Collective Bargaining: Bringing Education to the Table

Michigan parents, citizens, and policy makers have begun an earnest discussion over the issues that affect the quality of children's education, but one issue that is rarely considered in discussions about education reform is public school union collective bargaining. This Mackinac Center for Public Policy study is the first ever to systematically analyze the hundreds of collective bargaining agreements for every school district in a state. It examines collective bargaining's impact on Michigan public education and makes recommendations that school boards should incorporate into their union contracts to improve their ability to direct maximum resources to the classroom and deliver quality education to students. The study also explains the historical and legal framework of public employee collective bargaining in Michigan, analyzes seven important court rulings that affect public collective bargaining issues, and advises districts on which subjects to negotiate or not negotiate into their labor contracts. Three appendices compare costs and benefits of various health care plans and present contract and financial data from the survey of Michigan's 583 school districts.

Contents

• Foreword
• Executive Summary
• Part I: The State of School Collective Bargaining
  • Introduction
    • Public and Private Sector Collective Bargaining Are Not the Same
    • Public School Collective Bargaining Must Change to Stay Revelant
    • Purpose and Methodology of this Study
    • The History of Collective Bargaining in Michigan Public Education
      • Michigan's Public Employment Relations Act
      • A String of Illegal Teacher Strikes
      • Public Act 112 of 1994
  • Fundamentals of Collective Bargaining
    • Mandatory Subjects of Bargaining
    • Permissive Subjects of Bargaining
    • Prohibited Subjects of Bargaining
    • Exhibition 1
  • Shortcomings of the Collective Bargaining Process
    • "Factory Model" Collective Bargaining Is Not Well Suited to Quality Education
    • Standard or "Pattern" Contract Languages Does Not Meet the Needs of Individual Schools and Districts
    • Collective Bargaining Politicizes Local School Boards
    • Collective Bargaining Hinders School Management Decision Making
    • Collective Bargaining Inhibits Open Communication
    • Collective Bargaining Fosters Numerous Conflicting Agendas
    • Collective Bargaining and Contract Administration Are Expensive
    • Overcoming the Shortcomings of Collective Bargaining
• Part II: Advancing the State of School Collective Bargaining
  • Improving the Language in Collective Bargaining Agreements
    • Improvement #1: Strengthen Management Rights Clauses
    • Improvement #2: Limit Exclusive Bargaining Representative Clause
    • Improvement #3: Remove Union Security Clauses
    • Improvement #4: Limit "Just Cause" Discipline and Discharge Clause
    • Improvement #5: Strengthen Teacher Evaluation Clauses
    • Improvement #6: Replace Seniority-Based Salary Schedules with Performance-Based Pay Scales
    • Improvement #7: Examine and Completely Bid Health Care Benefit Options
    • Improvement #8: Eliminate Class Size Limitation Clauses
  • Court Decisions
    • Abood v Detroit Board of Education
    • Chicago Teachers Local 1 v Hudson
    • Lehnert v Ferris Faculty Association
    • Buzenius v NLRB
    • Air Line Pilots Association v Miller
    • Bromley v MEA/NEA, et al.
    • Weaver v University of Cincinnati
    • Conclusion
• Appendix I: Health Care Options for School Districts
  • Alternative Plan Concepts
  • Michigan Educational Special Services Association
  • School Employers Trust, Inc.
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan
  • Health Maintenance Organizations
  • Third Party Other Than MESSA and SET
• Appendix II: Select Data from 583 Michigan K-12 School Collective Bargaining Agreements
  • Appendix II Data Sheet (A-B)
  • Appendix II Data Sheet (C)
  • Appendix II Data Sheet (D-F)
  • Appendix II Data Sheet (G-H)
  • Appendix II Data Sheet (I-L)
  • Appendix II Data Sheet (M-N)
  • Appendix II Data Sheet (O-R)
  • Appendix II Data Sheet (S-U)
  • Appendix II Data Sheet (V-Z)
• Appendix III: 1995-1996 Selected Financial Data
• Endnotes
• Acknowledgements