Teachers: Bargaining For Control

Abstract

Private sector labor unions have left the bargaining tables with economic victories, not with a voice in major corporate policies. Teachers are comparatively new at bargaining, and this research investigates the extent to which teachers have inverted the private sector experience, winning control gains but not economic gains. The hypotheses hold that fiscal stress within a community and the level of political opposition will have a negative impact on economic gains and a positive impact on control gains. Data from Rhode Island school districts are used in multiple regression analysis to test those hypotheses.