Understanding Employment in Schools: Employer-Employee Relationships and Union Representation

It is accepted that a school is an institution of socialisation. It is a place where teaching and learning take place. Few tend to recognise that a school is a workplace for teachers as well. Some members of our wider community do not recognise that schools are places of business. As a place of business, there is an employer. The teachers, administrative and support staff combine to make up the pool of employees. With this being the case, an employer-employee relationship is established.

Employing all categories of staff requires that their engagement starts with a contract of employment. This employment contract sets out the terms and conditions of work, including job title, duties, employment status (whether full-time, temporary, or part-time), wages or salary to be paid, and work hours. The employment relationship requires that the employer has certain obligations and responsibilities to discharge. It is understood that employees also have obligations to their employers. Both parties have rights and responsibilities, and so it is anticipated that this understanding would be reflected in the honouring of the terms and conditions of engagement.

Like all other employees in workplaces, including those who work in schools, teachers have the constitutional right to join a trade union of their choice to represent their individual and collective interests. Where a trade union holds the majority of members in a workplace, based on the principle of 50+1, that union forms the collective bargaining unit. However, this does not prevent any minority trade union from representing its members. What should be known is that the trade union which forms the collective bargaining unit does not only represent the interests of its members, but by extension, all members of staff, whether unionised or non-unionised, or those holding membership with another trade union. This pertains because whatever agreement is negotiated or agreed upon applies to all employees in the workplace.

Many of the industrial relations issues in schools tend to be associated with poor working conditions tied to environmental issues. Occupational safety and health in the workplace are widely promoted as essential aspects of workplace life, to which priority must be given. International Occupational Safety and Health standards impose on the employer the responsibility to provide a safe workplace. Employers must provide their employees with a workplace free from serious hazards and must follow all OSHA safety and health standards. Employers must identify and correct safety and health problems.