Dear BIS Board,
After more than twenty years of constantly changing board members and board attitudes, falling salaries and broken promises, twenty years during which the staff´s concerns, and even their professional judgment have been systematically undervalued and undermined, the overwhelming majority of academic and administrative staff of the BIS collectively conveyed their desire for a Tarifkommission (TK) to negotiate and sign a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on which we could build a secure and supportive future for all members of the community.
The choice of a CBA negotiated by a TK instead of merely a Works Agreement negotiated by Betriebsrat (BR) – or works council - was based on the fact that a CBA allows co-determination of two key aspects of staff continuity and well-being: salaries and working hours. Although the BR had a representative at these negotiations, the BR has never formally been part of the process.
In response to this need and with the full knowledge of the board and the BIS community who were informed of this process through the director’s blog posts, the democratically elected Tarifkommission (TK) has been in negotiations with school leadership for the past nine months. The TK and the school leadership conducted the negotiations from the start with a clear sense that we were finding an agreement that was best for the community as a whole.
After more than twenty years of constantly changing board members and board attitudes, falling salaries and broken promises, twenty years during which the staff´s concerns, and even their professional judgment have been systematically undervalued and undermined, the overwhelming majority of academic and administrative staff of the BIS collectively conveyed their desire for a Tarifkommission (TK) to negotiate and sign a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on which we could build a secure and supportive future for all members of the community.
The choice of a CBA negotiated by a TK instead of merely a Works Agreement negotiated by Betriebsrat (BR) – or works council - was based on the fact that a CBA allows co-determination of two key aspects of staff continuity and well-being: salaries and working hours. Although the BR had a representative at these negotiations, the BR has never formally been part of the process.
In response to this need and with the full knowledge of the board and the BIS community who were informed of this process through the director’s blog posts, the democratically elected Tarifkommission (TK) has been in negotiations with school leadership for the past nine months. The TK and the school leadership conducted the negotiations from the start with a clear sense that we were finding an agreement that was best for the community as a whole.
In a spirit of transparency and trust which was felt and appreciated throughout the community, the TK and the school leadership found common ground and agreed on a set of principles covering salary and working time. It was always understood that, as is normal practice, the terms of an agreed CBA, like those of a works agreement, would be extended to all staff at the discretion of the board. We were therefore delighted to finally reach agreement on the terms of a Collective Bargaining Agreement at the beginning of this school year. For the first time in BIS history, staff felt recognized and respected as caring professionals who were being afforded an appropriate voice and able to share common grounds with the Directorate. A handsome proof of this sense of mutual respect and investment in a common future is reflected in the fact that during this period of negotiation, the school has established itself academically as the top school in the Munich area.
However, at the end of August 2015, in a recidivistic action which has disrupted the supportive and successful spirit of transparency and trust built up during long hours of mutual respect the TK, the staff and the school leadership were summarily informed that the Board would not agree to the codification of the agreement as a CBA.
We feel the board’s ideological opposition to trade union representation for staff is unwarranted, unprofessional and uncaring. The community trusts the staff to use their personal and professional judgement to keep the children safe and happy in the classroom, on the playing fields and on school trips, and to make the best possible decisions to secure their future prosperity and well-being. Yet the board feels we lack the necessary care, critical thinking skills and independent judgement to co-determine the best interests of our community’s future.
This undermined the leadership and the staff. Boards and leadership teams have come and gone at an alarming rate over the last twenty years, but the staff represented by the TK includes people who have invested many years in the school and people who have proved their goodwill and long-term commitment to the success of the entire community. We make our decisions independently of any outside influence. The staff is the union. We care, we listen, we reach agreement. We would like this to continue – we feel we have earned it and we want to prevent the wrongs of the past extending into the future.
We ask the community to restore the trust the TK and the leadership established and to support our combined efforts to build a stable school structure for the benefit of all stakeholders by upholding our democratic and human rights to have an equal voice in school decisions including negotiations on working hours and salary.
A general meeting of the union membership will take place soon. We will review the current impasse and decide on appropriate action to achieve what we passionately feel is our rightful demand for a CBA. We feel this is in the long-term interests of the whole community and ask every member of our community to support us in our endeavour.
Sincerely,
BIS Tarifkommission
However, at the end of August 2015, in a recidivistic action which has disrupted the supportive and successful spirit of transparency and trust built up during long hours of mutual respect the TK, the staff and the school leadership were summarily informed that the Board would not agree to the codification of the agreement as a CBA.
We feel the board’s ideological opposition to trade union representation for staff is unwarranted, unprofessional and uncaring. The community trusts the staff to use their personal and professional judgement to keep the children safe and happy in the classroom, on the playing fields and on school trips, and to make the best possible decisions to secure their future prosperity and well-being. Yet the board feels we lack the necessary care, critical thinking skills and independent judgement to co-determine the best interests of our community’s future.
This undermined the leadership and the staff. Boards and leadership teams have come and gone at an alarming rate over the last twenty years, but the staff represented by the TK includes people who have invested many years in the school and people who have proved their goodwill and long-term commitment to the success of the entire community. We make our decisions independently of any outside influence. The staff is the union. We care, we listen, we reach agreement. We would like this to continue – we feel we have earned it and we want to prevent the wrongs of the past extending into the future.
We ask the community to restore the trust the TK and the leadership established and to support our combined efforts to build a stable school structure for the benefit of all stakeholders by upholding our democratic and human rights to have an equal voice in school decisions including negotiations on working hours and salary.
A general meeting of the union membership will take place soon. We will review the current impasse and decide on appropriate action to achieve what we passionately feel is our rightful demand for a CBA. We feel this is in the long-term interests of the whole community and ask every member of our community to support us in our endeavour.
Sincerely,
BIS Tarifkommission