StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Education Sector & Collective Bargaining - Research Paper Example

Cite this document
Summary
Collective bargaining refers to “legal and authorized process where employees, collectively though a platform of a union or group, negotiate various aspects of employment. This paper is an attempt to shed some light on the same with the help of different arguments and perspectives. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94% of users find it useful
Education Sector & Collective Bargaining
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Education Sector & Collective Bargaining"

?Running Head: Education Sector & Collective Bargaining Education Sector & Collective Bargaining [Institute’s Education Sector & Collective Bargaining Introduction According to its definition, collective bargaining refers to “legal and authorized process where employees, collectively though a platform of a union or group, negotiate various aspects of employment ad business such as salaries, benefits, transfers, empowerment, authority, decision making and others, with the employers” (English, 2011). Despite the fact that collective bargaining is now prevalent is almost all public and private sector industries, the case of education is a bit different. There still are significant differences between the nature of collective bargaining in other industries and in education. This paper is an attempt to shed some light on the same with the help of different arguments and perspectives. Discussion It was in the year 1935 when the congress passed National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act), which still guarantees the employees working in the private sector to form unions and use collective bargaining. Furthermore, this law also forces the institutions to respect these unions and allow these employees to bargain from the platforms of these unions (Loveless, 2000). It is also interesting to note the impact of collective bargaining power on educational levels and performance of students. According to the recent statistics provided by “National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) of the 52 American Jurisdictions” (English, 2011), Virginia is only American, which prohibits collective bargaining in education sector and still ranks at the seventh position when it comes to assessment of grade 4th students in reading. Furthermore, out of the top 30 states in this list, Virginia is the only one to prohibit collective bargaining. It is also interesting to note that the rest of the four states which prohibit collective bargaining in education, “North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and South Carolina” (English, 2011) appear on that list on 31st, 34th, 37th and 42th position respectively. Even in case of assessment of the knowledge of science of the fourth grade students in these states, all the states except of Virginia, which prohibit collective bargaining in education, had lesser scores than the aggregate average of the entire country (English, 2011). Furthermore, as move towards the statistics provided for the grade 8 and grade 12 students, a visible trend appears. All others states, which prohibit collective bargaining, remain at the bottom but Virginia also keep falling down in the ranking (English, 2011). According to the researches regarding the salaries of teachers, especially in the public schools, most teachers are paid with single salary schedule. Regardless of which grade and subject they teach the criteria for determining their salary remains the same, which depends heavily on their degrees, qualification, and their years of service. There are almost no schools or teachers with bargain on other factors such as difficulty of the job, working with at risk children, working conditions, previous performance, or time required by the children, researches required, and others (English, 2011). The concept of merit based pay is still far way in education sector, however, in other sectors, merit based pay is an existing and growing phenomenon (Hannaway & Rotherham, 2006). Nevertheless, as one move up the hierarchy of education undergraduate, masters level education and so on, the power to bargaining the salary with experience and educational qualification increases. There are fewer teachers for higher education, thus they are able to exercise significant power over the bargaining power duties (Moo, 1999; Imber & Geel, 2010). Collective bargaining in various industries and professions involving measures such as strikes and walkouts; however, they cannot be applied in the same way in the educational sector. This is true because professions of doctors, teachers, and law enforcement agencies provided important and urgent services to the society (Imber & Geel, 2010). Important here is to understand the difference between important and urgent services. All other professions provide services, which are important, but at times, they are not urgent (Loveless, 2000). A slight delay in them will not take lives or would not raise moral questions. However, if doctors go on a strike or police officers stop fighting with crime then lives may be lost. Furthermore, if teachers go on a strike, then may questions would be raised regarding their ethical and moral values (English, 2011). It is also important to note that collective bargaining at the higher education differ greatly from that of other primary and secondary level education. There are chances that in higher education, there would be much more employees than compared to that of primary and secondary education