Conservative groups are hoping to cripple teachers’ unions by urging members to “opt out.”
According to the Wall Street Journal blog, “A coalition of 60 groups in 35 states has begun a national campaign to tell workers they have the right to opt out of a labor union, and are providing instructions on how and when to do it.
“The campaign, which launched Sunday, is the brainchild of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, libertarian think tank. The group last year ran a local campaign informing teachers in the Las Vegas area how and when to opt out of the Clark County Education Association, a union affiliate of the larger National Education Association. To opt out, members had to submit a written notice during a two-week window in July, which many did, campaign leaders say.”
A union official in Nevada said: “The real intent of right-wing organizations like NPRI is to strip teachers of their bargaining rights as well as their organization’s political advocacy for public education,” Ms. Elias said.”
Will it improve education if teachers’ unions are destroyed?
Well, let’s see, the nation’s highest performing states–Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut–are highly unionized. Without the collective voice of teachers, it is easy to cut education spending, eliminate the arts, and increase class sizes. Rendering teachers voiceless in their working conditions is not good for students or teachers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is NPRI associated with ALEC? It’s yet another attempt to keep workers subservient.
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“Without the collective voice of teachers, it is easy to cut education spending, eliminate the arts, and increase class sizes. Rendering teachers voiceless in their working conditions is not good for students or teachers.”
Some states WITH unions have taken these steps already. This is a tough subject for me. I feel our union sold us down the river with RTTT (although the union reps claim they got duped by the State and Fed DOE in the application process) and this year our union has barely been in contact with us except to fill out surveys. Locally, when the district began to overstep their boundaries and violate the contract left, right and center, the union did little to nothing, said we had a weak contract and offered condolences. According to the state organization, they are crippled with complaints and not enough staff to process and handle them all.
Well I’m sorry; that’s inexcusable. I’m paying for something i’m not getting at all. While i do believe this is systematic, the union not communicating with it’s members isn’t helping either. I know the risk and dangers of leaving the union, but i’m not seeing the benefits right now (and haven’t for years) anyway
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A union is nothing more than its members. If you are not satisfied with leadership, run for a position during the next election. Make your voice heard. Offer to be part of the next bargaining team or membership drive. I bet your local is always asking for help from its members. When workers are battered is when we must be our strongest. That time in this country is now. Good luck.
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Yes, look at what Chicago did from the inside. They formed their own group and led the way.
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I wish it were that simple. But there has to be support from with in the group to put myself out there. There are plenty of teachers that are either fine with things the way they are or they are willing to put up with negatively changing conditions out of fear. That seems to be the prevailing attitude where I am right now. There’ve been opportunities to speak up and my staff is no where to be found. In whispers and behind closed doors the support is there, but when the lights come on, folks scurry away, and there you are, alone.
I considered and would have run for a position if i thought it would take us anywhere. A lot of teachers don’t want a rabble rouser, just a continuation of the previous contract.
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Libertarians, Ayn Randians and other assorted right wingers have a jihad against unions. They believe in a free market predatory type of capitalism unencumbered by collective bargaining rights and those “evil” unions. How dare those workers have any rights on the job, they should be happy to even have a job and they should shut up. If those uppity workers don’t like their jobs, then they should quit and move on to another position. There is no room for unions in the libertarian social Darwinistic state. The US rate for unionization is down to 11.3%, pretty much what it was in the late 1920s. During the 1950s, when the economy was booming and workers were making decent wages, the unionization rate was at about 34%. Finland’s unionization rate is well above 80%, Sweden’s and Denmark’s are at about 75%, Canada 28+% and Germany’s is at almost 20%. There is no war against unions in those countries as there is in the US. Libertarianism is really a cult contrived by the economic elites because they would benefit the most from this obscene cult.
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There are thousands of NEA members in right-to-work states whose sole reason for joining is the liability insurance, as collective bargaining and tenure do not exist. What are these teachers supposed to do for their legal protection?
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If this conservative movement were to collapse Randi Weingarten and motivate teachers to start anew with a whole new paradigm and whole new direction and leadership style/philosphy, then I would join the movement to get out of my union and fight like never before to start one up again, even if it meant peaceful civil disobedience and job loss.
If this were to motivate teachers to reinvent their unions to be like Karen Lewis, then I’ll alternatively throw myself into that fight instead, a better one.
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Randi Weingarten is a prime reason why unions of HER brand should not exist for their constituents, as she spent (and continues to spend) years partnering with the reformers, cutting deals, compromising her teacher’s integrity and dignity, and avoiding anything confrontational or oppositional, ALL on the teachers’ and students’ backs.
Take a look for some satire and seriousness . . . . Run for your life!!!!
http://thetruthoneducationreform.blogspot.com/2013/02/run-for-your-life.html?view=snapshot
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I have to agree with Robert.
I’ve spent the better part of 17 years working inside my union in 2 different states trying to make things better for teachers. The governing rules and politics of both the NEA and the AFT make it nearly impossible to create change from within, Chicago being the notable exception.
