Legal and Labor Relations
NJSBA provides resources, training and advice to help your district meet its labor relations challenges, including negotiations strategy, salary guide development and responding to union activities.
Salary Guide Assistance
We can review your district’s salary guide to identify potential problems and provide strategies and advice for dealing with them. Your NJSBA membership provides an analysis of the district’s expiring guide and one set of proposed guides. (Analysis of additional proposals and assistance in in constructing salary guides is available for a fee.)
Contract Analyses and In-District Consultation
Labor relations staff members will analyze your district’s collective bargaining agreement to identify provisions that are illegal or ill-advised and provisions that are advantageous and protective of the board’s interests.This analysis includes an in-district presentation.
In addition, labor relations staff can provide in-district consultations on specific topics, such as negotiation strategy; preparing for mediation; contract administration; and employee job actions.
Training
This school year, approximately 200 New Jersey school boards will return to the bargaining table with their local teachers’ union. In the current atmosphere of tight financial constraints and intense public interest, thorough preparation is crucial.
To help boards prepare for the upcoming round of labor negotiations, NJSBA is offering a series of training programs.
Advice and Assistance
Labor relations staff members are available to answer questions and provide advice and assistance to board members, administrators, and attorneys on a wide range of topics.
Critical Information/Resources
NJSBA also provides extensive information on settlement rates, health benefits, reductions-in-force, recent decisions, and more.
Resources for Administrators and LR Professionals
Negotiations Advisor (Subscription Service)
A comprehensive guide to school district negotiations covering all aspects of the bargaining process.
PERC Index (Subscription Service)
Summaries of all Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) decisions on the scope of negotiations and unfair labor practices, as well as a topical index and case name index.
PAA (Membership)
The New Jersey Personnel Administrators Association (PAA) promotes efficient and effective employment practices through training, publications and information. Coordinated by NJSBA’s Legal and Labor Relations Department, PAA offers its members a forum to share trends and developments taking place in the field.