After several consecutive years of hearing that teachers’ unions are terrible, teachers’ unions are an obstacle to reform, teachers’ unions are greedy, it’s easy to cringe when the subject of unions comes up. I personally have gotten over that. I have come to realize that the war on unions is part of the larger war on public education. The unions are the strongest political ally for the public schools, which are the workplaces of their members, and they need make no apology to the far-right that wants to reduce all working people to atomized individuals, lacking representation.
Bruce Baker decided to explore the recent attacks on teachers’ unions after reading a comment in The Economist magazine saying that the unions are a “scourge.”
Baker looked at the effect of unions overall and found that they tend to be associated with higher pay for teachers (which attracts better candidates into the profession) and with greater funding fairness. No, unions are not a scourge. Unions give teachers a voice in determining the conditions in which they teach and children learn. Why should that be left to the politicians and policymakers, who know little or nothing about education?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Here on the south shore of Long Island, our district was one of many that was destroyed by Sandy. As soon as word came how devastated our community was, it was our union who put together a clothing & supply drive. It is our union that has been organizing the feeding of families and helping residents clean their flood damaged homes. A student told one of my Colleagues, “I never realized teachers really cared about us, I knew they cared about our education, but not our well being”. I blame this on the constant vilification of teachers and our unions. What some peolpe dont know is Teacher unions look out for the well being of teachers, but also the communities where we teach. This example is just the latest example.
Right on, Diane! When I first came to North Carolina after teaching for 15 years in NY, I was shocked that there was no teachers union, and then found out that collective bargaining was illegal for public employees here. Since then I have been an active member of the North Carolina Association of Educators for the past 10 years, the closest thing we have to a union, but with no real power.
I once made a statement about pulling a “Norma Rae” to my superior and was quickly admonished that talking “union” was considered anti-child. I have also heard the saying “When a NC baby is born, the first word it learns is mama, the next is “unions are the devil”!
I am saddened and frustrated. People here seem complacent. People who have always been here know no other way, so don’t fight for anything better. Teacher’s working conditions are children’s learning conditions. I have never worked so hard under such inequitable conditions in my entire career. Burn-out takes a huge toll on our teachers here in NC, and still no one seems to understand. I need my union back!!!
My mind was blown when Rahm Emmanuel responded to the Teachers’ Unions in Chicago by saying the push for smaller class sizes was “a distraction.” The problem is more too culturally metastatized to be confined to just the far-right (though obviously they’re not helping)- it’s symptomatic of the fundamental divide between society’s recognition that learning is a social good and the lack of compelling interest from those in power to do what it takes to achieve that good. This lack of interest almost certainly stems from the egregious structural abnormalities of resource distribution within Capitalism. It is sustained by the divide between those with professional expertise and those with decision-making power. Very few intelligent educators would argue that smaller class sizes are inessential. Likewise, very few intelligent educators would argue that educational inequalities can be fixed within the school and without the establishment of a robust social safety net, and yet every educational initiative within the last decade has focused on “teacher accountability” and assessment strategies rather than meaningful efforts to advance change.
This may be a little off-topic, but I am getting sick of the new buzzwords–“a distraction” (that’s “why” J.C. Brizzard quit CPS–he didn’t want to be a “distraction,” &, lately, we’ve heard that excuse from other politicians & public figures) and “binders full of…” (recently used by the teacher pension bashing Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, as in “binders full of data,” {which the speaker didn’t have & could not share with the press when asked to do so!}) Hopefully, since 2012 is coming to an end soon, “distraction” and “binders full of…” will be passe by 2013! These words are as empty & meaningless as those who use them!
If anything, teachers unions don’t do anywhere near enough to protect teachers.
My “union” provides information and near the capitol they do organize rallies and they have meetings. I am not from here and my perception of the challenges of being unionized around here is the majority of teachers I work with have NO interest in joining even so much as a professional organization. They see no reason to join, will not even think about it and those of us who do belong to an organization are few and far between. If you bring up that you are a member you are told you are stupid for wasting your money, nothing is ever going to change, banding together does nothing, and since principals have the power to get rid of you or make your life miserable if you are seen as a trouble maker you are really just asking for trouble. This seems to be common all over Louisiana. With this attitude amongst my peers and our Governor, Sec. of Edu, and BESE board destroying our public school it seems there is little influence here from “unions”. It also amazes me that we hear so little from the professors and deans of the state education programs and see little of any secondary education institutions at meetings.
