What Factors Should You Consider Heading into Mediation?
What are some of the factors that we should be considering related to comparability and maintenance of effort as we head into mediation with our teachers’ bargaining unit?
When preparing for negotiations, we recommend that you prepare every year as if you will need to go through the entire impasse process. That means that you will need to be able to demonstrate your district’s comparability and maintenance of effort, along with several other factors.
In any fiscal debate, it is essential that the district be able to reflect the comparison of its salaries and benefits with those of other districts and to show, as well, the level of financial commitment made by the district to employees. No district presentation would be acceptable without these two characteristics being addressed either in evidence or discussions at the bargaining table.
The level of the district’s salaries and benefits needs to be compared with other districts in an appropriate comparative group. Generally, these are geographical—the same labor market as the district—but they could be comparisons based upon size or based upon revenue level. Be careful, however, to ensure that the comparisons reflect appropriate districts. Southern California districts cannot be effectively compared with Northern California districts—there is a significant differential in salary and benefit amounts between those two regions.
The district needs to also show the level of its financial commitment made to employees. That is, how do the district’s expenditure allocations for personnel salary and benefits compare with those of other districts? The district must be able to show that it can commit a high proportion of its budget to these characteristics—hopefully a higher percentage or dollar amount than other districts in the comparative market. Another method for demonstrating your level of effort is by showing your compensation increases for both salary and benefits over time compared to the comparable districts that you have selected. Demonstrating your level of effort shows your commitment to people versus things or your commitment to teachers versus other parts of district services or classroom expense versus other expenses. Demonstrating your level of effort is a very important part of any district presentation.
Comparisons in salary and benefits are the most important factors in determining whether or not districts should propose a higher total compensation amount. In establishing your negotiating guide, use the comparative analysis of salaries paid and not the percentage growth in the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). The COLA allocation as a pass through to employees is a shorthand methodology that will often get the district into trouble. Instead, compare your employees’ salaries to the salaries of an appropriate comparative group and the Consumer Price Index.
