When Michael Bloomberg and NYC Teachers Both Lost

This negotiation shows how a potential win-win negotiation can turn into a lose-lose result

By — on / Mediation

negotiation

It’s hard to imagine a negotiation in which negotiating counterparts would choose to sacrifice hundreds of millions of dollars rather than reach an agreement.

But back in 2013, this is the choice that New York City and its teachers’ union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), made when they declared impasse on a new teacher evaluation system.

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Back to Basics

In 2010, New York State passed a law requiring its school districts to replace their old teacher-evaluation systems, which were widely criticized for keeping poor teachers on the job, with more stringent systems that would identify ineffective teachers and remove them from schools.

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Download this FREE special report, Mediation Secrets for Better Business Negotiations: Top Techniques from Mediation Training Experts to discover mediation techniques for selecting the right mediator, understand the mediation process and learn how to engage the mediator to ensure a good outcome from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.


The law charged local school districts and their unions with specifying certain aspects of their new systems by January 17, 2013. Districts that reached agreement on new systems would be eligible for millions in state aid and grants.

New York City stood to gain about $250 million in aid and $200 million in grants, a 4% overall increase in state aid. But the talks were expected to be difficult because of the frosty relations between the UFT and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. The union, which had been without a contract since 2009, had declined to endorse the mayor in his reelection campaign that year.

A Negotiation of School Yard Taunting

As 2012 drew to a close, the city and the UFT were indeed deadlocked. On December 27 of that year, the city filed a complaint with the state labor board, accusing the union of failing to bargain in good faith and trying to “extort” the city by negotiating topics unrelated to teacher evaluations, such as teacher pay. Union president Michael Mulgrew responded that the union had a right to discuss a multitude of issues since the evaluation system would be part of a new contract.

The union also launched a television ad campaign accusing Bloomberg of “going after teachers again.” And with Bloomberg reaching the end of his final term in office, Mulgrew suggested in an interview that the union hoped to have a better relationship with New York’s next mayor.

A mediator had preliminary meetings with the interested parties to form the outlines of an agreement, but Bloomberg officials reportedly canceled on the day of the scheduled mediation.

The Final Bell on this Negotiation 

On January 17, 2013, the day of the deadline, the two sides separately announced that a final, late-night negotiating session had collapsed. Bloomberg maintained that the union had scuttled the deal with last-minute demands, such as a “sunset clause” that would extend the dismissal process for ineffective teachers. Mulgrew insisted that the city had earlier agreed to a sunset clause.

Mulgrew also maintained that he shook hands on a deal with education officials early on the morning of January 17. But soon after, schools chancellor Dennis M. Walcott called to report that “the boss”—Bloomberg—“ says no deal.”

Bloomberg traveled to Albany to urge the New York State Legislature to prevent the city from losing $450 million in state funds. While at the capitol, the mayor took the opportunity to deride evaluation systems put in place by other districts.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo said the state would not reverse course on the funding. But a judge temporarily blocked Cuomo from withholding the aid, and Cuomo ultimately decided to impose an evaluation system on New York City.

 

Mediation Secrets for Better Business Negotiations

Claim your FREE copy: Mediation Secrets for Better Business Negotiations

Download this FREE special report, Mediation Secrets for Better Business Negotiations: Top Techniques from Mediation Training Experts to discover mediation techniques for selecting the right mediator, understand the mediation process and learn how to engage the mediator to ensure a good outcome from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.


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