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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2000

News Release

NEA Conference to Address Collective Bargaining in New Millennium

NEA-UAW/Saturn Awards to be Announced

Washington, D.C. -- The challenges and opportunities for collective bargaining in the new millennium is the theme of a National Education Association (NEA) conference to be held in Chicago on July 2, at the Chicago Hilton & Towers. Hundreds of NEA members from across the country will take part in workshops and discussions about the emerging bargaining issues of the new century. The Collective Bargaining conference is one of several conferences that precede this year's NEA Representative Assembly, which will be held July 3-6 at Chicago's McCormick Place.

NEA President Bob Chase, who has advocated a "new unionism," emphasizing collaboration and risk-taking to create quality schools, will address the ways in which collective bargaining has become a creative vehicle for improving public schools. "Issues from class size to professional development are now being decided at the bargaining table," he says. Chase will also announce the year 2000 NEA-UAW Saturn Award winners -- local education associations and school districts whose pursuit of excellence in public education mirrors the success achieved by labor and management in the automotive industry.

Conference participants will have the opportunity to hear firsthand about this year's innovative Saturn Award partnerships at an afternoon workshop presented by representatives of each of the six winning sites. These "partnerships for quality schools" reflect the evolving relationship of teachers, administrators, school board members, parents and the community, and serve as models for education improvement.

Emerging issues which will be addressed in conference workshops include bargaining in schools run by for-profit management companies or charter schools; the changing face of the teaching profession and new teachers' priorities; using interest-based bargaining to achieve quality schools; peer assistance and review programs; and alternative compensation plans. Concerns of education support personnel, including bus drivers, custodians, and teachers' aides, will also be workshop topics.

The collective bargaining conference runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on July 2. A 4:00 p.m. keynote address by NEA General Counsel Bob Chanin will focus on "Collective Bargaining Challenges for the Future." Members of the news media may request press credentials to cover the event by calling NEA at (202) 822-7200.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.