‘Win-Win’ School Contract Talks Urged

When labor contracts expire and negotiations begin anew, in most school districts that is the time for teachers and management to dig their trenches for bargaining-table war. Rhetoric rises on both sides, threats of job actions ensue and it can take months to hammer out an agreement.

But in about a dozen school districts statewide, including Alhambra and Santa Monica-Malibu in Los Angeles County, district and teacher officials have changed tactics and adopted a quicker, less contentious method of bargaining known as “win-win.”

Two Los Angeles school board members, Julie Korenstein and Warren Furutani, say they would like the Los Angeles Unified School District to switch to the win-win approach because traditional collective bargaining is not working.

Deadlocked on pay and other issues despite nine months at the bargaining table, Los Angeles teachers are boycotting a number of their usual duties and the district has begun docking salaries in retaliation. Union leaders, recalling the one-day walkout of two years ago, say a strike is possible.

Talks With School Board

“We need to get out of this adversary relationship,” Furutani told a press conference this week. “We’re going to settle sometime and work together again, (but) if there is bitterness and antagonism, what kind of education are our children going to get?”

Instead of using professional negotiators, under the “win-win” approach the school board deals directly with teacher representatives. Developed by a Miami sociologist, Irving Goldaber, the method provides a highly structured process through which both sides outline their objectives and concerns and agree to work together to resolve differences. Proponents say it reduces animosity, improves communication and results in quicker resolution of conflicts. Typically, a contract is signed within 30 days.

Although two Los Angeles school board members favor the change, a majority of their colleagues have a different opinion.

“Since 1970 we’ve used the same process, with professional negotiators, and we have used it successfully,” board President Roberta Weintraub said. “We have never had a year without a contract. Because the process has worked so successfully, and because we feel by sitting tight we will have a major contract signed, the rest of the board feels this is not the time to engage in face-to-face negotiations.”

‘No Game-Playing’

But Peggy Lyons, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu school board, said traditional bargaining often creates “a lot of innuendo and game-playing and ways for things to go wrong.” With the win-win process “you eliminate all that stuff and deal directly with each other.”

Santa Monica-Malibu used the win-win method for the first time last year to reach a new contract, after years of tension between teachers and the district.

The Alhambra school district switched to the win-win approach four years ago.

“All of us had felt that by sending representatives to do the bargaining for us, the Board of Education was not really hearing what the problems of teachers were,” said Michael Lauder, president of the Alhambra Teachers Assn. “(Win-win) requires that you look at the other side’s concerns, as well as your own. For us, it’s been very successful.”

In Alhambra, the process begins with an intensive weekend session devoted to clearing the air.

“You ask questions that everybody would love to ask but would never dare to, like why does the administration hate teachers? Or why do you as board members seem to be racists?” said Rose Bard, assistant superintendent for personnel. “There is an opportunity to (have a) dialogue. Then, you reach mutual agreement on what areas you are going to negotiate and the resolution is right there because the decision-makers are right there.”

Negotiating Teams

After the bargaining issues are defined, the board members and teacher representatives break into teams, each tackling a different issue, such as salaries, working conditions and teacher rights and responsibilities.

The sessions often lasted into the wee hours. “But you always know it is going to end,” Bard said. After a month of negotiating, Alhambra by last August had an agreement with its teachers, and was the first district in the county to reach a contract this year.

Union leader Lauder said he believes the win-win approach has resulted in a better contract for teachers. Although union officials were initially “scared to death” by the district’s proposal to change bargaining methods, they ultimately agreed because they felt the board, through the intermediaries, never got accurate reports about teachers’ working conditions and concerns.

For example, the union for years had wanted the board to eliminate yard duty for elementary teachers to give them more time to prepare lessons, but “the board would always come back and say no,” Lauder said. In the first contract negotiated face-to-face, the teachers’ longstanding request was finally granted.

Union Chief Backs Idea

United Teachers-Los Angeles President Wayne Johnson said direct negotiations with the school board might be a good idea. “Two years ago we negotiated for 10 months and threatened to strike. This time, negotiations have been dragging on since January,” he said. “Obviously . . . there’s got to be a better way.”

Officials in Santa Monica and Alhambra say the win-win approach has some drawbacks. It takes time to adjust to the new bargaining style. Then, negotiations move so fast that important details might be overlooked.

Dick Odgers, manager of bargaining services for the California Teachers Assn., the largest teachers’ organization in the state, said the win-win method is “a trendy thing to talk about now” but that it is not a cure-all.

“If you look at the state as a whole and look at the very small percentage of bargaining situations that results in confrontation, then it’s obvious something is working pretty well out there,” he said. “(Win-win) is just another technique.”