Community Participation and Teacher Bargaining: A Clash of Interests?

Abstract

The basic premise of our discussion is that collective bargaining in education constitutes an exclusionary process when it comes to direct citizen participation. This exclusionary structure came into direct conflict with the movement for community control which was based on broad-range inclusionary process. First, there will be a review of two developments in the evolution of collective bargaining. Attention will concentrate on teacher organization and community alliances that existed in some urban centers prior to teacher unions becoming a power base in educational politics. An analysis then will be offered detailing how the demands of teacher unions and the movement for community control led to the erosion of parent/union cooperation. Second, an account of parent discontent with the present bargaining structure will be cited. Thirdly, to concretely illustrate the exclusionary nature of bargaining and the troubling issues being negotiated which are of general citizen concern, a brief analysis will be made of the 1975 teacher/board strike settlements in New York City and Boston. Finally, based on our first-hand experience with negotiations and a review of the evidence, we shall conclude by arguing for a radical alternative to the prevailing negotiations structure.