There is no federal law providing public sector employees the right to bargain collectively. Instead, the authority to grant or deny this right resides in individual states.

Every state regulates the rights of both public and private sector employees to unionize and bargain collectively, whether through state law passed by the legislature or through decisions handed down by the judicial system. Most states (36, including the District of Columbia) address collective bargaining for teachers in state statute. (Continue below)

View how states handle various aspects of collective bargaining. Choose a topic by clicking on the checkbox (expand topic areas by selecting the plus icon). Move your mouse over states to see Citation and Case Law information.

Is Collective Bargaining Legal Here are some of the ways states shape what can be bargained: General Scope of Bargaining Provisions Wages Hours Terms & Conditions of Employment Grievance Procedures Management Rights Teacher Employment Probationary Period (Tenure) Transfer/Teacher Reassignment Layoff/Reduction in Force Dismissal Evaluation Process; Instruments Teacher Benefits Insurance Benefits Pension/Retirement Benefits Fringe Benefits Leave Teacher Workday Length of the Teacher School Year Course Content, Curriculum, Textbook Selection Class Load Class Size Length of Preparation Periods Number of Parent/Teacher Conferences Extra Curricular Duties Can Teachers Strike

• Of the 36 states that address collective bargaining for teachers in state statute, 33 have mandatory collective bargaining rights. Mandatory collective bargaining requires that if a majority of teachers vote for the right to bargain collectively, then the school district must negotiate employee contracts with the teacher union at the bargaining table.
• While 15 states do not address collective bargaining in state statute, they have nonetheless determined the legality of collective bargaining through other means such as case law.
  • In 10 states without a collective bargaining statute, case law has determined collective bargaining to be legal, though discretion is ultimately left to individual school boards to decide whether or not to engage in collective bargaining.
  • In the remaining 5 states, bargaining is specifically prohibited either by a court ruling or by administrative code¹. However, teachers may still join professional associations.

Visitors to this page should be aware of an important limitation of the data presented here. The data represent a comprehensive analysis of state statutes. We do not systematically include other sources of legal authority, such as case law, attorney general opinions, or decisions made by labor relations boards. Where we know of relevant case law on an issue we include it, but the exhaustive nature of case law precluded a systematic search. References to case law that are found in the database have been generously provided to us by the National Education Association.

We attempt to highlight general trends with regard to the specific language that appears in statute regarding collective bargaining and specific conditions affecting teachers.

Scope of Bargaining
State law determines not just whether or not a district can engage in collective bargaining, but it also determines the scope of bargaining-the specific issues that districts and unions are or are not allowed to negotiate.

More specifically, each state's scope of bargaining statute decides whether bargaining on particular issues is 1) required; 2) permitted; or 3) prohibited. Issues such as salary and benefits are generally subject to bargaining, even though the state may have additional regulations governing these issues. For example, in Massachusetts, salary is a mandatory subject of bargaining, but the state also defines the minimum salary that a teacher can earn². In other words, while the district and union negotiate the details of the salary, the negotiations occur within the framework of the minimum salary established by the legislature.

The language of states' scope of bargaining statutes has a considerable impact on the balance of power between management (school districts) and labor (teacher unions). Minor differences in statutory language can result in major differences at the bargaining table. Districts and unions' interpretations of such seemingly straightforward language as "wages, hours, terms and conditions of employment" provide a good illustration of this power struggle. School districts are likely to interpret that phrase as narrowly as possible, while unions are likely to interpret the phrase as broadly as possible. Disputes often arise over what is considered a "term and condition of employment." For example, teacher evaluations or class size restrictions could both be interpreted either as a management right or as a term of employment (favoring labor) depending on one's perspective. This ambiguity in language leads many of these differences to be settled by state labor relations boards, case law, state school boards or even the state's attorney general.

Right to Work
States that do not allow collective bargaining are often called "right-to-work" states. However, this term is really a misnomer. The term "right-to-work" actually refers to laws prohibiting agency fee arrangements that require employees who are not members of a union still to pay union dues. For example, Florida allows public sector collective bargaining, but it also has a right-to-work statute prohibiting agency fees. Most other states that allow collective bargaining also allow agency fees.

1	Administrative code has the authority of law but is approved by state agencies rather than the legislature.
2	Massachusetts Statute Title XII, Chapter 71-40; Title XXI, Chapter 150E-1 - 150-15