After paying many thousands of dollars over the course of my career in union dues and devoting countless hours of time, I have to ask myself if it is worth it, especially since my current union has been unable to negotiate a pay raise for the last 6 years and has actually urged the membership to accept a pay cut for the last 2 years. Like others here, I rarely receive any communications from my local and their website is pro forma with little information available to membership.
With budgets of many millions of dollars the national unions have sat by and done very little while “right to work” laws sweep across the nation and render the unions toothless and ineffective. NCLB, RTTT, and CCSS, policies that have caused and are causing the greatest harm to public education and the teaching profession, became reality with national union support instead of opposition. VAM is spreading like a virus with little opposition from the national unions and they have failed to make the slightest headway against the high-stakes testing juggernaut.
Yet the only communications I receive from either union are calls to support non school-related legislation (NEA) or the pathetic Share My Lesson (AFT) website. If I go to the websites of the NEA or AFT it is near impossible to find any documents or reports outlining the plans of either union to combat the multifaceted attack on teachers and public schools. There is no leadership. There is no plan. There is no proactive stance. There is no call to action.
I come from a long line of proud union members and was born in a state bloodied by the people who gave their lives for the right to organize themselves and create better lives for their children and grandchildren. I have worked and fought from the inside for a decade and a half. Yet I have reached to point where I question whether continued membership is a valid use of my money and time.
A new movement might be just the ticket. I will not be suckered into surrendering due process by libertarian and conservative followers of Friedman but I would support and work for a re-imagined and different kind of unionism. The old, corrupt systems in place are participating in their own destruction and are beyond redemption I fear, though I hope that I’m wrong.
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Why is she still in power. Can’t the people throw her out??
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Not easy at all to do because of the unity party pajority she bribes and controls throught their delegate votes.
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Chris and all others,
Well put.
I am pro-union, but only when unions behave like real unions, not some radiactive mutant version of what they have become today. . . I am referring to national education unions.
We need national strikes.
But if not, I can deal with pay cuts and pay stagnation. I can deal with whittling away at health benefits. None of this is good, yet given the way schools are financed, I understand it as one of hte primary crises.
What I will not immediately or ever accept is the union’s lack of competence, laziness, and lack of persistence and courage in confronting and opposing NCLB and now RTTT. Historically, such militant and permanent opposition and far more dramatic actions have been avoided, all to dig teachers, students, and families deeper into a social justice hole and all on teachers’ and family’s backs. All to disrespect and put down teachers and de-professionalize their profession.
This is an abject, fundamental failure. This is pure corruption thagt keeps the union in business for itself and does nothing fundamentally beneficial for its members.
But like anything else, things get reinvented, battles occur, shifts in power start to move, people lose thier dignity, thier money, even their lives, and then they gain them back or their descendants do more easily. AS long as man is on earth, it won’t be the first or last time.
The fight is hardly over.
We’ve only just begun. It is a hill one is proud to die on.
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In Nevada teachers can “opt out” because that state is “right-to-work.” The “unions” there are completely worthless as a result and actually work for the districts. I found that out the hard way and have had my life ruined in large part because of this “union” that failed to tell me of my rights to file a complaint with EEOC when I was illegally terminated by an idiot principal five years ago.
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Good point, Susan, and now Clark County has been sending out heavy recruitment–in Chicago!
Guess THAT’LL show those arrogant–& now unemployed–CTU folks! Don’t have a job? Welcome to our right-to-work state!
(In fact, I believe that CPS teachers who are losing their jobs due to layoffs/school closings/the whimsy of the CPS Board & Administration, were being encouraged to go to both the recently held Clark County Job Fair and the Charter School Job Fair.)
Beyond disgusting.
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Teachers are the union, they should be standing up for one another but it looks like that’s not happening in too many cases. Unions have been smashed into almost irrelevance because so much big corporate money has been arrayed against unions. The GOP is openly and rabidly anti-union while the Democrats’ support for unions has been lukewarm at best. So few Americans belong to unions any more, younger workers don’t even realize the importance and need for unions. So we have the spectacle of non-union private sector workers being anti-union and resenting public sector unions’ benefits and pensions (assuming they still have pensions and health benefits). Class warfare between union and non-union workers has been fostered and encouraged by the corporatists and governors like Christie and Walker (to name just a few). Unions have been so gutted, weakened and demoralized that there is infighting and disillusionment within the union ranks. I don’t have any solutions or answers except to stick with your unions and to try to reform them from within and to stand together. Easy to say but very hard to do since most teachers are stressed out, have very little time for their personal lives and are in constant fear at their job.
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Seems to me that any member of a union-represented group who “opts out” ought then to have to negotiate their own contracts, benefits and vacations.
But waddoIknow…
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The reason unions started is because of the repression when they were not organized. We are now losing all of our rights and privacy. This must stop. Who do we really want to be “Darth Vader” or “Star Trek?” I prefer “Star Trek.” Do you also want to see us become a benevelant people? We have to fight for it. Remember what it took to get civil rights in the first place? Well, here we are again.
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Excellent point.
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Trotsky was right. The union leadership is now bourgeoisie. The union leaders are getting paid no matter what. They will not be evaluated using VaT or SGOs. I’m sick of them saying that we should be glad we haven’t lost everything. Well I say national strike.
