Newtown Negotiation

Sarah Morgan

Z3332473

Negotiation Skills

MGMT3

Part A

The Negotiation Problem (Big Picture)

The Newton negotiation involved two main parties. One of the parties was the Newton school board. The school board is the administrative body of the school. One of its administrative duties is to manage the school’s budget. Additionally, the school board has the final say in most issues surrounding the running of the school. Membership to the school board is elective. The local community elects members of the school board periodically. Thus, the local community retains the ultimate say over who serves in the school board. The community can also vote out the school board in case they deem such a move necessary. A position in the school board is very prestigious. Besides attracting considerable payment, the position serves as a bridge to greater political offices.

The other party in the negotiation is the teachers’ union. This is a national body of teachers, which is very popular among teachers. In this negotiation, the teachers union represents the interests of the teachers. The union is negotiating for the school board to honor the collective agreement, which had expired a few months ago. Apart from the two main parties involved in the negotiation, the local community has a passive role in the negotiation. The local community has declined to pay more taxes. Thus, there is a projected budget deficit to run the schools due to budget increases. The parents are also piling pressure on the school board and teachers union to reach an agreement and avoid a strike.

Based on the above conditions, the school board and the teachers union have different positions. The main negotiation issues include salary, workloads, evaluation of teachers, benefits, and staff reduction. The board wants to reduce expenditures and increase teachers’ productivity. On the other hand, the teachers union wants the finalization of their contract.

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