EduSolidarity Day: Why teachers like me support unions.
Today, March 22, is nationwide blog action day. The topic? Why teachers like me support unions. Educators, bloggers, parents, and others who reject the notion that only bad teachers need unions or that unions hurt kids are posting today on their own internet sites and at http://www.edusolidarity.us Here’s my contribution:
Democracy is good for kids.
Someone has to explain to me how my life as a teacher and local union leader and my daily fight to protect the rights of my colleagues have been bad for my students.
I don’t believe democracy is a zero-sum game.
I don’t believe that more rights for teachers means less rights for kids.
I’m not going to be bullied by the anti-union bunch into saying that somehow fighting for good working conditions, fair compensation, the teacher’s voice in instructional decision making and equal application of the rules is sacrificing the needs of my students to adult needs.
When collective bargaining was signed into Illinois law in 1983, it was an expansion of democracy. And it came during a time of expanding democratic rights for everybody.
I believe that all of society benefited from an end to legal segregation.
I believe that the Voting Rights Act improved all of our lives.
I believe that when Tile IX was won in 1972 it was a victory for all.
I believe that a more democratic society is good for everybody, teachers and kids.
How can I apologize for the day in 2003 when 97% of our members voted to strike to support the 10% that were paying for family coverage. Family health insurance costs were impoverishing their families. Their families included children. In fact, some of those children were my students.
When vindictive or incompetent bosses target good teachers, someone has to do something. I do it because it is the right thing to do. Good teachers are good for our students.
Thank goodness that when some crazy right-wing union haters recently attacked me, my union colleagues defended me. That was good for my students too.
Union people believe an injury to one is an injury to all.
Union teachers believe an injury to all includes our students.
That’s why teachers like me support unions.
I’ve been thinking about what I was going to say on this blog ever since you announced it Fred, and it is difficult, not because I have nothing to say, but because there are so many reasons to support unions.
My first thoughts are with the coal miners, the railway workers, and even the women of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory who died in a horrific fire because their efforts to unionize for safe working conditions were halted. Without their bravery, tremendous sacrifices and loss of lives, millions of people would be working in conditions that give them no control over their environment.
But unions are more than that, and people who aren’t fortunate enough to have union protection, know it and are jealous. A union allows due process, a term that is often abused and twisted. Those who oppose unions say due process won’t let you get rid of bad teachers. What it really does is hold management accountable. Managers are required to observe and document bad teaching. That is a good thing, and managers don’t like to do that. They don’t want to be hassled. Most of them want complete control who works for them and yes, if you will forgive the term “suck” up to them. I have seen this over and over again. Let’s face it, if you are doing a good job but the boss doesn’t like you, procedures and guidelines are of the utmost importance.. That is why people without unions are jealous. They have no protection, and that is what tenure is, protection and due process.
Of course, unions are even more than that. Through negotiation and the law, public unions provide transparency, which is not really recognized by the general public. If you work in the private sector, your salary and benefits are kept secret. If you work in the public sector, salaries and benefits negotiated by our unions are public knowledge. We don’t hide numbers like the bank CEOs do. We negotiate fairly for everyone, and anyone can find out what we make. We don’t try to hide our “big” salaries like the private sector does.
I proudly stand behind each and every contract I have helped negotiate. The negotiators on my team, as I am sure with any other union teams, took into account what the district could pay us. We were not greedy. We negotiated for everyone, not for ourselves. We negotiated for safe conditions for the children and teachers in the classroom. We negotiated for fair grievance procedures and evaluation procedures. We negotiated for good salaries and health benefits for the teachers in our district. I am not ashamed of having the right to negotiate those terms. I am proud of it, and those who are jealous should be trying to get involved in a union so they will have the same rights instead of trying to bring us down. I think everyone should have the right to collectively bargain.
I stand behind the union that taught me to stand up for myself and for others. My union gave me courage to stand up in the face of adversity and confidence to be a leader. And, I am thankful for those who sacrificed so that others would have a job that provides safe working conditions. fair salaries, and the right to collectively negotiate. Without their sacrifices, I believe we would not have much say in what goes on in our classrooms. Our profession would once again be disrespected as it was before the collective bargaining law went into effect (signed I might add by a Republican Governor).
But most of all, unions allow us to be human, to dare to speak up when something is unfair, and to admit when something is wrong without fear, and that is a good thing.