Ottawa board won’t agree to arbitration. What’s up with that?
Early in the dispute between the Ottawa Township High School Education Association and the Ottawa Board of Education, the service of a mediator was required. This is not unusual. Many difficult negotiations are resolved with the help of a mutually agreed on mediator.
The mediator does not take sides. The mediator cannot impose an agreement. The mediator can push and prod both sides into an agreement.
The strike in Ottawa, an old industrial town an hour and half south west of Chicago, has been going on for nearly three weeks. The community, students, parents and the teacher themselves want this thing settled. Apparently the only ones who are in no hurry to settle are members of the Ottawa board and it’s president, Skip Hupp.
Evidence of this is the Ottawa board’s refusal to submit the dispute to arbitration.
The difference between a mediator and arbitration is that in arbitration a third party considers all the issues, much like a judge, and issues a decision that is binding on both sides.
What is the board afraid of? It is clearly evidence that the board has an agenda that is larger than the issues of the strike. For the teachers the issue is a fair settlement of an economic dispute. For the board the issue appears to be the union.
