Why We Need Labor-Management Partnerships in School Reform

West Coast Labor Management Institute

October 27, 2010

Saul Rubinstein

Rutgers University

Institution for Conflicting Interests: Collective Bargaining

U M

Institution for common interests?

U M

(Teaching Quality and Student Achievement)

Mass Production

SManagement

Labor

Thinks

Does

Divide Complex Knowledge into Simple Parts

Create Standards for Each Part

Separate Classes of Employees: Thinkers & Doers

Invent Management for Division of Labor & Compliance

Yet, Education is:

1.Collaborative not Individual Enterprise

2.Conducted by Highly Skilled Professionals

School Reform Necessitates a Shift from Mass Production Organization

1.Reintegration of Taylor’s division of labor – “thinking” and “doing”

2.Increased importance of all employees’ inputVoice, participation, problem-solvingNo Contribution Left Behind - NCLB

3.Employees not interchangeable parts - Professionals4.Greater responsibility for quality outcomes vs. jobs5.Team-based structures – Group vs. Individual Focus6.Decentralized site-based decision-making

Why Partnership?

1.Quality of Decisions

2.Quality of Implementation

3.Motivation through VoiceFull ParticipationPartial ParticipationPseudo Participation

Creating Successful Partnerships

Leadership Culture of Involvement Strategy for Improved Quality and

Professionalism Structures - New Roles for Union Leaders Skills – problem solving/selection, decision

making, managerial processes, finance, planning, quality, meeting leadership, IBB/MGB

Enabling Language: top-down and bottom-up

Implications for Locals & Districts Engaging in Partnerships Partnership as a vehicle, not an end in itself Management as a task not class of employees Balance representation and partnership

roles/management Acquire new skills and capacities – technical, strategic,

process, research, managing change Rethinking Local Structures & Roles & Resources Mobilize & organize members Flexibility, Responsiveness, Quality Leverage Embeddeness in Operations Political Skills Capability to Expand/Cross Boundaries – National Union,

State, School District, Community

Obstacles to Partnership Success

Lack of Alignment between Partnership and Strategic Objectives of the Organization

Focus on HR vs. Operations Resistance - Middle Management and Union Reps Lack of Capacity for Sophisticated Partnering at 3 Levels

– School, CB, and District/Strategic Pseudo Decision Making Failure to Balance Representation with Managing the

Organization Unsuccessful Leadership Transition Economic Decline

Sustaining Partnerships Strategic Alignment – Improvement Planning Collaborative Structures at All Organizational Levels Building Dense Communication Networks – Vertical

and Horizontal Confronting and Overcoming Pivotal Events Maintaining Tension between Collaborative Work

and Conflictual Creating Joint Gains - Performance and Quality Ongoing Training and Skill Development - Capacity Leadership Succession – Union and Management Managing across boundaries - Community Institutionalize

Questions

1. Can we achieve improvement/reform of education without collaboration/partnership?

2. What do you need to create locally in order to support a partnership?

3. What activities can you envision that would help extend the partnership throughout all levels of the district and the union?