And So It Begins… Binding Arbitration

From the ProJo http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/10/ri-legislative-committee-to-ho.html

Scheduled for the week before the full General Assembly returns for the first time since June, the House Labor Committee hearing has been scheduled for 2 p.m. in Room 313 of the State House.

The focus of the hearing will be a bill, introduced by Rep. Alfred A. Gemma, D-Warwick, on January 22.

Among the key provisions: “If no agreement is reached by midnight of the expiration of the existing contract … the parties shall submit a list of their respective unresolved issues to the mediator. If an agreement is not reached prior to the opening of school, teachers shall continue to work under the terms of the existing contract and…the parties shall then proceed to arbitration …

“The arbitration panel shall resolve separately each individual disputed issue by accepting the last best offer thereon of either of the parties…The decision shall be rendered within thirty (30) days of the conclusion of the arbitration hearings.”

The House’s Democratic leaders have not said they are committed to passing a binding arbitration bill before the year is out. But given the strong push for the legislation by the teacher unions, they have evidently agreed to use the Gemma bill as a vehicle for a public discussion of the pros and cons.

I guess the revolution in East Providence was too successful for the NEA / AFT.  They have cried havoc and relased the legislators of war.