It may not sound super-exciting, but it’s really important

Learn more:

FAQs: The 2010 Labor Negotiations Bill
The 2010 labor negotiations bill: What it is and how it works
POP QUIZ: Why does Maryland need new new labor negotiations law? What’s in it for you?

Let’s face it. The labor negotiations bill is just not that sexy. It’s not going to change the size of your class immediately. It won’t guarantee you adequate planning time and better working conditions. And it doesn’t add money to your paycheck today. But it will make it much easier for the voices of educators to be taken seriously at the bargaining table.

The bill, when passed, will finally level the playing field so that when Maryland educators have a contract negotiations dispute with their employer, it can be resolved with the help of a neutral third party. The 40-year-old process now in play allows local school boards to drag their feet for years to avoid reaching agreements. And the State Board of Education (not exactly unbiased) decides what can and can’t be negotiated in your local contract.

Our state’s antiquated labor negotiations law puts Maryland at the bottom of the national barrel in terms of fairness and common sense. “It feels a little like 2005 when our successful Push for Pensions campaign took off. Once members knew the facts—that Maryland’s educator pensions were the worst in the country—nothing could stop them from lobbying their legislators to fix the longstanding inequity,” said MSEA Executive Director David Helfman.

“Word about this labor legislation is getting around. Now legislators are hearing from each other and educators in their districts that Maryland is simply out of touch with basic education labor law standards,” added Diana Saquella, MSEA’s chief lobbyist. “In no other state where educators have collective bargaining rights, is there a process so blatantly unfair as the one in Maryland.”

Your Local’s bargaining team may meet for days or months to bring constructive ideas to the negotiations table on issues that affect you
and your students. Under Maryland’s current education labor law, the
voice of your team can be readily dismissed with nowhere to turn for
an independent ruling.

Here’s what proposed legislation will do for Maryland employees:

Establish a neutral third party to resolve differences between local school boards and your Local Association over what can and can’t be negotiated;
Create a fair and timely process that allows either side to call for a neutral third party to decide contract negotiation disagreements;
Require any decision by the neutral party to be final;
Require both parties to split the cost of contract dispute resolution (there is no cost to the state); and
Reduce current delays of up to two years in settling contracts to a step-by-step process that lasts at most six months.

Last year, Senator Jamie Raskin (D-20), the lead Senate sponsor of last year’s version of the bill called its passage “a big, last-minute breakthrough,” but in the end, time ran out for a vote in the House of Delegates. Both Helfman and Saquella believe that with the groundwork laid last year and an early outreach effort to legislators on the bill that began right after the last session ended, this is indeed the year for the bill to pass.

Learn more:

FAQs: The 2010 Labor Negotiations Bill
The 2010 labor negotiations bill: What it is and how it works
POP QUIZ: Why does Maryland need a new labor negotiations law? What’s in it for you?