To the editor:
As the North Shore teacher strikes are settled, we still need to develop a solution for resolving impasses in public employee collective bargaining.
In almost any institution, there is a process to resolve conflicts between parties—whether it’s small claims court, the SJC, or any system in between.
Ten other states—Alaska, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, California, Hawaii, and Vermont—have right-to-strike laws for teachers and other public employees.
Our current system allows either party to delay bargaining to gain an advantage, without any provision to compel both sides to bargain in good faith.
Given that situation, how can we avoid breakdowns that lead to strikes? What do other service groups, like nurses, do differently by having to give notice of a possible strike?
Is it sufficient to object that we are imposing an unbearable burden on municipalities? What about the unbearable burden on students, teachers, parents, and local communities? Consider also what some institutions and individuals have historically done to weaken and destroy unions.
We have a precedent in Massachusetts law—Chapter 150 for public safety employees—through the Joint Labor-Management Committee, which provides a last-best-offer process to avoid strikes.
In other instances of public employees’ rights and benefits, the Legislature has established commissions to bring together all parties to discuss and resolve differences.
The decades-old lack of a productive and just process demands that the Legislature enact a law creating an open and transparent commission to examine all aspects of collective bargaining impasses and propose legislative solutions.
John Coleman Walsh Esq.
Lynn
