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another voice from within the union

Today’s guest blogger over at Mike Antonucci’s Intercepts, a present AFT member in West Virginia, is a must-read:

In WV we join unions by "choice," not by law. We do not have collective bargaining for school employees. So why join a union at all? Protection. As a teacher, it only takes three words to ruin your career: "They touched me." You don’t have to be guilty. You can be completely exonerated. But you are marked for life. Legal bills can go into six figures in a flash. A union will provide legal aid and insurance.

Without collective bargaining, we have to lobby the legislature and the governor to effect changes in our salary and working conditions. This gets us into the sordid world of politics.

I am a staunchly conservative person, both fiscally and socially. So I have had to sit and stew on many occasions when my union decided to "enter the realm." When I joined the AFT in 1988 the union stayed out of all non-school issues. Their attitude at the time was that members were intelligent enough to make their own decisions concerning personal beliefs and that there was enough room in the AFT for teachers of every political persuasion. The NEA was seen at the time as being the political body that was constantly meddling into matters that didn’t directly pertain to teaching.

But oh, how times have changed. Even at the state level.

His candor is incredible.  Go read.