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Recognized as an Effective School-to-Work Practice, June, 2000
Collective Bargaining in the Classroom
Teamsters Joint Council 42
El Monte, California
Overview of the Project
Collective Bargaining in the Classroom is a project of Joint Council 42 that provides high school students with an opportunity to learn negotiation skills and participate in a simulated bargaining session to seek a labor agreement that addresses such issues as wages, benefits, seniority, holidays, and child care. During the simulation activity, students are often assisted by one or more "coaches." Coaches are experienced professionals from the fields of labor and management who serve as consultants to student negotiation teams. Prior to engaging in the actual negotiations process, students undergo several days of preparatory instruction by teachers who are knowledgeable in the field of labor relations and the collective bargaining process. Along with instructional activities designed to prepare students for the simulation activity, students are also provided with instruction about the history of the labor movement in order to help them better understand the need for collective action and to secure workplace rights. Teachers affiliated with the Collective Bargaining in the Classroom work on a rotating schedule to spend one week in 39 Los Angeles high school classrooms to provide instruction and facilitate the delivery of the structured curriculum specifically designed for the project.
Collective Bargaining in the Classroom originally began as a one-day institute in which 100 Los Angeles area high school students were brought together to engage in a simulated collective bargaining activity. As a result of increased funding and support from such organizations as the Federal Mediation Conciliation Services (FMCS), the Southern California Industrial Research Association (IRRA), and UCLA’s Labor Center, it has grown considerably, providing instruction and collective bargaining simulation experiences to more than 4,000 high school students in the past year. The project targets high school seniors who will soon be leaving secondary education and entering the workplace either immediately or within a few years. As such, the skills they acquire through involvement in project activities are intended to help them better understand the consequences of labor and management interactions that occur within the workplace. Recently, the project has gained the attention of the National Industrial Relations Research Association and planning is currently underway to pilot the Collective Bargaining in the Classroom in five other cities within the U.S.
Joint Council 42 is the parent body to 27 local unions that represent more than 140,000 Teamsters throughout southern California, southern Nevada, Guam and Hawaii. Local members affiliated with Joint Council 42 represent a wide diversity of occupational fields—ranging from all types of workers in the transportation industry to school crossing guards and those employed at Disneyland.
The Need
As students prepare for adult living after secondary school, few are aware about how the collective bargaining process can and will impact their lives as they enter into the workplace setting. While high school students are clearly aware of the importance of securing employment in an occupation with high wages, comprehensive health care, and a host of other job-related benefits (vacation, retirement plan, etc.), most do not understand the underlying dynamics of how these wages and other benefits are determined and how this process is directly related to their future aspiration to attain a high standard of living. Although this knowledge is particularly critical for those who will eventually find themselves in employed in a union job, Joint Council 42 believes that it is essential that all students become informed citizens of the processes used to resolve disputes and reach a peaceful consensus within a democratic society.
While most would agree that high school students should acquire some level of knowledge about the collective bargaining process, there is also the recognition of the need to accomplish this goal in a manner that will be meaningful and fully engage students in the learning process. Even though much information about this process can be effectively delivered through traditional forms of instruction (e.g., lectures, media presentations), Joint Council 42 has worked to design the project to ensure that students are provided with an interactive learning experience; they are given the opportunity to engage in "hands-on," simulation activity. The need to directly engage students in the negotiations process not only helps to reinforce instructional objectives, but provides students with firsthand, "real-world" negotiation and problem-solving experiences.
Meeting the Need
In order to provide students with a comprehensive foundation of the collective bargaining process, along with an opportunity to engage in simulated negotiations activities, two certified project teachers spend one week in a high school where they work with social studies, economics, and government studies classroom teachers. During this period, students are provided with 2-3 days of preparatory instruction. The remaining portion of the week is dedicated to facilitating the simulated bargaining session with student negotiation teams. The instructional portion of the program involves curriculum content developed by the project teachers in collaboration with Joint Council 42 and includes such topics as the history of the labor movement, major policies and legislation related to labor relations, and practices and strategies used in the negotiation and collective bargaining process.
Once the instructional portion of the program is completed, students are assigned to collective bargaining teams—five students who represent the interests of labor and five who represent management. All students within the classroom are assigned to either one of the labor or management teams to ensure full participation. Typically, student teams meet in an area such as the school cafeteria or auditorium to conduct collective bargaining negotiations for a period of 2-3 hours. Students apply the skills learned in the classroom to persuade and discuss compromise solutions with members of the opposing team about such issues as wages, benefits, seniority rights, and child care. To monitor their progress, each team is provided with a Negotiations Worksheet to track the progress of proposals and counter-proposals. At various points in the negotiations process, each team shares their progress with other students in the classroom who assume the role as either labor or management constituents. Negotiations teams must then listen and consider the feedback from their respective constituencies to develop and submit counter-proposals to the opposition. This feedback cycle continues until the teams have negotiated an agreement or have reached a point where a "strike" is considered as a possible option.
