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Teachers’ unions struggle during recession
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As the auto unions continue to lose power and members, the teachers’ unions also seem to be feeling the heat.
Teachers’ unions are struggling as the current economy forces budget cuts that affect their compensation and benefits. In addition, the number of unionized teachers falls as public school enrollment declines.
More importantly, there is dwindling public support for teachers’ unions, as well as dissent within their own ranks.
In fact, a citizen watchdog group in Michigan that often challenges the teachers’ unions is running a campaign entitled “Calling All Teachers.”
The Education Action Group has started a Teachers Advisory Committee to solicit feedback from teachers and discuss issues of concern to them.
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“As we continue our efforts to encourage spending reform in Michigan schools, we are receiving a growing number of encouraging letters and emails from teachers,” said Kyle Olson, vice-president of Education Action Group.
“Many of these teachers tell us they put the interests of their students first, which often puts them at odds with their union leadership.”
In fact, some teachers have told Olson that their peers have removed them from committees, or put social pressure on them, for daring to disagree with union leadership,
“We recognize that there are thousands upon thousands of good teachers who happen to be Michigan Education Association members,” said Olson. “Our problem is not with them, it’s with their union and its greedy, bullying tactics.”
“What happens in every public school in our state is the business of every taxpayer," he argued passionately. "Period.”
Personally, I have always wondered if my family and friends who teach in the public schools agree with their union.
More importantly, do these teachers believe that the union protects the interests of children?
A quote by Albert Shanker, former president of the American Federation of Teachers, answers that question: "When schoolchildren start paying dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of schoolchildren."
It also helped answer my question when union leaders in the Wayne-Westland district went on an illegal strike. This gives such a terrible example to our children. The lesson is that it is okay to break the law if we are not happy.
The union in Wayne-Westland claimed that the strike was for the benefit of the kids. However, documents showed that they were angry because the school board wanted to solicit bids for health insurance instead of automatically handing the contract over to the union-owned health insurance company.
Unfortunately, incidents like this cause people to lump all teachers together. The unprofessional and unreasonable teachers are so vocal and powerful, yet they seem to be such a small minority.
“I am a teacher in this district and DID NOT walk in the strike,” one teacher in Wayne-Westland told me. “I was in absolute disagreement with it, as were about 40 others who crossed the picket lines. I just thought I should let you know that we weren't all involved!!!”
Another former teacher from the district says “our contracts, or lack of contracts. SHOULD NEVER TAKE A DAY OF EDUCATION AWAY FROM A CHILD!!!"
She continued passionately. “On top of it, HELLO??? What state do we live in??? Look around! I teach so many homeless/insurance-less students.. What right do I have to keep them at home because I want to pout about my contract when some of my own students don't even have food to eat or clean clothes or homes!! What a total contradiction to throw in the faces of the students, parents, and community!"
The adversarial system set up in the public schools has different factions all competing for their own interests. No one group is at fault, yet rarely are any of these groups able to work together.
The system has forgotten that educating children is a school district's priority. This is the reason that schools were created, and is the reason that schools exist.
Instead, the system has decided that guaranteeing good jobs for adults is more important than educating children.
Many parents thought that they were escaping this adversarial environment when they had opportunities to send their children to charter schools.
However, the unions are now finding their way into some of the charter schools. See “What I Want to Know About Charters and Teachers’ Unions.”
“Unions in charters will drive away many parents...me included,” said one charter school parent. “The staff and parents in our school work well together on behalf of the constituency the school was built for...the students!”
Everyone who is thinking about a real education reform has to consider the teacher unions, according to Sasha Sidorkin in “Teachers’ Unions and Education Reform.”
“If you are Republican, the solution is to defeat the unions, to make education competitive, leaner and smarter,” he said.
On the other hand, Democrats have split opinions about the unions, according to Sidorkin. “Traditional labor-oriented Democrats believe the unions are actually the key advocate of education reform. If you’re a centrist Democrat, you’re growing more and more frustrated with the teacher unions.”
The MEA is also losing members from other professions. For example, clerical workers in the South Redford School District recently left the Michigan Education Association in favor of forming their own union, according to the Education Report.
"Restructuring our association allows us to reduce our costs for representation and significantly lower the dues," Kim Meray, president of the South Redford Office Professionals Association, told the Detroit Free Press.
For more information, see
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