collective bargaining

Starting Tuesday, the Medford School District and the classified employees represented by the Oregon School Employees Association will enter mediation with a neutral third party in the hopes of resolving stalemated contract negotiations.

When Newark teachers vote whether to ratify or reject a contract offering them bonuses based on classroom performance for the first time, school officials across the state will be watching.

The Chicago Board of Education has approved a three-year contract negotiated with the Chicago Teachers Union after a strike.

Chicago Teachers Union members voted overwhelmingly this week to approve a three-year contract, with the option of a fourth year, that was hammered out amid a historic seven-day CTU strike. Now comes the challenge of paying for the deal, which has so far largely played out as a battle between the union and district on school closings.

As Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanual pushes ahead on his promise to reform the city’s underperforming classrooms, he faces several daunting tasks: slashing an estimated $1 billion budget deficit, confronting a woefully underfunded employee pension system and finding money for the pay raises that settled the first teacher walkout in a generation. He hasn’t ruled out school closings and tax increases, both of which would be hugely unpopular.

During her tumultuous three years at the head of the Washington D.C. public schools, Michelle Rhee set off a lot of fireworks.

Not all public school educators opposed Senate Bill 5, though more than a few administrators and school board members stood beside the teachers’ unions in working to repeal the controversial collective bargaining law.