Knowledge- and Skill-Based Pay Through a Collective Bargaining Lens

Abstract

A number of observers are examining the implications of new management strategies for how teachers are paid. Although the current system of teacher pay, the single-salary schedule, may not interfere with new workplace reforms, it may not complement (or enhance) them. One pay alternative is teacher knowledge- and skill-based pay. Most previous literature concerning such plans has adopted a managerial perspective, or “lens,” focusing, for example, on the organizational advantages to managers of a skilled teacher workforce. This perspective may downplay the viewpoints of alternative organizational stakeholders. This article adopts an alternative, collective bargaining lens for viewing knowledge- and skill-based plans. Discussion addresses the likely reactions of teachers to knowledge- and skill-based pay plans, collective bargaining issues that may emerge between a teachers' union and a district employer concerning such plans, and union involvement at the strategic level of decision making regarding alternative pay proposals.