For most of America's history, teachers have had few labor negotiating rights and little power to exert them. The National Labor Relations Act established the National Labor Relations Board and helped teachers gain more power in labor negotiations. Many worker rights gained from the 1930s through the 1970s were undermined by the increased complexity of labor negotiations and contracts and a new labor philosophy in the federal government during the 1980s. In California, public employee labor issues are governed by four statutes: the George Brown Act, the Winton Act, 1970 Winton Act, and the Educational Employment Relations Act. In the Corona-Norco School District in California, teachers' organizations negotiated for several years using the traditional style of bargaining. Marathon negotiation meetings were later used and resulted in multiyear teacher contracts. Many characteristics of the industrial union model are considered negative in collective bargaining, including its competitiveness and adversarial relationship. Alternatives to traditional labor negotiation stress focusing on the issues, lessening confrontation, examining common goals and interests, setting objective criteria, and seeking mutual gain. The Corona-Norco School District can employ some of these alternative negotiating methods in discussions with teachers. (Contains 25 references.) (JPT)