Newton Schools Negotiation

    During the Newton Schools negotiation, I was a part of the teachers association along with three others in my group. The dynamic was a little different than most groups, because we only had one representative from the school board.  As a part of the larger teachers association, we possessed more power than the individual from the school board. Though we had more power, we didn't abuse it. Rather, our negotiation could best be described as collaborative. Both teams wanted to maintain positive relationships with each other since the roles were groups that worked closely alongside each other. Because of this, we were open to understanding each others positions and interests. Though I was absent for the intrateam negotiation, I was told it went smoothly because the goals from the group within the teachers association were aligned. Interteam still went smoothly, but there was more (friendly) bartering back and forth for us to reach an agreement.  Despite being willing to work together, points of contention or points we couldn't quite agree on had to be ironed out.For example, we discussed salary for a long time (about half of our negotiation time).  We were empowered with the information that other schools within our area were paying their teachers significantly more per year.  The catch was that depending on how high we raised the salary, they would have to lay off some teachers.  In the end we compromised were able to agree on a number that would satisfy the teachers while laying off a minimal amount of staff.  The remaining issues such as hardship leave, sick days, vacation days, and work hours we were able to agree upon relatively easily. With the salary increase we were willing to work more hours.   Each different issue we negotiated on could be used as a bargaining chip for another issue. For example, "We are staying longer each day now, so we don't want to be assigned extra duties that detract from our planning time".  This negotiation was complex and engaging, and ultimately both parties were satisfied with the outcome.

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