Step 4: Strike or Implement Offer
If no agreement is reached 30 days after the mediator publishes the parties’ final offer, or if the parties use fact-finding, 30 days after the fact-finding report is received:
- Employees have the right to strike.
- The school district may implement all or part of its final offer.
[Return to top]
Strike by Union
A strike is the withholding of services by employees as a group to pressure an employer into granting bargaining demands.
The union can go on strike at any time after the 30th day of the cooling-off period, providing it gives the school board 10 days advance written notice. The notice must state the issues that are unresolved and the day the strike will begin. It is the union members’ decision to strike or continue negotiations without striking.
The superintendent usually is the person who can say officially what procedures will be followed with students prior to and during a strike.
The superintendent, school board chair, the board’s negotiator or the district’s designated spokesperson are the best sources of information about the board’s position on the issues.
The state mediator is the one who usually will determine when further mediation sessions are held.
[Return to top]
During a Strike
The superintendent’s office will have attendance information for students and staff and can provide other detailed information about the schools, school programs and the status of negotiations.
[Return to top]
Oregon Strike History
Since the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act became law in September 1973, teachers’ unions in 18 Oregon school districts have gone on strike.
(See statistics chart.)
In all cases except the second Eugene strike, districts either opened or were prepared to open with substitute teachers within six days.
The only other teachers’ strike was a three-day strike in the Hillsboro Union High School District in March 1973, prior to enactment of the original collective bargaining law.
Students have missed 55 school days as a result of teacher strikes since Oregon’s collective bargaining law went into effect in September 1973.
Only Reedsport School District classified personnel have been on strike under the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act. The strike was for two days in 1978.
Bus drivers in Woodburn were on strike for close to three months from Dec. 5, 1989, to Feb. 27, 1990. However, the bus drivers were on strike against the firm hired by the district to provide transportation as a contracted service. Consequently, the state collective bargaining law did not cover them.
| Teachers Union Strikes Since
1973+ |
| District |
|
Year |
|
Strike
Length in Workdays* |
|
No.
of School Days Closed** |
|
No.
of Students***
(at strike time) |
| Scappoose |
|
1974 |
|
2 days |
|
2 |
|
1,851 |
| Roseburg |
|
1976 |
|
6 days |
|
0 |
|
6,567 |
| Redmond |
|
1977 |
|
6 days |
|
5 |
|
3,649 |
| Baker |
|
1977 |
|
8 days |
|
4 |
|
2,509 |
| Corvallis |
|
1978 |
|
4 hours |
|
0 |
|
7,339 |
| David Douglas |
|
1978 |
|
4 days |
|
1 |
|
6,701 |
| Hood River |
|
1978 |
|
10 days |
|
1 |
|
2,962 |
| Eugene |
|
1979 |
|
9 days |
|
3 |
|
18,976 |
| Gresham Elem. |
|
1981 |
|
15 days |
|
2 |
|
5,197 |
| Klamath Co. |
|
1985 |
|
3 days |
|
3 |
|
6,364 |
| Coos Bay |
|
1987 |
|
11.5 days |
|
6 |
|
4,488 |
| Eugene |
|
1987 |
|
22 days |
|
15/17 |
|
17,720 |
| Albany |
|
1987 |
|
7 hours |
|
1 |
|
7,363 |
| Morrow Co. |
|
1989 |
|
10 days |
|
3 |
|
1,928 |
| Bethel |
|
1990 |
|
4 hours |
|
1 |
|
3,781 |
| McMinnville |
|
1990 |
|
7 days |
|
1 |
|
3,884 |
| Sandy |
|
1997 |
|
7 days |
|
3 |
|
3,692 |
| Fern Ridge |
|
1999 |
|
7.5 days |
|
2 |
|
2,073 |
| Oregon Trail |
|
2005 |
|
16 days |
|
3 |
|
4,201 |
| Rogue River |
|
2006 |
|
1.5 days |
|
3 |
|
1,149 |
| Multnomah ESD |
|
2007 |
|
11 days |
|
11 |
|
86,109 |
|
| Totals |
|
21 Strikes |
|
171.5 days |
|
69/72 |
|
198,503 |
|
| +
Teachers in the Hillsboro Union High School District were on strike for three days in March 1973. The collective bargaining law was passed by the 1973 Legislature and became effective September 1973.
*The length of a school district strike is figured by workdays/school days, not calendar days.
**Number of days no school for students. In 1987 Eugene high school students lost 15 days; elementary students lost 17 days.
In 1990, McMinnville students were out of school an additional three days because schools were closed due to snow.
***Based on Oregon Department of Education October 1 head count, except Scappoose, which is the end-of-school-year head count. |
|
[Return to top]
Implementation of Final Offer
At the same point in the bargaining process that unions may lawfully conduct a strike, school districts may unilaterally implement a final offer. A final offer cannot introduce new topics or topics that were not subject to the previous steps of the negotiations process. The district must give the union at least five days advance notice of implementation. Once implemented, the final offer becomes the contract.
Due to technicalities involved in ERB rules, this option is rarely used.
[Return to top]
|
Bargaining