I am an adjunct sociology instructor at a community college in Monterey California, and for a while had a hard time myself justifying why my fellow adjuncts should join the union. As part-timers we get very little from either the administration or the union as our contract is not very inclusive (yet). But not being a part of your union is the same as not voting in an election. If you don’t participate you abdicate your right to complain. If you don’t participate you are saying “let those other people take responsibility for my life.”
Parting shot: How is it that the administrators are empowered to judge our performances and remain free of effective oversight themselves?
“If you don’t participate you abdicate your right to complain.”
Nonsense!
The NEA abandoned me a long time ago in joining with the whole standards and testing regimes and especially this year endorsing Obama as his education agenda is the privatizer’s. MNEA abandoned me when the administration railroaded me out of my last district. MNEA’s advice “find another district”. They didn’t do crap.
No, the MNEA doesn’t deserve nor get my money just as Obama didn’t get my vote.
Point made, point taken. But the old argument about government goes something like if you don’t like it you will have to change it within, not without. (OWS notwithstanding). Why don’t you consider full participation and running for office, or at least help in finding persons who would run in your interests? I know in my union a woman who was majorly pissed off at her union, and spoke out at every conference, wrote letters and all of that. Sorry, I don’t know the ending. But still…
es
See my other reply.
Eric,
Will reply here so as to not have a spaghetti string of an answer.
No running for office here-Rethuglican strong hold and the only office I’d stand a chance to get, school board, is off limits since I’m an employee of the district. Not to mention too many skeletons in the closet.
My resistance takes the form of trying to enlighten people through discourse of the various errors in the way we discuss educational “problems”. On our “Share Fair” day where any district staff is supposed share ideas on improving the district I usually do something like my proposal for this year “Bam the VAM” (they wanted a catchy title). Most of the teachers in my rural district have no clue as to what is going on in the political realm of public education (and by definition public education should be in the political realm-meaning accessible to all who wish to challenge/question the powers that be). And the MNEA or the MSTA do little to inform their members.
I have been fighting the educational standards and standardized testing and the resultant “data driven decision making” for a decade and a half and have paid for challenging the status quo dearly. I still consider that to be “working within the system”. It’s just not very “splashy” but it’s something.
Duane
I thought you managed to get this offline. Sorry if I missed a procedure here. But am enjoying the conversation.
Sure, I get it. But actually what I meant is working politically within the union system. The open/limited two party scene has some potential as well, but I’m thinking in terms of staying closer to home: that would be the very organization you are so frustrated with, the union. Being on a school board sounds really scary but certainly the place to be. Yes, I’m a discourse guy myself. Hmmm. My confession is that I use the lectern and the armchair/laptop. I don’t get out much. But I read, watch, stare, and often sit aghast. Back to the point, I am on the Rep. Council for my local and get very little done. But I stress that very little is still more than none. That’s worth something. I’ll try not to piss you off by saying that the “discourse only” position,” while becoming more viable with blogs and twitter etc., just isn’t sufficient except for a very rare few (mostly dead).
In closing, let me just say that diversity of opinion is ever so tempting by the almost inevitable oligarchical conditions of group configuration. (Cite a dead guy here.) There was a guy in our rep council meeting a few months ago who was overall pretty cool. But he became obsessed with the issue of limited terms for our officers. He was essentially voted down. He got mad and quit. Now his voice is no longer heard. And we, the council, are now more prone to the groupthink danger.
The short of it is, don’t sell short those institutions that are ever so awkwardly trying to represent you.
As an aside, I am reading a book entitled “Occupy Nation: The Roots, the Spirit, and the Promise of Occupy Wall Street,” by an ex-1960s-SDS president-now heavy academic, who is exploring the possibilities of an alternate social structure (less hierarchical anyway) among the OWS movement. But it has so far taken a great deal of intellectual/ideological compromise on the parts of many to make anything happen at all.
Maybe there is where we should both be looking.
Best,
es
Unions aren’t the problem. It’s the lack of leadership from both the AFT and NEA. Our voices are no longer heard. Teachers are forced into contracts that will make it impossible to ever get a raise or use testing as a means to get them fired. (With the exception of the great Karen Lewis of course. Now Mulgrew has signed off on RTTT and is also behind Walcott’s decision to take away teacher vaca days even though the state is coming up with another plan.
