8:30 a.m. - 10:30

"LESSONS IN LABOR RELATIONS FROM SCHOOL REFORM EFFORTS"

Paul Vallas, Superintendent, New Orleans Recovery School District  

10:30 a.m.- 10:45 

Break

10:45 a.m.- 12:00 

Ken Babcock, Nebraska

As health costs and health insurance premiums continue to increase dramatically, much more time in negotiations is spent discussing the district’s health insurance plan and the district’s contribution to the plan.  Learn the pros and cons of various contribution methodologies as well as some means of controlling the total premium costs including self funding and wellness programs.

10:45 a.m.- 12:00 

Bargaining is Coming! Bargaining is Coming! The panic will slowly ebb and you can finally focus your attention.  But what do you focus on?  What are the essential things that you must do to prepare for labor negotiations.  Part One of this workshop will emphasize those things from the management perspective that are critical to adequately prepare for negotiations.  After all, preparation is a key to success in negotiations.

10:45 a.m.- 12:00 

This workshop is in a discussion group format and is a popular repeated event at our Annual Conference. Participants discuss current issues, trends, and problems facing negotiators in Canada .

12:00 p.m.

Lunch

1:00 p.m. - 2:15 

We’re prepared for negotiations, but what will the union do?  In a follow-up from the earlier session, Part Two of this workshop will emphasize the union tactics that are important for every management negotiator to know about going into labour negotiations.  Learn about Alinsky tactics, bamboozle the boss, the information march maneuver, the lazy day device, nail the negotiator and other tried-and-true union negotiations tactics. 

1:00 p.m. - 2:15 

This workshop represents an overview of significant U.S. cases in the last year that have impacted upon the educational sector both in labor management and educational law in general.

1:00 p.m. - 2:15 

Districts believe unions misrepresent their position to employees during negotiations and try to explain their position directly to employees; while unions claim this direct communication with employees is actually an attempt to undermine the union's negotiating position and its role as the negotiators for the employees. During this presentation we will explore the Do's and Don'ts of communicating with employees during negotiations and discuss developing a pro-active district strategy for public relations during difficult bargaining. The presentation will focus on Free Speech principles, permissible district communications during various stages of negotiations, union communications with the district and the public and practical advice/tips for effective communication.

2:15 p.m.

Break for the day

3:00 p.m. - 5:30

Tuesday, March 18

7:30 a.m. - 8:30

Continental Breakfast

       Presentation: Women and Negotiations-- Delee Fromm,      Fromm & Goodhand, Ontario

Evidence of gender differences in negotiation have been discovered in two major areas – preferred bargaining styles and situational triggers. These differences have both advantages and disadvantages for males and females depending on the circumstances. In this workshop ideas for harnessing the advantages and minimizing the disadvantages, specifically as they relate to professional women negotiators, will be discussed.

8:30 a.m. - 10:30

Welcome & Introductions-- Steve Hengen, NAEN President

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN THE BIG APPLE: DEALING WITH EDUCATION UNIONS IN NEW YORK CITY

 Dan Weisberg, Executive Director-- Labor Policy, NYC DOE

10:30 a.m.- 10:45 

Break

10:45 a.m.- 12:00 

Keep a poker face. Don’t get emotional. Remain cool and rational. Good advice for negotiating? It used to be. Using emotion during a negotiation enriches our knowledge and informs our rational decision making. What is the other side telling me without words, what am I letting slip, how do I express my feeling constructively, and how do I deal with strong negative emotions? These and other issues will be examined and discussed in this workshop.

10:45 a.m.- 12:00 

Lisa Soronen, NSBA & Ron Wilson, NAEN

Collective bargaining agreements create a standardized workplace across buildings within a bargaining unit. But is that one-size-fits-all environment conducive to student learning? Does it help or create obstacles? This session will include a discussion of what researchers and the "experts" say about how to improve student achievement through collective bargaining. Learn the negotiations tools that can help create the flexibility and responsiveness needed.

10:45 a.m.- 12:00 

Conventional wisdom says that if you don't give money at the bargaining table you end up giving language. But contract language can have both a direct and an indirect economic impact and on our ability to deliver services to students. Failing to assess the long term consequences can be disastrous for the district. This workshop will teach you how to identify and analyze the long term consequences to contract language.

12:00 p.m. Noon

Lunch & Business Meeting

1:30 p.m. - 2:45 

Robert Weakley, New Jersey

This seminar will provide you with a hands on practical and approach to conducting investigations of claims of employee misconduct in a unionized environment. Actual cases will be discussed and audience participation will be encouraged. The presentation will focus on making a threshold decision as to if you should conduct an investigation; how to gather pertinent information; who to interview and in what order and where; and how to make a record of the interview. In addition, various approaches to interviewing witnesses will be discussed and the components of making credibility judgments will be discussed.

1:30 p.m. - 2:45 

Board trustees' prior life experiences often leave them unprepared for the pressures they experience during difficult and protracted negotiations. This workshop will examine practical strategies to help Board members to be more effective and grounded in their important role in the process. We also will look at common mistakes that administrators and negotiators make in their interactions with Board Members and how they can be avoided. Finally, we will examine the negotiation experience from a Board Member's perspective with the dual objectives of helping the Board to be more effective, and to continue to have a high level of confidence in their chief negotiator and negotiating team.

1:30 p.m. - 2:45 

Increasingly, school districts face current or imminent fiscal crisis as they enter into labor negotiations with their employee unions. These crisis can result from many causes - and declining enrollment, increasing health and other benefit costs, automatic step and column increases that outpace revenue increases, mandated program cost increases such as special education, energy cost increases and even fiscal mismanagement represent just a few of them. Qualified or negative budget certifications, increased county or state agency budget oversight, and sometimes state take-over bring additional challenges. Labor negotiations during such times takes on heightened meaning and can directly impact a school district's ability to effectively accomplish its educational mission for years to come. In this presentation, we explore the unique challenges that often arise during labor negotiations in times of fiscal crisis. We will also discuss some of the key issues and strategies to consider before and during negotiations, and practical approaches to address them during the negotiation process.

2:45 p.m. -3:00

Break

3:00 p.m. - 4:15 

After tough negotiations, participants from both sides often feel bruised and maybe even a little battered.  But we still have to find a way to work with each other—on a daily basis.  This workshop will explore the critical path—determining readiness, identifying common interests and developing a plan of action.

Establishing compensation on the basis of contribution is still a novel approach in education.  Learn about the experiences of the Edina School district, Farmington School District and the Rosemount School District in establishing a performance pay system through Minnesota's state-wide Q Comp program.  The panel will examine districts new to the program and those that have established programs.

3:00 p.m. - 4:15

This workshop will present five to ten current cases on variety of themes from discipline to accommodation.  A package will be provided of additional cases in order to provide a comprehensive overview.  In addition, the workshop provides an opportunity for Canadian delegates to get together and share current grievance and arbitration experiences.  American delegates are also invited to attend the workshop and share cases since many of the issues are common to both countries. If you have an arbitration award that is of significance, you are invited to send it to steven.talsky@tdsb.on.ca for inclusion in workshop .

5:30 p.m. - 7:00

Please join us for this networking opportunity.

Wednesday, March 19

7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.

Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m. - 9:45

Medical benefits and worker productivity are a key issue in many negotiations. Employers of all sizes are experimenting with new benefit designs that hold promise of limiting costs. These designs recognize that employee health status plays a major role in determining medical and productivity costs. This session will include a set of “guiding principles” for employee health and will outline the importance of health management and disability management services in data-driven programs.

9:45 a.m. - 11:00 

TEACHER UNIONS: BEHIND THE SCENES AND THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Mike Antonucci, Director, Education Intelligence Agency (EIA)

They know all about you, but what do you know about them? The role of the union is to represent the concerns of teachers. But the union, as a private entity, has an agenda of its own. Learn how the union's "internal imperatives" can turn management-employee relations into a triangle of competing interests.

11:00 a.m.

See you next year in Clearwater, Florida