Teacher Unions

Public Education Matters

1-28-10

Teacher Unions


It might surprise you to know that I wasn’t always a strong supporter of teacher unions. First off, I had a “fairly” Republican type upbringing, meaning that in my home, the very word “union” seemed to have a “bad” connotation connected to it. “We” were “business” people. “We” didn’t like rabble-rousing unions.

That word (union) conjured up images in my mind of “evil” teamsters violently fighting for pay and benefits and rights that people didn’t earn or deserve, and seemed exorbitant to me in the first place. And, I seriously thought of unions as defending the lazy and even the incompetent and not in any kind of dignified way at all- but instead with cocky words and brute force.

It seriously seriously irritated me that someone could come straight out of high school and never even try to go to college or not even finish high school and they could make $17 an hour at a local factory, courtesy of a union. (And this was back thirty some years ago- so $17 was a lot.)

I admit it- I was somewhat of an a** back then. But what I’m trying to convey to you is that THIS is the frame of mind I was in about unions when I was first approached by a teacher union representative- my first year of teaching. “Um, no thank-you, I’m just starting out and I really can’t afford the dues” I said meekly and politely while secretly thinking “HECK NO, I’m not going to part of any such thing even if I could afford it ten times over!”

Eventually though, I have to say that curiosity got the better of me. I wondered why all the teachers that I admired belonged. What did they see in it all? And I started by attending a meeting. And at first I have to say I was a bit offended by some of the stridency I saw there. But then I started to listen to the stories behind the stridency and well, I have to say that bit by bit, I began to see a complete other side to my image of unions and what they were about.

What I saw, in fact, were educators who were very deeply concerned about their wages and benefits and their rights- but not just for selfish reasons. Largely what I saw was a genuine concern that our field be filled with people of intelligence, stability, worth, and integrity. These teachers felt that by standing up for their profession, it was the best way to assure that their students would be well served all throughout their school years.

There was and is an agreement that good teachers make all the difference in the world to their students’ lives; and there was and is a sincere belief that the best way to get and retain quality teachers in our field is to pay them decently and to provide them with good working conditions and to have support and guidance from their administrations.

I became a card carrying member of the NEA and the ISTA. A decision that I have never regretted. I particularly did not regret it when one year because I refused to follow a directive to do something illegal (which was to change a section of an Individual Educational Plan without a parent’s agreement) a director decided to go “after me.” Besides being treated with hostility and despite the fact that in all my years of teaching, I’d never once had anything but great evaluations (two in fact by her) suddenly, everything I did was “wrong” in her eyes. After much consideration, I went to my union representative and from there on I was supported in every way by my union representatives. It was even discovered through an investigation that my boss had specifically told someone that she was out to get me and why. Eventually, she was counseled out of our employ. I kept my job.

At any rate, this experience also started me thinking. What would I have done without the union representation? What would have happened to me? Chances are I would have been fired for my alleged insubordination and I would have been denied due process to defend myself against it. I also wondered what would have happened with that student whose IEP I was "supposed" to change. Chances are, after my dismissal, it would have been changed and the student's rights would have violated and her education would have been compromised.

Teachers unions and the members of teachers unions long before me STOOD TOGETHER and won the right to collectively bargain and that all important right of due process.

They stood up for me and for every other teacher in the public schools. By doing so, they also stood up for every child I ever served. I was ashamed at this point to think that I once made the decision not to join with my colleagues.

It is patently untrue that teachers cannot be fired, even if they have tenure. It is also patently untrue that they can’t be fired because of the teachers unions. The ONLY thing that teachers unions guarantee their members is that they will be represented and that they will be guaranteed due process. If there are unfit teachers in my field (and sadly, I will admit that there are) it is NOT because of teachers unions and their insistence on decent pay and basic rights for workers, it is because administrators have not gone to the work of providing just cause for dismissal. It is because of bad hiring practices. It is because of a lack of support and guidance for struggling teachers either to improve or to get out of the teacher career path.

Today I read a post from a blog that I’ve been reading lately and have even cited on this blog. The title for the post is “Are Teacher Unions Bad for Students?” In the post, the author publishes a comment from one of his readers and deftly answers them regarding the issue taken with teachers unions. I hope that you will take the time to read it. I could not have said it all any better. http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2010/01/are_teacher_unions_bad_for_stu.html