This is why schools in Hawaii are taking action on their own by only working their contractual hours one day a week. It started at one school, and now this movement is growing. “Negotiate–not Mandate!!”
“Hawaii Teachers Work to the Rules” is gaining lots of LIKEs on FB. And I am one of them 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/CampbellWorkTheRulesProtest
Potential new leadership for the UFT
http://morecaucusnyc.org/
A – Who we are and why we are forming
1. We are members of the UFT and members of school communities and their allies.
2. We insist on receiving professional dignity and respect, and we insist on a strong, democratic union emerging from an educated and active rank and file. We oppose the lack of democracy and one-party state that has governed our union for half a century. It has conceded to our adversaries’ agendas and has collaborated with their attacks on us, leading to the terrible situation we find ourselves in.
3. We insist on a better educational environment for ourselves and for the students whose lives we touch. Because of this resolve, we have established the MORE Caucus, which will educate, organize and mobilize the UFT membership.
UFT has been a huge part of the problem in AFT, running the show, silencing dissent, and keeping the status quo. How am I to trust you to be anything different?
And considering the membership fees and numbers of members of these two organizations, it seems that the press should be hearing from them daily, especially when things like Arne Duncan at the conference this week happen….
New Jersey Governor Christie stated Friday that the new teachers’ contract in Newark which includes a major goal of corporate education reformers, merit pay, “the most gratifying day of my governorship, by far.”
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20121116_ap_christienewarkteacherscontractamodelforus.html
Friday morning the AFT’s Randi Weingarten appeared with him on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to laud this erosion of teacher rights.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/ns/msnbc-morning_joe/#49852997
The biggest problem with our unions today is a leadership which is prepared to sell out the rank and file for short term deals with politicians and the corporate education refomers.
New Jersey Governor Christie declared passage of the new Newark teachers’ contract, which includes further erosion of teacher rights with merit pay, “the most gratifying day of my governorship, by far.” http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20121116_ap_christienewarkteacherscontractamodelforus.html
On Friday, the AFT’s Randi Weingarten appeared with Christie on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to lend her support to this attack on teachers’.
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2012/11/does-newark-teacher-contract-really.html?m=1
Thanks to unions, 18,500 people lost their jobs at Hostess and there are no more Twinkies and Ding Dongs.
No, thanks to Executives giving themselves 300% bonuses while their flagship product (wonder bread) was losing traction in the market, 18,500 people lost their jobs at Hostess and there are no more Twinkies and Ding Dongs.
knit together – that’s a load of bull. The Hostess CEO is using the union as a scapegoat – they were already going under. The’ve had 6+ CEO’s in the last 8-10 years, and they’ve all gotten millions of dollars in salary to run a company into the ground on the backs of it’s underpaid employees. I bet they’ve all gotten millions in severance too. Put the blame where it really belongs – on the CEO.
Please educate yourself….you are wrong, very wrong.
Behind the jokes about no more Twinkies is a story about 18,000 lost jobs, a Bain Capital-like buy out and union busting.
What’s happening with Hostess Brands is a microcosm of what’s wrong with America, as Bain-style Wall Street vultures make themselves rich by making America poor. Crony capitalism and consistently poor management drove Hostess into the ground, but its workers are paying the price. These workers, who consistently make great products Americans love and have offered multiple concessions, want their company to succeed. They have bravely taken a stand against the corporate race-to-the-bottom. And now they and their communities are suffering the tragedy of a needless layoff. This is wrong. It has to stop. It’s wrecking America.
A total of 18,500 jobs could be lost in the process of this liquidation. The CEO and executives who gave themselves raises, not to mention the Wall Street investors, will emerge just fine. The workers, many of them members of BCTGM and the Teamsters, will suffer the most financially.
Even though we defeated Mitt Romney in his bid for the presidency, his style of economics that he pioneered with Bain Capital still exists, and is playing out in front of our eyes with Hostess.
http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/behind-the-jokes-about-no-more-twinkies-is-a-story-about-18000-lost-jobs-a-bain-capital-like-buy-out-and-union-busting/
Beautifully said.
Thank you.
