| This study explored how educational labor relations are being impacted by the use of an interest-based approach to collective bargaining. Non-traditional approaches to collective bargaining have been heralded in educational literature as a basis for restructuring labor relationships. Current literature has claimed that the restructuring of labor relationships is a necessary component of systemic and lasting change in schools (Crisci, et.al. 1987, Koppich and Kerchner, 1993, US Department of Labor, 1990).;Using qualitative case study research methods, this study examined the experiences of three school boards in the province of Ontario, Canada who used an interest-based approach known as mutual gain negotiation for their most recent round of collective bargaining. The study began in 1995, when the province of Ontario was in a period of economic and political transition. In May of 1995, the teachers, administrators, and trustees from the three school boards participated in a training session on the use of mutual gain negotiation (MGN). The training session served as a kickoff for a two year participatory research project to understand the merits and limitations of an MGN approach to bargaining.;Using data drawn from interviews, participant observation, and documents, this study identified factors which influenced outcomes--learning and relational--of the experiment with a new model of bargaining. It explored the indictors of a changed relationship and the critical elements that lead to the changes.;Data indicate that while the use of an interest-based approach did not change the matters over which the participants bargained, it did lead to an improved labor relationship. Participants across all cases agreed that, as a result of their experience using MGN, they better understood the needs of their bargaining counterparts. Additionally, all participants reported that through the use of an interest-based approach, communication at the bargaining table and beyond was more productive and comprehensive than it had been in the past. Participants were challenged by the requirements and structures of MGN which forced them to change behavior and to rethink long-standing bargaining practices.;As a result, participants have taken a necessary, though not sufficient first step toward restructuring labor relations. From an adult learning and organizational change perspective, they have experienced "single loop learning". While interest-based negotiation, in and of itself, does not shift users' thinking about the structure and content of collective bargaining, it does put users on the path toward more lasting and systemic change. A theory of evolution for change in educational labor relations is presented in Chapter Six. |
