MADISON (WKOW) -- As the contentious collective bargaining law gets set to take effect next week many questions remain about the future of the state's teacher's union.
WEAC President Mary Bell sat down with 27 News reporter Colby Robertson to talk about what's next. The collective bargaining law will take effect next Wednesday after Secretary of State Doug La Follette publishes it.
Collective bargaining has been a large part of Wisconsin's history since 1972. Many in the education field are unsure of how the union will be impacted without collective bargaining.
Bell says the biggest concern is how the everyday lives of teachers will change. Over the past 4 decades collective bargaining has been used to not only negotiate benefits and salary but essentially their entire work day.
Bell says, "How they've structured their working conditions all of that changes so until districts have defined policy handbooks for their employees it really is a concern for them about what does my defined day look like."
For those districts that did not agree on contract extensions Bell says everything from the hours of a teachers work day to the amount of face to face time with students to prep time will be determined by each district and administration, not by collective bargaining.
That's why school districts are still negotiating contract extensions with their school boards and will continue to do so right up until next week. Bell says, "It's going to take years to repair the damage that's been done in 3 short months."
Reality is setting in for Bell after months of protests that drew national attention. Bell says, "Standing together being a collective voice is going to be important because their individual rights, as they were laid out in their union contracts may not exist anymore."
For some of her 98,000 members there's uncertainty of how a union will exist without the ability to collectively bargain, but Bell insists that's just one element of what unions do.
Bell says, "We'll be involved in the salary discussions that are allowed under law, but we will also be allowed in advocacy at the local level in a number of ways, when your individual voice is more tenuous, your collective voice is more important."
Over the past four decades collective bargaining has been used to not only negotiate teachers benefits and salary but essentially their entire work day.
Bell says, "The implementation that begins in August and September will take a lot of parents and communities by surprise if they haven't realized the depth of the change that's going to take place in districts across this state."
Some districts agreed on contract extensions in height of the collective bargaining battle, but many did not. Bell says day to day rules set by the union will now be re-defined by each school districts handbook. Everything from the hours teachers work to the amount of prep time they get.
Something Bell believes will directly affect how teachers interact with students which that's why she urges parents to get involved now more than ever.
Bell says, "They need to help us. They need to advocates for their children and when programs disappear and class sizes go up, they need to be part of that collective voice that says these are not the decisions we want for our kids and our schools."
Governor Scott Walker has said from the beginning of the budget battle taking away collective bargaining rights is important in order to give school districts the tools to balance their budget and off set deep cuts to education.
