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Nego Bull 2r4f5g2f4r22fv2fd2f5
Nego Bull 2r4f5g2f4r22fv2fd2f5
the interest-based process. Based on member input gathered last school year (details provided in past Vanguards and Bulletins), SDFA is addressing our members interests with the District. Our interests, while prioritized by the SDFA Executive Board as high, medium, and low, also fall into general categories of: contract language interests, health care-related interests, or salary/financial interests. As usual the SDFA/District have agreed to discuss contract language interests first, then health care-related interests next, and then, finally, salary/financial interests. This process is followed as some contract language and health care-related interests have a cost involved, and that potential cost should be known before we look seriously at each others salary/financial interests. All costs eventually are paid out of the same District pot of funds, so money spent in one area is not available to spend again somewhere else. Productive negotiations meetings are underway in September and will be continuing into October. A mutual goal of SDFA and the District is to have a new agreement as soon as is reasonably possible for our members and the School Board to review. The interestbased process usually does take a great deal more time and energy than the old adversarial methods. Working cooperatively in an attempt to meet each others interests is much more difficult than just being positional and making demands of one another. Your continued patience and support is appreciated. As has been demonstrated many times in past years, we have ultimately produced an excellent new working agreement. Most of you will remember that per the interest-based process guidelines SDFA and the District follow, specific details of each negotiating meeting are not shared by SDFA with our entire unit or by the District Negotiations Team with the School Board. The interestbased process does not work successfully in a piecemeal fashion. Pieces or parts of a new agreement (whether it be about language, health care or financial interests) are not shared along the way to agreement on a new contract. The interest-based process we employ calls for our members and the School Board to consider our new agreement as an overall package. While there may well be some small piece of an entire package that some unit or school board member dislikes, we are looking for consideration and review of an overall package. It is rare in life that anyone loves 100% of anything, and there may well be areas of compromise within an interest based bargaining agreement where either the SDFA or the District did not end up with meeting a particular interest completely; however, the overall package remains a success and is not something either side wants to withhold from being approved. Most definitely, interest-based bargaining requires the patience and trust of both constituenciesour unit members and the School Boardbut it can be stated confidently that the successful contract resolutions generated in past years have more than earned that patience and trust. For those new employees who may not know much about interest-based bargaining, SDFA would like to share some information about the process and how it works. In years past, the California Foundation of Employer- Employee Relations (CFIER) was instrumental in providing the training and support for both SDFA and the District as we
began our successful pathway to intelligent negotiating. In this Bulletin, we would like to share a few initial highlights from CFIER that might shed some light upon this process.
(often unwritten or informal) behavior norms, attitudes, and practices. To truly create an equal partnership takes a very focused commitment. This commitment can be assisted and supported by both parties efforts to sincerely understand and respect each others differences and culture. With mutual trust and respect, both parties can then productively work to meet each others needsagain, without compromising interests.