Collective Bargaining & Your Contract

Your union negotiates your salary increases for the duration of the contract. Most contracts include a salary schedule, which spells out your current salary, and describes how and when you will earn more. Increases are typically based on an overall increase to the entire salary schedule (typically called a “cost of living adjustment” or “COLA”) or “moving up” a step or “across a lane” based on experience or earning continuing education credits or certifications, respectively. Sometimes, you receive additional stipends for working in high poverty schools or for taking on additional responsibilities.

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits: You’ll find details on plan offerings, your costs, employer contributions, eligibility, and more. 
• Retirement security: Retirement may not seem like an immediate concern as you start your career but our union believes you should retire with dignity. For most union workers, your retirement benefit is the largest financial asset you will ever own. This provision describes the characteristics of pension plans—what your contributions and benefits are or can be, and other details—and supplemental retirement accounts, such as 403(b) plans.
• Leave benefits: You are entitled to different types of leave such as medical, personal, bereavement, and family leave. Learn how you accrue these benefits (Do you have a pool of days at the beginning of the school year or do you accrue time as the year goes on?) and how you apply for the different types. 
• Student loan repayment: Many unions have negotiated policies to help you offset your student loans. You should review your school district’s existing policies to ensure you are taking advantage of the opportunity.

Your contract contains many provisions that improve your working and your students’ learning conditions, such as class size, healthy and safe buildings, supply stipends, among others. The contract also specifies your daily hours of work including any breaks, and the number of days in your work year. 

Comprehensive professional learning is important for all educators, but it is particularly vital for new educators. Investing in yourself as an educator is the best way to ensure both career growth and enhanced student learning. 

• Induction and mentoring/peer assistance: Hopefully, your school district has an induction/mentoring program, so an experienced peer can meet with and coach you about classroom management, curriculum development, parent communications, and other issues. If your school does not have a formal mentoring program, seek out your building representative to introduce you to an experienced teacher in your school. 
• Educational/knowledge/skill improvement: Your school district should provide time, financial reimbursement, and other types of support for you to acquire more education and skills to improve your practice.

The section of your contract covering the school day, work week, or daily schedule is often where the negotiated paid planning and collaboration time policies can be found.

All workers, especially those new to the profession, need adequate paid time to collaborate and reflect with colleagues so you can grow professionally and improve your practice.

In K-12 education settings, this time is typically specifically bargained into the contract by your union and often even specifies when, if ever, it is permissible for administration to hold staff meetings during planning time, whether you are compensated if you must cover for another person during your planning time, as well as how much much planning time must be provided and how often.

In this section, you can learn more about the criteria and timing of the evaluation, as well as your rights. Your employer will have some type of evaluation system in place.

In K-12 education, the Rhode Island Educator Evaluation Systems Standards allow districts to adopt the RI Model or to develop their own system to meet the standards, and this topic can be bargained so long as the agreement on this section meets the requirements required by Rhode Island.

This section may also include requirements for any evaluation committees or processes and implementation procedures your local union has negotiated.

Negotiations usually take several rounds of bargaining. The union and management sides express the rationale behind their proposals.  

Some contract provisions remain predominantly the same from contract to contract while others, such as salary, are bargained with each contract. The parties may modify some sections, and either side may propose a new bargaining topic.  

State law and court cases determine the mandatory, permissive, and prohibited subjects of bargaining.

When the union and employer teams reach a tentative contract agreement, they review the proposed contract with their respective constituency groups.  

The union holds a ratification meeting where employees ask questions and offer opinions on the tentative contract agreement. Individuals are then asked to vote on the tentative agreement, usually by secret ballot. A majority of votes determines if the contract is ratified (accepted) or rejected.  

The management team generally seeks approval from the school board or other governing body. If both sides ratify the tentative agreement, then the parties have a new (or successor) collective bargaining agreement. If the tentative contract agreement is rejected—by either party—the teams usually return to the bargaining table and continue to negotiate until they reach a new tentative agreement for a vote.

If the parties cannot reach an agreement, state law generally specifies how the dispute can be resolved.  
 
Usually, the parties can use mediation, arbitration, and/or a strike or lockout to reach an agreement.

With the agreement of both parties, any section of a ratified contract can be revised during the term of the contract. In many districts, labor and management representatives meet regularly during the term of the contract to talk about and resolve issues of mutual concern, often through an established joint labor-management committee.  

In addition, either at the bargaining table or during the life of a contract, the parties can bargain a memorandum of understanding (MOU) related to a specific issue. The benefit of an MOU is that it allows the parties to reach an agreement on a new or unforeseen issue that is important to both the union and the employer.