Bargaining Units

All school district employees except superintendents, principals, other supervisors and confidential employees, i.e., those support personnel who work directly with collective bargaining information, can petition for the right to bargain collectively with their employer, the school board.

There usually are two bargaining units in a school district: one representing licensed staff (teachers) and the other representing classified staff (cooks, custodians, bus drivers, maintenance personnel, clerical employees, educational assistants, etc.). Some other variations of representation are possible through recognition by the local school board or by petition to the Employment Relations Board (ERB).

In a few districts there is one unit which represents all employees, both certified and classified, i.e., a “wall-to-wall” unit.

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Union Representation

In Oregon, the Oregon Education Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association, represents most teachers at the bargaining table through local education associations or regional bargaining councils.

Most classified or support staff - cooks, custodians, bus drivers, maintenance personnel, clerical employees, educational assistants - are represented by either the Oregon School Employees Association or the Oregon Education Support Professionals, an affiliate of the Oregon and National Education Associations (OEA/NEA). In a few districts there is more than one bargaining unit of classified personnel with a variety of union affiliations.

The school district’s personnel office can give you the names of the unions that represent the district’s employee groups.

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Management’s Bargaining Team

A typical bargaining team the district uses to bargain a contract with its unions might include one or two school board members, the administrator in charge of personnel and a building principal. The chief spokesperson (negotiator) may be a board member or administrator, but often is a professional hired by the board.

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