This is Fred Klonsky’s (from Chicago) Blog, with over 800,000 subscribers from all over, and an excellent read about education and beyond. I have had several arguments w/people about the Hostess tragedy (the detractors tell me, “Well, that’s not the story on TV or in the papers! Why don’t they get journalists/TV reporters to cover that aspect if it’s true?” I have patiently (!) explained to them that newspapers & other media are owned by corporations that do not want us to read this side of the story, and then I have forwarded them (as I also do with other issues) this post from Fred.
Your screenname is ironic. It’s unions who are knit together (in love, if you define love as service to others, which is basically how Jesus defined it in the Bible – I wonder if you identify yourself as “Chrisitan”? Your ilk usually does) and it’s CEOs using Bain-style slash and burn “management” that is ripping those bonds apart. Them and the trolls like you who support them.
You are absolutely wrong! Hostess went into bankruptcy earlier this year. The company told the unions that are a part of Hostess (bakers union, etc. ) that they had made their best and final offer, and the bakery’s union (primarily those employed by Wonder Bread – a subsidiary of Hostess) voted down the company’s offer. When a company goes into bankruptcy protection, the playing field is completely different for employees. They cannot go into negotiations and demand raises – the company made their best and final offer, and the bankruptcy court agreed with the company. It was the fault of the union MEMBERS for not wanting to take the contract it was offered. Do your homework before you make such broad, generalized statements – this is what is wrong with this country – people see something on TV and hear about half of the details and then make statements that are totally FALSE!
You apparently know very little about the Hostess situation except the corporate propaganda being parroted by the media.I encourage you do some honest research on the subject before commenting about it.The company gave it’s CEO a 700% pay raise while they were in the process of filing for bankruptcy.At the same time they “borrowed” the money that union members put into their retirement fund with no intention of paying it back.The union gave the company huge concessions but the company demanded even more.The demanded concessions amounted to a 40% reduction in their wages so this was the straw that broke that camels back. The company was beat into the ground by the vulture capitalist and not by it’s union workers. Unfortunately this has become the new norm which is destroying our once great country.
Thank you for continuing to educate those who do not know and cannot understand.
The Truth Is Out There! It’s time we begin to spread it.
Diane,
Here is the link, Wendy Lecker: Voters have spoken: No corporate school reform
Published 4:30 p.m., Sunday, November 18, 2012
Read more: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Wendy-Lecker-Voters-have-spoken-No-corporate-4048264.php#ixzz2Cch4Gb2R
I would like to believe in unions, but my experience with South Florida unions has been very discouraging. When I first started teaching, the union president was indicted for stealing funds from the teachers. Funny thing is, most teachers prefer the union president who was stealing from them than the one we have now that constantly negotiates horrible deals for teachers. She worked with the district to dupe teachers into voting for Race to the Top. In our latest contract, the teachers at the top of the pay scale will receive pay increases of $11,000 while ten year veterans will receive $300 after five years of step freezes. In a Miami Herald article http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/17/3102871/miami-dade-teachers-to-vote-on.html it is reported that 75% of the money for raises went to the 8,000 highest paid teachers, 16% went to the newest teachers and the other 9% got to split between the 8,000 teachers making about $40,000. Funny how a union that did everything it could to reelect President Obama advocates for a pay scale that is more in tune with Romney. You can read more about the horrific union leadership of Dade county on my blog http://kafkateach.wordpress.com.
The union is the teachers, there must be a reason that teacher continue to elect the same president.
You also have the right to vote down anything the union negotiates.
It would be a mistake for one bad union to paint a picture for all.
I can assure you, teachers in Florida would be in a far worse situation without their union.
Finally, unions in Florida have been eviserated. This is the fate that corporate reformers want for the rest of the nation.
I’m really sick of hearing “the union is the teachers.” When I see Randi running around with Governor Christie and my own union president snuggling up in videos with our superintendent threatening teachers that if they vote against a contract they will lose health insurance, I do not see the union as the teachers. A contract has never been voted down in my district. Somehow it always manages to pass by 60/40. My union has been taken to court for unfair voting practices and lost. Somehow these horrible union leaders seem to get reelected with 99% of vote and continue to collect six figure salaries while selling out teachers. They need term limits for union presidents. If Randi and Dennis had to worry about going back to the classroom making $40,000 and having test scores count for the bulk of their evaluation they might not be so quick to cozy up to Duncan.
