Public Education Collective Bargaining Academy 2010

The Public Education Collective Bargaining Academy 2010  is an intensive, high-energy, interactive  learning opportunity in a unique three-day format. The Academy — covering all aspects of collective bargaining set in a CHALLENGING environment — features lectures, facilitated discussions, small group activities, and a collective bargaining simulation. Joining the program will be individuals from the labour relations community with extensive expertise and experience in collective bargaining, to enhance the learning opportunities.  

The goal of the Academy is to provide bargaining team members with focused training on the dynamics of bargaining, language drafting, and political strategies necessary to succeed at the negotiating table. Building on Collective Bargaining Concepts and Constructs, the Public Education Collective Bargaining Academy 2010 provides participants with the information, context, and hands-on skills needed to engage in collective bargaining:

  • Awareness of the potential legal snares and pitfalls
  • Bargaining preparation
    • Choosing a negotiating team
    • Developing a successful strategy
    • Ensuring availability of resources, both personnel and material
    • Briefing constituents
  • Facilitated learning on the art of negotiations through a collective bargaining simulation
    • The protocols and conventions of collective bargaining
    • The importance of understanding (but not necessarily agreeing with) other points of view
    • Increasing understanding of the differences between positions, objectives, and interests and how these differences influence the negotiation outcome
    • The forces that shape collective bargaining
    • The subtleties of moving negotiations to a successful conclusion.

The Simulation

Pacific View Board of Education – Collective Agreement Negotiation Simulation (the “simulation”) is a collective bargaining experience. You will be a member of either a management or a union bargaining committee (also referred to as a bargaining team). Your team, after a period of research and preparation, will begin a series of meetings in an effort to conclude a collective agreement. The simulation is designed to give you an opportunity to study the issues and processes present in union/management relations in a new way. Firsthand experience is usually the most effective learning technique, but such experience in a non­­–threatening environment is not always possible for the participant. Simulation is a necessary tool to gain such experience.  It creates, in a learning environment, conditions faced by union and management bargaining teams.  

Successful negotiations require teamwork and collective decision making. Your influence on the outcome will depend, in large part, on the respect others have for your competence, knowledge and judgment. Ultimately in a bargaining situation, authority does not primarily come from rank or position — it must be earned. It will be closely related to the extent to which others interpret your actions as being helpful to them in furthering their own particular interests.

You and your team must negotiate a collective agreement. In order to do so effectively, you must examine the issues from your team’s perspective as well as the potential issues from the other team’s perspective. This analysis will allow you to develop a series of objectives to address your particular interests and later, a set of proposals, which will form the basis for the negotiations. You will then sit down with the other bargaining team and actually negotiate the new collective agreement.

Academy Structure

The Academy takes place over three days — the agenda is attached for reference. Each day starts at 8:30 am and concludes on the third day at 4:00 pm.  The evenings of days one and two will be used for preparation and exercises. Registrants are reminded that given the nature of the simulation, timing of events is somewhat fluid and certain activities may take place outside the normal work day. It is therefore suggested that participants may want to stay overnight at the hotel.

Success in the academy is directly related to the energy and commitment of the participants!

AGENDA >>

Logistics

Richmond
When: March 29, 30, 31 , 2010
Where: Sandman Signature Hotel
10251 St. Edwards Dr, Richmond, BC
1 800 726 3626 (toll free in Continental North America)
REGISTER ONLINE >>

 

Victoria
When: May 12, 13, 14, 2010
Where: Harbour Towers Hotel & Suites
345 Quebec Street, Victoria BC V8V 1W4
Phone: 250 385 2405
1 800 663 5896 (Toll Free in Continental North America)
REGISTER ONLINE >>

Please make your own hotel reservations, quoting the BCPSEA Public Education Collective Bargaining Academy.

Cost: $775 for the three day session including meals, materials and program. The cost for two or more attendees from the same district is $725 per person.

Prerequisites: Productive Workplace Conversations Level 1 AND Collective Bargaining Concepts and Constructs.

Registration

Register online at http://www.bcpsea.bc.ca/access/events/prodprogram.html

To maximize learning there is a maximum number of  participants, so please register early!

For More Information

Contact Georgina Johnson at 604 730 4507 or georginaj@bcpsea.bc.ca.