NORWALK, Conn. – Teachers unions are happy to use every trick in the book to get their way during contract negotiations.

But when members of the Norwalk school board tried to reason with rank-and-file union members earlier this year, explaining that the board’s desire for a salary freeze would save up to 25 teaching jobs, the union filed a complaint with the state’s Board of Labor Relations, according to TheHour.com.

Happily, the complaint died without the state board taking any action, perhaps setting a strong precedent for the right of an employer to communicate directly with employees, regardless of their union affiliation.

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The Norwalk dispute illustrates the problem with closed union contract negotiations. Many of the people who will be most affected by the outcome of the negotiations – taxpayers and teachers – are blocked out. They frequently have no idea what’s being arranged on their behalf until a tentative deal is struck.

In the Norwalk situation, the school board wanted to make sure that the teachers knew that the union’s refusal to accept a wage freeze would result in a significant layoff.

The teachers had a right to know that information, so they could let their union leaders know how they felt about it. The school board had a right to know whether a majority of teachers would be on board with a pay freeze to save jobs.

So the board went directly to the source and appealed to the teachers. We have no idea how the teachers responded, but the fact is that they were properly informed about the possible repercussions of their union’s position. They should have been informed by their union. The fact that they had to be clued in by the school board says something about the union’s regard (or lack thereof) for the opinions of its members.

This reminds us of a situation in Milwaukee a few years ago, when hundreds of teachers were laid off following a refusal by the teachers union to accept a change in health insurance companies that would have saved the district millions of dollars.

One of the laid off teachers had recently been named the outstanding new English teacher in the state. She complained that the union never told her and her colleagues that layoffs might result over the insurance dispute. She said she would have supported the insurance change if she had known her job, and the jobs of her colleagues, were at stake.

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Teachers union contact negotiations should be conducted in public, so everyone that might be affected can understand the issues and potential impacts. The closed-door model of negotiation is outdated, unfair and should be on the trash pile.