That new, more conciliatory approach has so far not been matched by concessions at the bargaining table. Despite 17 months of talks, teachers and school administrators have made limited progress and remain far apart on major issues such as a push to base pay on performance rather than seniority. That has frustrated advocates for education changes who want to use the contract to seek their goals.
The implications of that shift go well beyond the schools. As the city’s largest bargaining unit, the teachers’ union helps set patterns for other negotiations, establishing a base line for how much the city is willing to give at the bargaining table.
“When a lot of people are worried about their jobs or out of jobs, they have a lot less sympathy for public sector workers who are asking for pay increases,’’ said Kevin Lang, an economics professor at Boston University.
As the economy sputters, unions across the country have seen their power diminish. The highest profile battle played out in Wisconsin, where public employees’ unions lost most of their collective bargaining rights despite massive protests.
Even in labor-friendly Massachusetts, lawmakers earlier this year curbed the collective bargaining rights of teachers, firefighters, and other municipal employees, in an effort to save $100 million in health insurance costs for cities and towns.
Those setbacks have shifted the dynamics for union leaders who in the past made their point with a megaphone on a picket line. Boston teachers, for example, threatened to strike in winter 2004 and again in 2007, both times after working a half school year without a contract. But not this time, as negotiations stretch into a second school year.
“There definitely is a different tone,’’ said Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers Union. “But I’m not sure it’s because of Wisconsin or anything like that. I think the economy has cast a pall over everything.’’
