A case study of labor relations regarding K--12 employees' health benefits through ethical reasoning lenses

The purpose of this investigation was to gain insight into the different perspectives that management, unions, and individual employees have regarding health benefit coverage for employees. In many Michigan school districts, the bargaining of health benefits has become an antagonistic process that results in a delayed settlement of labor contracts.; This study investigated how looking through ethical lenses (the ethics of care, critique, justice, the profession, and the principle of benefit maximization) improves the labor relations process of various participant groups regarding health benefits. To answer the questions a particularistic, within-site case study with a cross-case analysis using triangulation of information via focus groups and observations was designed. Morgan's (1997) 14 sources of power were used to determine which power source(s) influenced the interests of different participant groups (boards of education, administrators, certified staff, and support staff) in relation to the issues of K-12 employee health benefits during labor relations. Through guided semi-structured focus groups consisting of 42 participants from three school districts, issues of health benefits were examined through ethical lenses of K-12 staff. The participants included certified staff, support staff, and non-union staff. Observations of negotiations and other public discussions relating to K-12 educational health benefits were also examined in determining central themes.; The issues of labor relations were influenced and were determined as a result of individuals' and groups' beliefs, values, and experiences. Depending on the focus group, it was clear that sources of power played an important part in the development of that group's ethical reasoning towards the issue of health benefits. The certified staff group looked through the ethic of the profession lens, which was influenced primarily by the counterorganization's power source. This group believed that, due to their profession, they deserved to maintain the health plan designed by the union. Due to the current financial situation of these districts, those in control of scarce resources and structural factors were a major influence for the support staff. This group looked through the lenses of the ethics of care and the principle of benefit maximization and determined that a change in health carriers would allow their membership to stay employed while maintaining a comparable health benefit. Control of scarce resources, both economic and staffing, guided the boards' decisions regarding health benefits. The boards utilized the principle of benefit maximization as well as the ethics of care and the profession to balance the needs of the staff against the ultimate goal of the educational needs of the students.; Other K-12 educational institutions may find they want to approach negotiations regarding health benefits by looking through ethical lenses rather than taking a stance for or against the union health care plan. The results of this study are important because they add to the field of knowledge by uncovering some of the real health benefit issues that result in delayed labor relation processes. Understanding why certain participant groups want a particular health plan may allow for management and labor to get past the labor relations barriers that delay ratification and approval of labor contracts. In addition to the bargaining process itself, labor and management relations may become more collaborative during the life of the contract if both sides continually work together to resolve issues as they arise.