are not going to take the kind of abuse we've been taking for the last three years," said Mary Bell, of Wisconsin Rapids, chair of the Teacher Bargaining Goals Committee. "But it's not going to go away unless we do something about it." Her comments were echoed by Ray Heideman, of Kenosha, chair of the Education Support Staff Bargaining Goals Committee.

Action was the focus of most discussions as negotiators lamented the stranglehold that the "Qualified Economic Offer" law has placed on them. Meeting at the conference, the Bargaining Goals Committee approved a strategy that asks each local to adopt a unified Bargaining Goals Resolution. The resolution states the locals will not acquiesce to the QEO but will seek fair, voluntary settlements.

In the meantime, negotiators should take the lead in pushing for changes in the law, which has given all the leverage to school boards and made it extremely difficult for locals to negotiate anything other than a 3.8% total package increase.

WEAC Government Relations Director John Stocks said members must aggressively pursue every avenue to improve the collective bargaining climate in Wisconsin. That includes legal efforts, lobbying activities, coalition-building, and creative bargaining strategies.

"You are the engine behind this union," Stocks said. "We are not going to be successful at the Capitol until you decide you are going to act like a union and act collectively. ... Legislators won't believe that changes to our collective bargaining law are necessary until our members demand that changes be made."

Local negotiators can take the lead by being firm and creative at the bargaining table and by talking to legislators and the public about how the QEO is harming them.

"Refuse to accept anything that is not above the QEO," he said.

Bob West, WEAC's director of collective bargaining, reminded negotiators of two basic rules of bargaining: "set your sights high and never give in" and "no contract is better than a bad contract."

"If we are going to do anything for our members and for kids, it starts with collective bargaining," he said.

WEAC Executive Director Charles Lentz said members need to address the bargaining crisis created by the QEO law and the underlying crisis of waning public confidence in public education.

WEAC's Vanguard Project, he said, is designed to develop innovative strategies for addressing both crises. The 33 Vanguard locals, he said, will engage in "vigorous collective bargaining."

Posted November 13, 1996

Carol Radtke receives bargaining award