A Study On Faculty Collective Bargaining In American University And College

The emergence of faculty collective bargaining and its prevalence in the field of American higher education makes the relationship between faculty and administrators changed a lot. Before the emergence of faculty collective bargaining, education policies were all decided by the trustees and administrators only. The result was that the voice of faculty in decision-making was being bypassed. After implementation of the faculty collective bargaining, the situation has changed. The faculty's consciousness were awakened and they began to have a voice in the affairs of their institutions. From 1960s to now, the history of faculty collective bargaining is not very long but it is complicated. The presence of institutions of faculty governance does not preclude the need for or usefulness of collective bargaining. On the contrary, collective bargaining can be used to increase the effectiveness of those institutions by extending their areas of competence, defining their authority, and strengthening their voice in areas of shared authority and responsibility. Nonetheless, faculty collective bargaining has been a very important role in protecting academic freedom, protecting faculty legitimate rights and interests, protecting faculty economic and occupational safety, balancing of the academic authority and administrative power, promoting the stability of colleges and universities.This thesis is mainly using the literature study method, the history study method, the comparison study method and the case study method to make a geneal investigation or discussion on the faculty collective bargaining in American university and college.This thesis is divided into four parts. The first part traces back to the faculty collective bargaining from the angle of historical development and analyzes that the faculty collective bargaining is divided into three stages with the background of the times of higher education development.The second part decribes the current situation of faculty collctive bargaining, including five major aspects, the collective bargaining organization, principle, scope, procedure, strategy.The third part summarizes the main features of the faculty collective bargaining and analyzes the reasons for the formation of these features.The fourth part compares the faculty management of China with the faculty management of America, and provides some suggestions on the idea of seeking common ground while reserving differences.