Collective Bargaining In Public Schools

The NEA and the AFT represent millions of teachers throughout the country. Moe indicates that teachers unions are known has political powerhouses which contribute millions of dollars to campaign contributions and lobbying. Fortune Magazine has consistently ranked National Education Association in the top 15 of its Washington Power 25 list for influence in the nation’s capital. The American Federation of Teachers along with the National Education Association has given more than $60 million combined in campaign contributions over the last 20 years (Moe 267). Ballot initiatives that are created in to order to begin school reform usually are defeated because their huge sums of moneys that come from these unions in order to defeat a ballot that can jeopardize a teacher’s job. Let’s keep in mind that unions are designed to protect the interest of the teachers, unions are not designed to help the interest of children. The unions use this money mostly to demand special interest for the teachers, such as imposing a structure at the workplace giving teacher’s rights and restricting managerial control. Teacher unions are by far the most powerful forces in American education and use their power to promote their own special interests at any expense.

A teacher union is an association of teaching professionals who work to secure their rights and interests. The first thing that pops into my head when I hear “teacher unions,” is that they are beneficial not only to teachers, but also students and families. Being protected and having stable conditions

LEWIN, D., KEEFE, J. H., & KOCHAN, T. A. (2012). THE NEW GREAT DEBATE ABOUT UNIONISM AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN U.S. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. ILR Review, 65(4), 749-778 Retrieved from https://web-b-ebscohost-com.bethelu.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=71a03270-ad95-41f9-a574-414b59891617%40sessionmgr103&hid=101

According to Wayne County Community College District Board of Trustees Policy Manual (2015) it states, “Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD) clearly acknowledges collective bargaining agreements and other Federal, State, and other legal documents which affect the operations, mission, and goals of the community” (p. n.d.). WCCCD downtown campus has offices for the Wayne County Community College Federation of Teachers (AFT) and Wayne County Community College Professional & Administrative Staff (PAS). The positive impact this has made on the governance at WCCCD, is during a district wide conference last year, the members of the WCCCD Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 2000, and the Professional & Administrative Association, AFT Local 4467, rallied with students, parents and members of the community for a Solidarity Walk in Support of our Students (SOS), as they called on WCCCD to improve the educational state of affairs for the students (AFT Michigan, 2014, para. 1). This supports one of five of the Value Statements in the 2015- 2020 Strategic Plan, and it states “Being Accountable -We are accountable to the students who depend on us to provide them with a quality education, to the citizens who support us with their tax dollars, and to the businesses that depend on us to provide them with highly trained employees (Wayne County Community College Strategic Plan 2015-2020, 2015, p. 8).” Whereas, the Chancellor of the District and is responsible for implementing the

One of the main reasons why teacher unions were created was to provide the teachers with rights, give the teachers better working conditions, and for the students so they could have a better learning environment. “The Federation fought for teachers' rights and improved working conditions, but it also played a prominent role in Chicago progressive reform (Rousmaniere, 2005).” The CTU’s and the Federation’s main purpose when they were created was to reform the rights of teachers and the school quality for the students that attend them. Teachers realized that they needed better conditions for the students when they saw, heard, or had been to private schools. Working together, the teachers set up organized strikes that were not violent and made the Board of Education meet the demands of the teachers. The outcome of the strike was the increase in the pay the teachers received, better environments for the students, and the teacher

Busting Unions for Fighting Reform Policies In the early chapters of Special Interest Terry Moe spends much of his energy in attacking the power of the teacher unions. He claims that teachers unions are the heart of the problem when it comes to organization and reform (Moe, 2011, p. 20). While Moe claims the NEA (National Education Association) and the AFT (American Federation of Teachers) have historically lobbied against many reform programs, including voucher programs, charter schools, and merit pay programs, there is also evidence where teachers’ unions have supported new reforms. They have introduced new charter schools and have based salaries on merit pay programs. Former NEA president Bob Chase delivered a speech in 1997 claiming that the NEA was on the forefront of education reform. He stated that the NEA invested 70 million dollars on reform initiatives and sponsored six charter schools across the country (Chase, 1997, p. 372). Educational policy makers should be in particular interest to these examples especially if they believe in the effectiveness of reform programs. If policy makers understand the thinking behind why the unions support or oppose reforms, better policies can be put in place. In addition, policy makers in partnership with the teachers unions can work hand in hand to successfully coordinate reforms in American education.

