Third Saturday

The third Saturday seemed to move quickly. The day was off to a great start when we were able to hear a couple of presentations. The presentations were good because they provided good snapshots of the books and information on negotiating. The next part was to go back into our teams and to complete our negotiations. We were able to finalize all of our language and also heard the counter offer by the other team. Later in the day we had a presentation by a union representative. The presenter did a nice job of just talking with us instead of just going through the motions. He was able to answer some tough questions by the crowd that invovled politics. I could tell from his speaking that he was very passionate and that he would do whatever he needed to do in order to help the teachers or the union. I hope that he is definately true to his word to help the kids. I believe that it was good to have a union representative to come in and speak to us. I would have liked to see him come in to our simulations and to help us through one area of language and how he would approach the situation. Also if he could have given us soem specific examples of what has happened in past negotiations. Plus I wonder if he would come out to help a union of teachers in a small school district or if the IFT just available to unions that can help in in return? We were able to end the day by meeting again in our groups.