While students teams generally manage to participate in the simulated collective bargaining activity without a significant amount of intervention from teachers or project staff, one or more "coaches" are also present to provide students with any needed consultation to facilitate the negotiation process. Coaches are often highly experienced professionals recruited from both the fields of labor and business to volunteer their services to students. Although, coaches tend to assume a non-intrusive role during the actual negotiation sessions, they are always available to share their expertise when students need advice about an issue or strategy.
The Results
According to Hugo Morris, Political Consultant for Teamsters Joint Council 42, "students from all economic and social backgrounds have been universally enthusiastic" about the Collective Bargaining in the Schools project. This observation is widely supported by individuals from business and labor who have participated as coaches, representatives of funding organizations, and by many educators within the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). In 1999, the project was presented with an award from the LAUSD for its "contributions to teachers and students districtwide." Ken Wong, Director of UCLA’s Labor Center has called the project "an outstanding program…(that) uses an engaging, interactive curriculum to address real workplace issues and to present real problem-solving tools to young people."
In addition to learning about unions and labor management relations, students also learn valuable negotiating skills that can be applied in many different types of settings. Mr. Morris relates one story of a student who reported that he was able to use some of the strategies he learned at school to negotiate with members of this family. While the skills will likely be used by students in many different and unique ways, Mr. Morris points out the most positive outcome of the project is that many students are provided a firsthand opportunity to witness the collective bargaining process in action. Since its inception, it is estimated that more than 4,000 students throughout Los Angeles have participated in this program as well as 60 secondary education teachers and 100 coaches representing various aspects of labor and management. A former director of the teacher training program for California State University-Northridge provided an assessment of the students’ learning experiences by observing: "Those kids will never forget the experience they had in the bargaining process…although they may forget some of the details, they will always be able to identify with articles in the newspaper or whatever when they go to work and join a union—they will have been acculturated to what the project is all about."
Reflections
Based on the observations of Mr. Morris, there are three principal factors to consider in replicating a project of this type: (1) Provide sufficient funding for the program to ensure that there is a person responsible for the program—someone whose primary role is to address the question "What can I do to make this program more effective?", (2) Hire skilled teachers who have a knowledge of the labor process. According to Mr. Morris, "They don’t have to be in either labor or management, but they should know the labor process and how to teach effectively—that is essential." and, (3) Make sure the curriculum is structured sufficiently to ensure that students are provided with a substantive learning experience. For example, when using the Negotiations Worksheet, student teams are able to continuously monitor their progress, documenting important critical points of the collective bargaining process. The worksheet also serves as a valuable learning tool that shows each team where they started and the point where agreement was reached. Quite often, students are very surprised to observe how far apart teams were at the beginning of the negotiations process.
Mr. Morris also pointed out that in the very early stages of Collective Bargaining in the Classrooms, project activities only included coaches representing the field of labor. However, in order to provide students with a full range of learning experiences, the program now includes volunteer coaches who represent management fields. Involving coaches who represent both aspects of labor and management adds significant value to the program, helping students to learn and use strategies from both perspectives in the collective bargaining process. The inclusion of coaches from all types of backgrounds has not only helped to enrich the program, but has also been a source of satisfaction for the coaches themselves. One volunteer coach who once served as the President of the California Chamber of Commerce indicated "I found coaching students in a collective bargaining negotiation to be a highly stimulating and a tremendously rewarding experience. With young adults receiving this kind of training and instruction, I am reassured that our future is in good hands."
In addition to the suggestions offered by Mr. Morris, the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), the district’s teachers’ union, has also provided some recommendations that can be used by educators to develop a similar program. For example, contacting the local teacher’s union, mediation center, college or university, or a regional labor research is one of the first steps that can be taken to form a project committee. Also, contacting project personnel associated with the Collective Bargaining in the Classrooms project can be done to obtain curricula and other resources. Providing professional development workshops in labor studies to classroom teachers and investigating sources of funding that are available to support a program of this kind are additional things that can be done to replicate project activities.
More Information
For additional information about Collective Bargaining in the Classrooms, contact:
- Hugo Morris, Political Consultant
- Teamsters Joint Council 42
- 9300 Flair Drive, Suite 300
- El Monte, CA 91731
- Phone: 626-573-4242
- E-mail: JCT42@aol.com
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