School Districts’ Teams Learn Gentle Style of Contract Negotiation

It may sound touchy-feely compared to the acrimonious atmosphere in which most labor contracts are hammered out, but Ventura County negotiators on both sides of the table said Tuesday that interest-based talks get results.

Teams representing employees and management from five Ventura County school districts began a three-day workshop Tuesday in this new style of negotiation, which seeks to find common ground in place of taking a polarized stand.

The Simi Valley Unified School District plans to use the technique when it begins contract negotiations with its 700 classified employees on Feb. 20. Other districts in the county plan to use the system as well.

“This system takes more time because you have to build trust and relationships,” said Leon Mattingley, assistant superintendent in Simi, as he took a moment out from the morning session. “But it’s worth it. In the end, you have a collective decision that all the parties will carry out together.”

Representatives of the rank and file agreed.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Alan Coyle, Simi Valley chapter president of the California School Employees Assn. “It takes the adversarial attitudes out of the bargaining process. You take out personalities and deal only with issues.”

Stan McClain, a team negotiator for Conejo Unified’s classified employees, said it enables all parties to leave feeling successful and compatible. “It’s a whole new way of dealing with problems,” he said.

But some classified employees were still skeptical of the district in the upcoming negotiations, claiming they lack confidence that administrators will be fair with them at the table.

“I don’t think they respect what we do,” said one longtime district classified employee, who asked not to be identified. “There are many positive aspects to working in the district, but I feel we are unappreciated and that translates into a higher workload and lower pay.”

The district signed a three-year contract with teachers last December after months of arguing, picketing and a threatened strike. At issue for the classified employees are wages and benefits.

Simi classified employees--who include secretaries, clerks, janitors and others who are not teachers and not managers in the district--have been working without a new contract since last summer.

The workshop, run by the nonprofit California Foundation For Improvement of Employer-Employee Relations, is guided by a team of three so-called facilitators who use role-playing, brainstorming and group discussions to teach new methods of resolving conflict.

Once the group learns the techniques, participants can pass them along to others on their individual negotiating teams, or be available to help mediate disputes at other districts, said Linda Gubman, project manager for the foundation.

“When they’re stuck in their own negotiations, they can call in a neutral facilitator from another district,” she said.

Many in attendance, including those representing the Simi Valley district, had already used the system in past negotiations and were learning enough about the interest-based bargaining to act as trainers to others in their districts.

On Tuesday morning, the participants, meeting at the Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Office in Camarillo, learned the basics of a five-part process, which calls for defining the problems, listing their interests, writing out options, evaluating those options and closing with consensus.

But there are ground rules for the system to work. Every participant must be honest and trustworthy, though not necessarily trusting. And they must have consideration and respect for others’ desires and points of view.

“You’re not there to challenge someone else’s interest,” said facilitator Ken Butler. “If it’s an interest of theirs, it’s an interest. The task here is understanding.”

When asked how to handle rumors at a negotiating table, whether to suppress them or bring them into the open, Butler said they should always be aired and discussed.

“If you have an elephant, talk about it,” he said, using the animal as a metaphor for a problem or issue that could bog down the talks. “If you have an elephant in the room walking around doing his thing, you could get in it up to your knees. It’s better to put him in his right place, outside the room or in a cage so that he doesn’t carry as much weight.”

Butler said metaphors work well in table talk because they help participants avoid direct conflict.

“That way, you’re not saying ‘Leon, you lied to me,’ ” he said, picking Simi assistant superintendent Mattingley out of the crowd.

Debbie Zerba, a planning technician for the Conejo Unified School District, said five people from her district were enrolled in this week’s workshop.

“It’s being implemented now in negotiations with classified employees,” she said.

Other districts represented included Santa Paula Elementary, Pleasant Valley Unified and the Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Office.