NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A bill to strip teachers of their collective bargaining rights cleared a major hurdle Tuesday night.
Teachers were granted collective bargaining rights back in the 1970's. The Tennessee Education Association has negotiated the majority of the teachers' contracts in this state ever since. But in a matter of weeks, that could all change.
The protests have been loud. Teachers are worried if their collective bargaining rights are taken away that they won't have a voice at the negotiating table.
Senator Jack Johnson believes he has a solution. Get rid of collective bargaining, and school boards would develop employee handbooks that address salary issues and working conditions and teachers will be included.
"It further dictates that there will be a period of time, for written teacher input into development of the policy manual," said Sen. Johnson.
"The board of education will also help the department, and the help of human resources dept. will establish a model, a sample handbook that may be adopted by school boards," Johnson added.
The teachers union believes a handbook in no way shape or form replaces collective bargaining.
"I think the passage of the bill will create a number of problems. Largely because it provides an illusion that there will be input from teachers out there," said Jerry Winters with the TEA.
Republicans have typically supported ending collective bargaining but now even some conservatives are breaking away especially after polling people in their district to see if they agree with ending it.
"Of the folks that responded, only 43 percent said yes, 50 percent said no. I take that to heart," said Sen. Doug Overby.
The issue of ending collective bargaining heads to the full Senate for a vote on Thursday, where it's expected to pass.
The House version of the collective bargaining bill still allows the teachers union to negotiate some aspects of an educators contract.
All of this will come to light over the next few weeks.
Earlier this month, Governor Bill Haslam and the House Republican leadership had supported the House version of the legislation. But Republican House Speaker Beth Harwell has signaled that she may now be willing to go along with the Senate version.
