Incidences of collective bargaining, strikes, and other union activities by public school teachers have multiplied rapidly across this country. By the 1979-1980 school year teacher strikes in this country reached a record high of 242. In addition, teachers had won the right to organize and to bargain collectively by statute in three-fifths of the nation's states by the end of the 1970s. However, in 1977 the Virginia State Supreme Court declared that the state could not delegate to local governing bodies or boards the right to bargain collectively with public employees. The purpose of this study was to investigate the specific attitudes held by public school teachers in Prince William County, Virginia to various forms of collective action. The secondary purpose of this descriptive research was to analyze the relationship between these teachers' attitudes toward collective action and selected demographic variables. A random sample of 322 teachers received the Demographic Questionnaire and Collective Action Survey. Responses were analyzed according to frequency distribution and stepwise multiple regression to determine significance between respondents' attitudes and demographic characteristics. The results of the multiple regression analysis determined that four demographic variables had a statistically significant relationship with scale score or total attitude toward collective action. These variables were political affiliation, social class, degree status, and place of birth. Overall, respondents held attitudes favorably disposed to collective action. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata