Last week teachers in Medford, Oregon returned to their classrooms to begin preparing for the new school year, even though the new contract for the year had not yet been agreed upon by the union and the district.

The parties went through a collective bargaining session that ended the night before teachers returned to their classrooms, and this last meeting was the 11^th held during a five month period.  Some teachers were quoted as saying that they were considering going on strike in several months.

Since the disagreements over the contract have caused such challenges for the union and the school district, the district has requested contract mediation.  Oregon state law allows for mediation to be used as a bargaining option when one side or both sides feels they could benefit from the insight of an impartial third party.  The groups must have spent at least 150 days negotiating on their own before turning to mediation regarding employment relations and labor disputes.

Once approved by the Oregon Employee Relations board, a contract mediator will be assigned to the case to help them communicate and resolve the issue.  The mediation will continue until a resolution has been achieved or until an impasse has been declared, which would lead both parties to submit final offers and cost summaries to the mediator.  The parties would then enter a 30-day “cool down” period, and teachers would be eligible to go on strike within 10 days after written notice.  Mediation would still continue during this cool down and strike period, but it is hoped that in this situation, teachers and the school district will come to some form of agreement before these measures are needed.  Wage increases for the teachers are a major point of disagreement between the teachers and the school district.