Dive Brief:
- Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin wants to instate mandatory, binding arbitration and make teacher strikes illegal.
- Over 200 of the state's teachers went on strike last Tuesday over a pay and benefits disputes.
- Some 36 states currently ban teacher strikes, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.
Dive Insight:
Vermont NEA spokesman Darren Allen told the Associated Press that he, and his union's members, appreciate the freedoms of collective bargaining, but they are also in support of Shumlin's plan. However, according to the Associated Press, the Vermont School Boards Association says local boards do not want to see mandatory binding arbitration. Under the plan proposed by Shumlin, teachers couldn't walk out of school or strike if they have a labor dispute and districts couldn't impose contracts.
“The way that the state employees deal with this, where they don’t have the authority to strike, that both parties go to binding arbitration and both parties live by the decision of binding arbitration so nobody gets exactly what they want but it gets resolved without a strike, would be a better path for Vermont,” Shumlin told VPR, a Vermont NPR affiliate.