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I would be curious to know how many of you whining about your union not doing anything for you, have ever run for office, offered to send out communications for your president, have participated in your state Representative Assembly or better, the NEA Representative Assembly?
If you had, you would understand that within the LAW there is only so much unions can do anyway. We are bound by what our legislators are telling us we can/cannot do. THAT is why programs get cut; THAT is why wages stagnate; THAT is why is may seem your union is doing nothing for you. Believe me, there is SO much going on behind the scenes JUST TO MAINTAIN right now it would boggle your minds!
We are trying to hang onto some dignity for our teachers, some semblance of professionalism, but the laws being passed in states like mine (Indiana) are being passed INTENTIONALLY to get rid of the Association, to demean teachers, and to UN-professionalize us all for the almighty dollar.
Don’t point fingers at the Association and blame the few who are working their tails off PRO BONO to keep your jobs, get up off your duffs and lend a helping hand. Do your research and understand the laws that your union representatives are trying to work with.
It’s truly a job for Superman or Superwoman. And even they still need help.
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Problem is, Aviele, that this particular whiner has done all you mention with the exception of the national conventions for going on 15 years in 2 different states, NYC and Florida (right to work) so I’ve done it in union-friendly and union-hostile environments.
Funny also how the NEA and AFT manage to endorse political candidates that express hostility to public education, teachers, and unions in general yet hold their hands out for millions of dollars of campaign contributions and free get out the vote actions.
Why aren’t they educating the membership, calling on us to demonstrate, make phone calls, meet with parents and civic leaders, attend massive rallies?
And by the way, laws can be changed and frequently are so the “it’s the law” line is BS. There has to be pressure from lobbying groups that don’t throw away their endorsements and give millions of dollars to a candidate 2 years before an election and get nothing in return.
The NEA was once considered to be the richest and most powerful union left. It’s become the most silent, invisible, and distant to its membership union in existence in my experience.
I’m old enough to remember unions that actually had power in Washington DC and it wasn’t the power to be invited to the insider cocktail parties and to sit on the boards of corporations and other entities that harm the membership. It was the power to threaten elected members of congress with paid ads and GOTV actions against them if they turned against us. We actually went on strike, went to jail, and paid massive fines to protect our rights.
Now we have Randi Weingarten and Dennis Van Roekel telling us to be quiet and accept the “seat at the table” that they enjoy. I follow every national NEA and AFT convention and they are sad affairs indeed. They need to turn their attention to us and away from the glamour of inside the beltway politics and organizational politics. Soon there won’t be much of a membership to support them if they don’t because we’ll all be fired and outlawed.
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Your last paragraph resonates!!!!!
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Aviele, the unions need to communicate this. 2 correspondences from my union this year were to fill out surveys. That does not convey all that goes on. It most certainly conveys the opposite.
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Randi Weingarten and Dennis Roekel have compromised far too much with regard to NCLB and RTTT. The fact that NO one except for Karen Lewis has called for a strike to protest NCLB and RTTT is far beyond a disgrace. Even without a strike, Weingarten’s and Roekel’s rhetoric has ranged from indifferent to compromising to outright partnering with people lke Bill Gates. This sleeping with the devil on the backs of teachers, students, and parents is reprehensible.
People can rightfully say that a strike would have been painful: parents would have been alienated from public schools and their unions, teachers would have lost work permanently and replaced, children would have suffered.
Well, guess what: without strikes and with al of this corporate reform and move to privatization, taxpayers have become alienated from public schools and unions because of the expensive and false narrative the reform movement has generated and paid for through PR campaigns, teachers ARE losing their jobs under the junk science premises of APPR and VAM and through budget cuts stemming from government that would rather save the money for its corporate copulation partners through massive non-trickle down tax breaks, and children are suffering as class size is going up, standards are being raised to be developmentally inappropriate, and curriculums are being narrowed as kids are taught more and more to the test.
So my point is, we’re going down ANYWAY, in a manner of speaking, so why not go down with a NATIONAL strike and go down with dignity by crippling a system that is crippling everyone, not just the teaching profession. The upside to this is despite the horrible risk, we just may bring awareness like never before and blast some political cannon balls back to the elected officials who WE put into offfice, whose salaries, pensions,a nd cadillac coverage we pay for.
If a bully punches you in the face and drags you down to the floor, don’t you at least want to punch him back in the face on your way down to the floor, or are you just going to remain motionless and let him beat you to a pulp?
Call this emotionally charged, but dignity is dignity, and real rights were rarely won without more intense measures being put into action.
I fear with my life that Chicago will become a tinderbox for rioting if those now displaced children (a result of massive closings, condensation of schools, and higher class size) have to go through neighborhoods that are dangerous and don’t have any real protection. Remember: this is America, where many cherish their right to bear arms, even of a few wrongfully use those arms.
To add to a TWO MONTH LONG national strike, there should be massive organizing to boycott every company whose executive directices, owners, and CEO’s have signed on to the corporate reform movement and have contributed to it financially or politically, Look at who sits on whose boards.
The devil resides in the details.
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Robert, you are so knowledgeable. NEA is nothing like it was when Reg Weaver was the president.
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