FanPost

Collective Bargaining Primer

For those of you who haven’t been involved in the collective bargaining process, a perspective from one who has. Approximately 20 years ago, I was teaching in a large district. The superintendent was a widely respected and trusted man. If Dr. Bill said it was so, it most likely was so. I, being active in the teacher’s union, was selected to be a part of the bargaining team. The superintendent, being a wise man, enrolled all participants (from both sides) in a two-day seminar on the collective bargaining process. This is what I learned.

There are two basic collective bargaining models. One is adversarial. “We only can win if you lose.” According to the presenters (three people from the business world) this model is rarely successful, and usually results in long lasting, deep-seated feelings of animosity towards the opposing position.

The second model (I can’t remember the name of the model) is based on the premise “No one wins unless we all win”. Without going into details, our negotiations were based on this second model, and were quite successful. We teachers did not get all we wanted, but we got some things we hadn’t thought about asking for.

So. Which model do we all hope the owners and players negotiators use?




This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.