Running head: GMFC IMPASSE CASE STUDY GMFC Impasse Case Study Lawrence Britten Excelsior College GMFC Impasse Case Study GMFC and Local 384 have been unsuccessful in negotiations and the current contract has just expired. This impasse has caused the first lapse of contract between the organization and the union in fifteen years. It is imperative to both the health of the company and to the job security of the employees to resolve these negotiations quickly. In order to move forward we must fully understand and evaluate the positions of both Local 384, and GMFC. What are the major barriers stopping us from reaching an agreement and what are the underlying issues to these barriers? We must fully evaluate the issues in order to

Being an Elementary Education Major the National Education Association or the NEA seemed to be a great organization to research, and possibly join in the future when I become an educator. When I finish my studies at the University of Alabama I plan to stay in the state of Alabama

Superintendent Shelton introduced Joyce Rooks as the District’s 2015 Elementary Teacher of the Year and 2nd grade teacher at Creekside Elementary. Ms. Shelton shared a letter from Principal Aaron Tarzian who spoke to Ms. Rook’s strengths, her care for her students, and her support of her colleagues. Mrs. Rooks thanked

“Collective bargaining consists of negotiations between an employer and a group of employees so as to determine the conditions of employment” (Law.cornell.edu). Once negotiations have finished, the results of this procedure is a collective agreement. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), (main aspect of law for the collective bargaining) is

For some students, even though they can get high scores in exam, but that’s all they can do. They just memorize the solution and don’t try to understand and absorb the real knowledge behind the exam, for these kinds of students we can’t say that their teachers do well. Comparing with this, some students have really penetrating understanding to the knowledge, their know how to use them even though it can’t reflect on their exam scores sometimes, but their teachers still deserve higher paid. There is no doubt that we can’t tolerate keeping low-performing teachers in classrooms because it hurts everyone, but the method used to evaluate teacher performance should be sophisticated enough to consider all factors that can affect a child’s success in classroom before they can be used to as a standard to punish or award teachers. Chicago strike also evokes a debate toward salary problem. Chicago teachers have the highest average salary of any city at $76,000 a year before benefits, compared with the median household income in Chicago is $46,000 (BBC News: para 4). So many people couldn’t understand that teachers rejected a 16 percent salary increase when most occupations are not getting and raises and many people are under unemployment. There are two reasons that CTU still raise salary debate even though teachers already get enough paid. Firstly, CTU considered the law aspect. According to Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, it is illegal for teachers to strike on all

Georgis, Donnell, Mike, Moose For the second time in almost 4 years, over 350,000 Chicago Public School Students may not be able to go to school because of the CTU Strike that is currently in progress today (The Washington Post). The issue between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools

Teacher Unions have evolved over time and have been essential in education equality and reform. Some now question the motivation behind these unions and whether or not they are now a barrier to reform, rather than a assistant. This paper will explore the evolvement of not only Teacher Unions, but the purpose and motivation behind said unions. Two of the most predominately known unions are American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association, NEA.

During times of school strikes, not only are the children affected, but also the families, community and school board. These groups take the grunt of the damage caused by the teachers. Without these strikes, the bonds between the instructors and the groups affected would remain consistent or even flourish. With striking growing more and more popular everyday it is important to understand the consequences that come from this devastating capability. Not only does it have a detrimental effect of the students, but it also breaks the bonds of the community. They not only experience the economic pains caused by the strike, but also the encounter their relationship disintegrating. This damaging circumstance is not easily forgotten, making it hard to work together like a community should. These deep rooted emotions of animosity are like lacerations. They cause pain and suffering and never fully heal, causing a scar that will never be

In my position as a union leader, I have seen teachers fight tirelessly for these causes. Also in this position, I have worked with teachers who do not understand that the role of unions as well as the relationships that they have with their districts must change to survive. This change in relationship status must be made by both the union as well as the district their teachers serve. I am lucky to be a part of union and district that understands this need for change. I have witnessed a shift in the mentality of the people I work with. Someday, I would like to play a role in other districts changing their “us against them” mentality by taking what I have learned about empowering teachers; the people who play the biggest role in educating students and giving them a bigger say in how our students are