I am a unionized teacher.
I have served as a building representative (shop steward).
Regularly I read people arguing that bad teachers are the fault of teachers' unions.
That is so wrong it is ridiculous.
So let me see if I can help people understand why I say that is ridiculous.
Please join me below the fold.
Teachers' unions exist to protect the rights of all teachers.
The Bill of Rights exists to protect the rights of all persons.
In both cases, people who may have done wrong have their rights protected.
That does not prevent prosecution and conviction of criminal wrongdoers, nor does it prevent the discharge of bad teachers who refuse to improve or who cannot improve.
Because of the Bill of Rights vindictive authorities cannot use either the criminal justice system nor the land condemnation system to punish political opponents, people of minority religious views, newspapers that criticize them.
Because of teachers' unions, under union contracts teachers accused of inadequacy or wrongdoing are afforded due process rights so that abusive administrators or school boards cannot improperly use the power of firing and disciplinary action against those they may dislike.
The Bill of Rights does not prevent police from arresting wrongdoers nor the courts and juries from convicting and punishing them. Simply follow the proper procedures, do not violate the rights, and convictions will be upheld.
Teachers' unions do not prevent the discharge of teachers who fail to do their jobs. Administrators must follow proper procedures of notifying a teacher of substandard performance, attempting to remediate problems, documenting all of it - then a teacher can be discharged even if tenured.
Remember, not all teachers are tenured. In almost every public school, a teacher new to the system has no tenure and functions as an at-will employee. In certain sections of the country unions cannot function to collectively bargain for any employees, including teachers, so it is somewhat easier to discharge teachers even after they have served a long time.
Teachers' unions exist for the same reason industrial unions were developed, craft unions, and more recently service unions. The individual - teacher or factory worker - has little bargaining power against the larger employer. This applies to salary, to working conditions (including safety), to benefits. Collectively employees of any kind have a far more equitable bargaining situation.
Remember that some who wish to break teachers' unions wish to do so for political reasons - they tend to support Democrats because Democrats tend to support labor rights; economic reasons - non-unionized work forces of any kind tend to make less money (a point to which I will return); and because together the voices of 4 million unionized teachers might be able to offer an opposing point of view that if presented to the public would undercut the plans some union opponents wish to impose upon schools.
Teachers' unions do not always support Democrats - in the Florida Senate race they are supporting Charlie Crist because he vetoed SB6.
Remember this about unions. States with unionized workforces have higher standards of living and make more money - that is why the Northeast and industrial Midwest traditionally had higher standards of living than did the right-to-work states in the South.
Remember this about teachers' unions. If you want to use test scores as a criteria, states with active teachers unions, such as Massachusetts and Connecticut, score far higher than right to work states such as Mississippi.
Also remember this. California, in which teachers are heavily unionized, discharges twice as many experienced teachers at twice the rate (percentage-wise) as does Mississippi, which is a right to work state.
Teachers' unions are not the problem.
Administrators who do not do their jobs - in hiring, in inducting new teachers, in mentoring those who are struggling, in observing and documenting improper behavior or unacceptable teaching - are the primary reason teachers who do not belong in the classroom are still there. Teachers and their unions do not hire, supervise or discharge other teachers in most cases. A department chair may observe, and should offer help, and may participate in the interview process - all of which can help if the department chair is properly trained - but there are very few public schools in which any teacher has actual authority over the jobs of other teachers. When I was a department chair, I did not.
One last point - if you are worried about a teacher who does something like drugs, or acts inappropriately towards a student, or any of the horror stories that people sometimes bandy about, that teacher can upon the issue being raised be immediately removed from working with students, certainly if criminal charges have been filed. But until conviction on the criminal charge, or an investigation meets the standards of proving the the teacher violate standards of professional conduct required by the school system, that teacher cannot be permanently discharged. That is no different than putting a policeman on desk duty while a shooting or an accusation of improper use of force is investigated. If is parallel to the idea that even when a policeman witnesses a crime occurring and arrests someone, the accused is considered innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and until then is afforded all of the rights in our Constitution as it currently exists.
Teachers unions are not the enemy. Anymore than the Bill of Rights is the reason for the levels of crime in this country.
Some people don't like the restrictions the Bill of Rights places upon them when they wish to go after people of other religions, or newspapers that criticize them, or when they wish to prosecute and do not abide by the rules. If a criminal goes free because the police and prosecutors do not do their jobs properly, is that the fault of the Bill of Rights, or of those who fail to do their jobs?
If a bad teacher is still in place because the administrator has not documented, offered support and done the required task, is that the fault of the unions that insist on fair procedures for all teachers, or of the administrator for not doing the assigned job?
Some people simply don't like unions. Some people blame teachers for all the failings of our educational system. But those failures do not lie solely on the shoulders of teachers and their unions. Making them a scapegoat neither improves the teaching our students receive nor solves the problems of educating all of our children.
Peace.