On March 24 and 25, twenty ACCCEA members participated in the Atlantic County Education Association overnight at the Hilton in Atlantic City. It was a chance to network with the County people, to meet the new NJEA government relations representative from South Jersey, to eat surf and turf, and to have a good time.

On Saturday, Chris Berzinski, NJEA Higher Ed, lead a four hour mock negotiations workshop for the ACCC members. First Chris divided us into split up into management and labor. Then we had meeting, proposals, caucuses, and counter proposals. Some of us thought we were headed for a stalemate, but I thought that we would have reached a settlement if we had more time.

Jim Usilton was the labor spokesperson and did a great job as did Clair Farnum for management. The management team had decided that people other than the spokesperson could speak, so no one was surprised when Penny who was on the management team jumped in attacking Jim. Fortunately no blood was shed. Chris said it was the most realistic mock negotiations he had ever observed.