Collective Bargaining Ensure Every Educator Has a Seat at the Table

During collective bargaining, your local association and district exchange proposals, share ideas, mutually solve problems and reach a written agreement. Every year, Idaho Education Association members band together to better their working conditions, improve student success, and ensure all educators in their district — not just union members — have the best contracts possible.

IEA has been a champion of collective bargaining for decades for a simple reason: It works. On average, union members earn higher pay, have better health and pension benefits, and enjoy improved working conditions. But IEA members advocate for more than their own economic security.

Union members tend to be more engaged in civic involvement and fight to secure vital public resources to adequately fund public schools. In good or bad economic times, a collaborative public education employer can better serve students and the community by negotiating in good faith with its local association.

Collective bargaining gives Idaho educators a unified voice in shaping their working conditions, compensation, and professional expectations. This page explains your rights under Idaho law, how negotiations work at the local level, and why strong, member-driven bargaining is essential for protecting educators and strengthening public schools.

Who can bargain?

In Idaho, educators and firefighters are allowed to collectively bargain; for educators, that ability has been law since 1971. To bargain, a union must represent a 50 percent of professional employees within a district, plus one. Idaho code defines professional employees as “any certificated employee of a school district, including charter districts; provided however, that administrative personnel including superintendents, supervisors or principals are excluded from the professional employee group for the purposes of negotiations."

Who can start the process?

Either the union or the district may initiate talks.

Can non-union members bargain?

Non-union members cannot negotiate at the bargaining table, although they reap the rewards of negotiations for better pay and benefits. They may, however, attend negotiations in person, which is an important and impressive way to communicate support for the union’s work. Of course, the most effective way to initiate change is to get involved with your IEA local.

What happens if my district doesn't take bargaining seriously?

Idaho code makes it clear that both the district and the union must bargain in good faith. Your district may be arguing in bad faith if it does not disclose financial information, skips meetings, or circumvents the bargaining team. Your region director can help you take appropriate steps if your district is not bargaining in good faith.

I work for a charter school. Can I still bargain?

In Idaho, public charter schools must adhere to the same negotiating laws as traditional public schools. To negotiate, 50 percent, plus one, of the educators in your school must be IEA members.

What happens if negotiations fail?

If negotiations come to an impasse, Idaho code makes provisions for professional mediation. This is currently the only impasse resolution codified into law. Either party may request mediation; if mediation fails, your union may choose to go on strike. However, educator strikes in Idaho are rare occurrences; every year, school districts and IEA representatives around the state shake hands over a deal.

Bargaining is a process. Here's a quick rundown of how it typically works.

Preparing for bargaining

Your union’s bargaining team is usually selected through a process outlined in the union’s constitution and by-laws, while the district designates the management team. Each team analyzes the current collective bargaining agreement to identify areas they want to improve.

Ideally, the local will reach out to community partners, parents, and other stakeholders to seek input on issues for potential proposals.

Conducting negotiations

Negotiations usually take several rounds of bargaining. The union and management sides express the rationale behind their proposals. Some contract provisions remain largely the same from contract to contract while others, such as salary, are bargained with each contract. The parties may modify some sections, and either side may propose a new bargaining topic.

Ratifying the contract

When your union and employer teams reach a tentative contract agreement, they review the proposed contract with their respective constituency groups.  

Your union holds a ratification meeting where employees ask questions and offer opinions on the tentative contract agreement. Individuals are then asked to vote on the tentative agreement according to your local constitution and bylaws. A majority of votes determines if the contract is ratified (accepted) or rejected.  

The school board must ratify (approve) the tentative agreements reached during bargaining. If both sides ratify the tentative agreement, then the parties have a new (or successor) collective bargaining agreement. If the tentative contract agreement is rejected — by either party — the teams ~~usually~~ return to the bargaining table and continue to negotiate until they reach a new tentative agreement for a vote.

Resolving contract disputes

If the parties cannot reach an agreement, Idaho law specifies how the dispute can be resolved.  

Idaho law provides that either party may request mediation to resolve matters that have not reached agreement. If agreed to by both parties, the parties can also enter into arbitration, whereby an arbitrator can decide the outcome of the unresolved matters.

Changing or clarifying the contract

With the agreement of both parties, any section of a ratified contract can be renegotiated during the term of the contract. In many districts, union and management representatives meet regularly during the term of the contract to talk about and resolve issues of mutual concern, often through an established joint labor-management committee.  

In addition, at the bargaining table or during the life of a contract, the parties can bargain a memorandum of understanding (MOU) related to a specific issue. The benefit of an MOU is that it allows the parties to reach an agreement on a new or unforeseen issue that is important to both the union and the district.

Suggested Results

Collective Bargaining Ensure Every Educator Has a Seat at the Table

Who can bargain?

Who can start the process?

Can non-union members bargain?

What happens if my district doesn't take bargaining seriously?

I work for a charter school. Can I still bargain?

What happens if negotiations fail?

Preparing for bargaining

Conducting negotiations

Ratifying the contract

Resolving contract disputes

Changing or clarifying the contract

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