Happening all around me

I have never engaged in any of the labor management matters from an advocate standpoint. I have only made sure that I new what the parameters were for the work I needed to do. Jon H said at our table that all he just wanted to make sure he got a paycheck but that wasn't why he was doing what he was. I felt the same way.

I learned so much today and interested to see how many of the class was involved in bargaining already.Most interesting to me was the lesson learned from Dr. Closen about the mediator only caring about getting the contract finalized. The morals and ethics of this person is apparently unimportant which probably indicates that they see problems in offers but never mention anything. I think too that I am very naive in terms of people coming to the table. I always to expect everyone associated with education to have the best of intentions. HOWEVER, with the past union leadership we have seen, I know by fact that this isn't the case. I think that I would have to do lots of preparation before ever sitting down to negotiate.I also was very interested in who was recommended to sit at the table versus the people our district has involved. Every one of our associates, the assistant, treasurer, supt., HR director, lawyer and depending on area, any director associated with the focus. Principals and board members also sit on this committee.