institutions (Hannaway & Rotherham, 2006). In many states, the statues and rules regarding “collective bargaining with higher education institutions” (Moo, 1999) are different from that of district schools and high schools. It is also likely that the interests of faculty members in a higher educational institution would differ greatly from each other, thus the idea of gathering these people under one umbrella would be difficult duties (Moo, 1999; Imber & Geel, 2010). Collective bargaining in schools and other educational institutions is also different because if collective bargaining, in its truest sense, is applied in schools, then there are chances that the consequences would not be good for the institutions and especially the students. For example, collective bargaining would make it virtually impossible for the school administration to transfer or fire any teacher based on any performance. Even if the teacher had done anything wrong, it would take weeks before the school administration could go through all the procedures and prove the same to the unions (Imber & Geel, 2010). The loss of time of students and the gap created during that period would not be easy to compensate. Furthermore, if true collective bargaining is put in place then teachers will also reserve the right to complain if any evaluator, observer of school authority or principal comes into the class unannounced (Hannaway & Rotherham, 2006). Quite understandably, it is imperative for teacher evaluation to visit the class announced every occasionally to get hold of the ground realities and teacher performance. Only announced evaluations would mean that teachers would get all the time in world to show a different side of them and then behave differently for the rest of the time (Hannaway & Rotherham, 2006). With proper collective bargaining, teacher may also reserve the right to limit the number of meetings, conferences, and open houses where it is mandatory for them to interact with the parents. School administrations and parents always want to have maximum number of such events so that they could remain in touch about the education of their children (Loveless, 2000). Nevertheless, if teachers assume this authority then there are all the chances that would limit that to the minimum for their comfort and least possible confrontation. In addition, collective bargaining may also allow the teachers and other school staff to use the classroom and other school facilities for their personal or individual use to some extent (Loveless, 2000; Hannaway & Rotherham, 2006). Conclusion Therefore, towards the end, it is understandable enough to conclude that collective bargaining in educational institutions is much different from other industries and institutions. Furthermore, as we move up to the ladder of education towards higher education, the nature, and dynamics of collective bargaining is different. Education is different from other services, students are not the customers despite the fact that they appear to be, teachers are different from other employees, and the importance, urgency, and criticalness of this service and other factors greatly differentiate it from other services and industries (Loveless, 2000). It is also important to note that most of the efforts in collective bargaining are directed towards empowering the employees to obtain their just rights so that any injustice from the side of the employers could be stopped and prevented. After years and years of injustice and exploitation of workers by factories and employers during the industrial revolution, collective bargaining and other means of empowering employees became imperative. Employees are the focal point in any business environment in most of the industries and businesses. Nevertheless, the same is not true with similar intensity in case of educational institutions. The “prime” concern or moral responsibility of educational institutions is not to ensure flexibility, comforts, and benefits but it is to ensure that the children of the nation are on the right path. Educational institutions are there to help in constructing a generation of leaders, educated, literate, and thoughtful people who could make this world a better place. Therefore, the focus should remain on doing the same and not allowing the teachers with ways to minimize their responsibilities and run away from their duties (Moo, 1999); Hannaway & Rotherham, 2006). References English, F. W. (2011). The SAGE Handbook of Educational Leadership: Advances in Theory, Research, and Practice. SAGE. Hannaway, J., & Rotherham, A. J. (2006). Collective bargaining in education: negotiating change in today's schools. Harvard Education Press. Imber, M., & Geel, T. V. (2010). A Teacher's Guide to Education Law. Taylor & Francis. Loveless, T. (2000). Conflicting missions: teachers unions and educational reform. Brookings Institution Press. Moo, G. G. (1999). Power grab: how the National Education Association is betraying our children. Regnery Publishing. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Education Sector & Collective Bargaining Research Paper”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/education/1428353-education-sector-collective-bargaining
(Education Sector & Collective Bargaining Research Paper)
https://studentshare.org/education/1428353-education-sector-collective-bargaining.
“Education Sector & Collective Bargaining Research Paper”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/education/1428353-education-sector-collective-bargaining.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Education Sector & Collective Bargaining

