Bargaining with unions can be a daunting and difficult task, especially for members who are new to the board or even new to the board’s negotiations committee.
Negotiations have an extraordinary impact on a district’s budget and educational programming. To help ensure that board members are prepared to negotiate with experienced and well-trained union teams, the NJSBA is offering two opportunities for school district teams to attend “Ready, Set, Bargain.” The program will take place on Friday, Nov. 30 or Friday, Jan. 25 at NJSBA Headquarters, 413 W. State Street, Trenton, NJ 08618. Both sessions offer the same content.
“Ready, Set, Bargain” provides information and training on the parties’ obligations and rights; developing cost estimates of the current agreement, including salary guides and benefits; developing employer proposals and analyzing union demands; ways to use comparative data; and impasse procedures.
Ready, Set, Bargain combines the valuable information from Preparing for Bargaining and Bargaining at the Table into a convenient one-day format. The program offers four Board Member Academy credits. Application for 7.2 Continuing Legal Education Credits for New Jersey lawyers is pending before the New Jersey Supreme Court and 3.5 Qualified Purchasing Agent (QPA) credits is pending for business administrators.
Registration Information Registration for the programs is available online by clicking on the program dates above, but only by the school business administrator. Business administrators wishing to register officials from their districts should have a scanned purchase order ready to attach to the registration.
Cost The registration fee for members is $149 and the fee for non-members is $298. The fee includes a continental breakfast, lunch and program materials.
For questions regarding this program, please email NJSBA Labor Relations.