Teacher Strike

Due to an ongoing conflict between teachers at the Reynoldsburg City school and the school board, many teachers have decided to strike. When the strikers experienced a lack of support from the board, and even from the community, Emily Dillon, one of the strikers, decided to write an explanation. The primary source that she created was published on educationvotes.nea.org. Her piece is titled ‘“WHY I CHOSE TO STRIKE”: Reynoldsburg, OH, teacher shares her story.’ Throughout this primary source, Emily Dillon, an elementary school teacher and employee of the Reynoldsburg City Schools, goes into a considerable amount of detail about a day in the life of being on strike. In doing so, she explains to readers the main reasons they are striking and expresses her frustrations towards these issues. Dillon makes it very obvious that she does not enjoy striking and in fact misses her job very much, even if some of her arguments about class sizes, are flawed and or poorly written.

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 is given to the families of both the students and teachers. It is to be true that teacher unions help to have a positive influence on the academic performance of the students, additionally, the quality of public education. Currently, not all will be certain that this is true, but in Taking Sides it goes in depth on whether teacher unions are positively and/or negatively affecting schooling. Andrew Coulson argues that yes teacher unions stymie school reforms, whereas Louis Malfaro argues that no teacher unions are absolutely influencing the improvements of teaching and learning positively. Both Coulson and Malfaro have significant points to back up this argument on what they believe about teacher unions.

The influence John Lewis had on the labor movement is unparalleled. Lewis grew up in a working class home. He is the son of a miner and eventually became a miner himself. As a miner he was a union member of the United Mine Workers union and eventually became a prominent figure in the labor movement. Lewis is responsible for more industrial unionism than any other person in American labor (Martin). Lewis fought for the rights of unskilled workers such as miners, and steel workers. Lewis founded the CIO to better represent unskilled workers. Under Lewis the CIO became the biggest organization of unionized unskilled workers. “Lewis may have personally brought more

President Johnson instructs Undersecretary of labour James Reynolds to take charge of mediation to settle the strike, Reynolds Steps up in meeting with city and union officials trying to get to an agreement

a. When workers’ urged for a union organized campaign, the company reacted in such a vicious manner that the National Labor Relations Board had to step in. (Dreier 2004 )

In 1963, he was the youngest of the people who helped in the organization of the protest, the March on Washington. This particular protest gathered about 200,000 Americans in Washington D.C. who intended to raise awareness on the political and social challenges that the African Americans were exposed to (Carson 1981:91). This led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 which paved the way for the elimination of segregation in public places and employment discrimination on the basis of race and color among others (Carson 1981:120). However, the Civil Rights Act wasn’t enough to let the African Americans to vote and to remedy this, in 1965, Lewis together with Hosea Williams organized another protest march in Selma, Alabama (Lewis & D’Orso 1998:340). When the group of protesters reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were attacked by state troopers and local police who beat the protesters when they refused to leave. In this particular rally, Lewis was heavily beaten up and he even suffered from a fractured skull (Lewis & D’Orso 1998:341). This violent dispersal was recorded throughout the country and was later on dubbed as the “Bloody Sunday”. Moreover, this particular protest was helpful in speeding up the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act which amended the right to vote of any individual regardless of her/his race or color. In 1966, Lewis eventually left the

John Lewis and Douglass Evers both fought for the advancement of their people. John Lewis chose to go about it by doing sit-ins while Evers sought to do it through the courts. Evers felt as if doing things the way that the SNCC did stirred up animosity. He and the NAACP felt as if it put blacks in more harm than they wanted by putting them in jail and causing more riots and mayhem. Lewis, following the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. felt that he had to get to the hearts of people to get what they wanted. 1963,

Why do we need Chicago Teacher Unions? All they do is help the teachers create a contract and help them get paid a good sum of money. There are multiple reasons why we need Teacher Unions in multiple manners. The Chicago Teacher Union do not only help the teachers create contracts but protect not only the teachers but the students, from being taken advantage of by the Board of Education. Teacher Unions are an important step in a compromise for teachers’ rights and building safer conditions not only for them, but students as well through its access of striking together the support of other unions, and political action. Opponents believe that unions are bad because these organizations protect the workers that are not doing their job. Opponents

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.

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

On September18th, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted to end its strike. After seven days of rumbustious protects, the CTU accepted the suggestions made by the city of Chicago. And there are many things we can think about through this strike.

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 has not been solved yet due to disagreements about the income received. The Chicago Teachers Union has made offers to school administrations; however, the responses were not in their favor. The union has been in progress of agreeing on a contract “since November 2011, [and the strike that occurred at the time] was the first to hit the Windy City in 25 years” (Liebelson). The issue must have erupted due to a misconception or a realization of problems occurring. Chicago Teachers Union choosing to strike does not affect charter schools since they are not a part of Chicago Public Schools. The issue of school strikes can be fixed by increasing the budgets and providing useful resources to teachers in order to improve the level of education.

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.

Going back to the tenure and teacher union issues, I agree that everyone has the right to unionize in order to protect their self-interests, but the idea surrounding tenure is something that needs to be re-evaluated, and the teacher’s union needs to jump on board in order to get the education system moving in the right direction. The writers hint at a way in which tenure can be changed, and that is by offering rewards for high student grades instead of the current rule of once tenure is reached, a teacher can keep their position regardless of their efforts in the classroom. The way the movie presents this alternative method is by showing a challenge between the teachers of the school to earn the highest student grades on the state test; winner earning a bonus of $5,700. This type of evaluation based on student grades can also be taken to the opposite end of the spectrum, and teachers who have unacceptable student scores should be evaluated on their teaching methods, and if seen