Collective Bargaining at West University

collective bargaining at West University Your Name Due Date 1.... However by proving that teaching assistants, RAs, and CDAs are not, actually, employees then the laws regarding unionization and collective bargaining would, simply, not apply to them (McHugh, 2011)....
8 Pages (2000 words) Case Study

Public Sector vs. Private Sector

One of the key differences between public sector and private sector collective bargaining concerns the structure and ways in which upper management receives pay increases.... Private Sector One of the key differences between public sector and private sector collective bargaining concerns the structure and ways in which upper management receives pay increases.... Indeed union negotiations are one of the major distinguishing characteristics in private and public sector collective bargaining....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

HRM on International Context

  It can be noted that Germany's labor systems have been characterized by collective agreements where the workers agree on collective bargaining instead of embarking on industrial action to press for more wages.... However, the issue has been to test to see if MNCs and larger national fast-food employers would respond to sectoral level bargaining as well as the extent of effectiveness of the German system of statutory employee representation in practice....
7 Pages (1750 words) Coursework

Collective Bargaining Dispute

collective bargaining “consists of negotiations between an employer and a group of employees so as to determine the conditions of employment”(Cornell University Law School, n.... hellip; Aside from determining the conditions of employment, another purpose of a collective bargaining agreement is to have definite rules that will govern the relationship between the employer and employee(International Labour Organization, 2007). The collective bargaining dispute collective bargaining Dispute collective bargaining Dispute collective bargaining “consists of negotiations between an employer and a group of employees so as to determine the conditions of employment”(Cornell University Law School, n....
2 Pages (500 words) Research Paper

Collective Bargaining at West University

This paper, collective bargaining at West University, discusses labor laws which have been established to give employees protection on matters related to their employment, compensation amount, working conditions along with working environment so that they can perform their duties comfortably.... For instance, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was passed for encouraging collective bargaining and balancing the power of workers with that of the management; the legislation even assists in the elimination of the company's practices of setting up unions with the purpose of discouraging outside unions to organize their employees....
8 Pages (2000 words) Assignment

Development of Collective Bargaining in the United States

The negotiations in relation to collective bargaining are likely to take place in relation to the working regulations that the employers and the employees need to follow… However, in this context the main stress will be laid upon the scenario observed in the United States with regard to the collective bargaining policies.... The main objective would be to analyze the previous and the current trends of collective bargaining policies that the Development of collective bargaining in the United s Introduction The topic of the discussion will comprise the development of collective bargaining in the United States....
2 Pages (500 words) Research Paper

Employers and Collective Bargaining

This paper "Employers аnd collective bargaining" discusses ѕome divergence among Europeаn ѕtateѕ in public ѕervice employment relationѕ.... Stateѕ operating career civil ѕervice ѕyѕtemѕ ѕtill generally determine public ѕervice pay unilaterally through thе law, while thoѕe ѕtateѕ with contractual ѕtaff ѕyѕtemѕ uѕe varying formѕ of collective bargaininging.... Thе international legal tendencieѕ ѕupport more limited lineѕ of the collective bargain for thе civilѕ ѕervаnt, particularly perѕonnel, (Bach, 1999,21) military police force аnd perѕonnel working with thе adminiѕtration tate....
11 Pages (2750 words) Case Study

The Significance for Employees of the Decline in Trade Union Recognition and Collective Bargaining

To this end, it is submitted at the outset that the decline in recognition and collective bargaining is inherently complex and whilst clearly raising implications for employee rights.... hellip; The previous section highlights that notwithstanding the Labour government's attempts to address the imbalance caused by Thatcher's anti-union legislative agenda, in reality, the market liberalization policies of New Labour have contributed to a continued decline in union membership and collective bargaining, particularly in the private sector....
10 Pages (2500 words) Term Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us