Look to Chicago. When you’re union is not speaking with the voice of the majority then it’s time for the majority to speak for themselves.
I live in Georgia. Unfortunately, we recently passed an amendment to increase state charter schools. I see charters are nothing more than a way to warehouse kids, make parents into free teachers’ aids, and undercut teachers’ salaries. I come from Florida, a union state, and it is amazing what the union can do for teachers. My sister teaches in Florida and they get duty-free lunch, a right to take their personal leave without harassment, and set work hours, These might seem like small things, but many teachers cite the work environment as their #1 job woe-not pay. When I taught in Georgia, we had to do lunch duty, we had LONG meetings, and we had to attend all kinds of school functions that our principal would remind us was part of the “all duties as assigned” portion of our contract. My last year teaching, I had to sign a contract with no salary listed. We were threatened that if we didn’t want our jobs (or if we didn’t want to do what the principal wanted) we could easily be replaced.
Teacher unions is not the problem. Teachers not voicing their own opinions and beliefs is a problem. No one should ever allow anyone to speak for them when they can speak for themselves.
speaking for yourself gets you in trouble and then fired. Without representation no one ever knows the truth about what is done to teachers and how they are forced out. The actions are all secret and the press could care less if good teachers are fired. No one wants to be seen with you because you are known as a trouble maker or bad with parents or you refuse to be happy and perky all the time. None of which is true but just excuses to cover the fact you are blamed for things so they can get rid of you. Rarely have I heard another teacher speak up and defend the scapegoated teacher. I did and was told I was standing up for someone who was causing trouble and I should stay out of it.
A big YEP to your comment, thanks!!
It depends on what you consider trouble to be. I am in trouble when I am no longer in control of my destiny. I am in trouble when I no longer consider my voice important enough to be heard. I am in trouble when I am no longer a role model of citizenry and righteousness.
Life is a choice, unfortunately it rains on the just and the unjust.
Well, then, schools in Finland, where teachers are unionized, must be in a TERRIBLE state, right?
What’s that you say? They kicked ass in the highly-prized international ‘assessments’? Impossible! ‘Everybody’ KNOWS that unions are BAD for schools!!!
One more thing:
Membership bashing our own unions is an oddity I see all too often. Indeed, it is a most singular contradiction that begs open discussion. On the one hand, members need to bash (well, be critical) of their union just as we need to be critical of our government at all levels. Passive acceptance and an overall disinterest in such affairs (apathy–a mantra of the sixties) means that membership is simply allowing leadership (usually a small well connected group) to run things for them.
I am oddly surprise to see the discussion, indeed, argument, over the viability and usefulness of unions on this board. I say oddly because contradictions are a part of my field (sociology), yet I do wince once in a while. Ok, here is what I see: 1- a number of folk agree that a teacher’s union is necessary on numerous grounds we don’t need to cover here. 2- there is an overarching public narrative that unions create a disincentive for quality teaching, are anti-capitalistic, anti-meritocratic and thus anti-American etc. 3- Neither position matters because unions suck. Specifically, this is the case where members feel that they are not adequately represented and their dues are going to campaigns and events that they do not agree with or are even anathema to their wants or needs.
The first point needs no real discussion here. The second needs much discussion, but not here. The third is of immense importance in that it is the same logic used by people who do not vote because they think their vote does not count. Understandable but inexcusable. Even if you did not like the outcome of the presidential election you absolutely have to admit that a lot of votes really did count. In spite of purely partisan efforts to suppress registration and votes among so-called minorities, the other guy won. In spite of humongous piles of cash used by the opposing side, often in an ethically questionable manner, the other guy won. Gerrymandering and the peculiarities of the electoral college aside, It was the votes.
If you can accept my thesis up to now, then, translate that into union participation. Same thing. Yes, there are times when the efficacy of your participation is going to be low. Yes, we get leadership that is at times driven more by self-interests than our needs. This is an element that is systemic in the very nature of organizations, be they political, business, community, or religious. In a word, “oligarchy.” But when it is the case, it is one of degree. And it need not be the case and indeed, it is not always the case. But it certainly will be the case without membership participation, even if only by voting, but preferably by informed voting which requires at least a modicum of participation–attending a meeting or two, or keeping up with distributed information, maybe talking to someone once in a while, and so forth.
Thanks for reading this regardless of your position or feelings on the matter. Now, let’s go occupy something.