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Good for the goose, good for the gander? (with comments by Robert Teegarden)

This morning Robert Teegarden brought Mike Antonucci’s first dispatch from the AFT conference in Boston to my attention.  Our thoughts on Resolution 52, submitted by the Chicago Teachers Union, are below the fold. 

WHEREAS, Chicago’s unionized public school teachers became affiliated with the Chicago Federation of Labor in 1902, marking the first time that public school teachers anywhere had wholeheartedly embraced organized labor by locking arms with trade unionists; and

Robert:  Did the idea come from the teachers or from the union leaders to embrace?  “Locking arms” kind of sounds like Red Rover, Red Rover.  I’ve also wondered. Are they talking about  “public” school teachers? Or are they “public school” teachers?

WHEREAS, the members of the Chicago Teachers Union, AFT Local 1, have witnessed personally in Chicago, and through numerous reports emanating from other cities in the nation, that a movement is at large to disrupt the proud labor history that exists within the public schools of our country by the proliferation of nonunion public schools; and 

Robert: A “movement to disrupt”?  Or is it that what is happening possibly the full flowering of democracy, the fulfillment of Pierce and Brown?

WHEREAS, this movement toward nonunion schools has taken various forms in different locales, including the creation of nonunion charter schools, the creation of nonunion contract schools, and the furthering of tax-supported vouchers to nonunion private and nonunion parochial schools; and 

Robert: At least they’re consistent… The issue is union membership, short and sweet.  It has absolutely nothing to do with kids or schools; in fact, kids just get in the way.  

WHEREAS, within the United States of America, traditional unionized public schools provide the best potential for equal educational opportunity for all students, regardless of the race, creed, social or financial status, or place of residence of them and/or their families; and

Robert: The facts just don’t support these conclusions today.  The “tradition” of which they speak started when this Republic was already 120 years old.  I wonder what people did for their kids in the interim?   Maybe it’s time for a new tradition that can achieve the ends for which it was organized? 

Ryan: At first glance, one might dismiss this as manifestly false (no matter where you live or how much you make, you’ll get a good public education? please).  But careful wording actually makes the statement quite accurate: traditional unionized public schools provide the best potential for equal educational opportunity.  In other words, it hasn’t happened yet.  But it could!  Just one more century or so, and you’ll get it done, right guys?

WHEREAS, within the United States of America, traditional unionized public schools provide the best-trained and educated workforce to be found within the whole of the American educational fabric; and

Ryan: Over to you, Bill Gates:

"Training the workforce of tomorrow with the high schools of today is like trying to teach kids about today’s computers on a 50-year-old mainframe," Gates said during a stirring, 30-minute keynote speech Feb. 26 in which he chided America’s high schools for becoming "obsolete."

"Our high schools were designed fifty years ago to meet the needs of another age. Until we design them to meet the needs of this century, we will keep limiting–even ruining–the lives of millions of Americans every year," Gates said, not mincing his words.

Robert: But the measure of success is NOT what goes INTO the system, it’s what COMES OUT.  When 1 of 3 kids doesn’t even make it from 9th to 12th grade, there’s something tragically wrong with how that “workforce” works. 

Back to this inspired resolution: 

WHEREAS, nonunion public schools do harm to the nation’s educational effort by allowing tax dollars to be used for the employment of noncertificated teachers and administrative personnel in many of these nonunion settings; and

Robert: This is insulting, to say the least.  Let’s see… the system that mandates certification fails 1 of 3 students 9-12… The system that doesn’t require certification but does require expertise, graduates 99% of their students.  You do the math… 

WHEREAS, it is imperative that the entire American labor movement be aware of the threat that exists to traditional unionized public schools by the continual deployment of public funds to nonunion schools; and

Robert: “Deployment” is a good military term.  Are they saying there’s a war going on for the soul’s of children?   What are “public” funds?  Are not all citizens, whether they have kids in union schools or schools of choice, part of the “public?”  I think they are on April 15. 

Ryan: Oh, I’ll definitely grant that there’s a threat.  But to who?  To what?  And who stands to lose the most?  Ultimately, the union.  And this resolution says as much. 

WHEREAS, workers in said nonunion schools are paid a rate of pay that is not consistent with the pay afforded unionized public school workers, nor are benefits consistent with those provided to unionized public school workers; and

Ryan: Here’s where the CTU is willfully disregarding reality.  Even assuming this assertion on pay rates is true, isn’t there a huge teacher shortage in public schools right now?  Couldn’t private school teachers work in public schools if they so chose?  (And don’t bring up teacher credentials–alternative teacher certification could get these folks in the classroom quite easily.)  Is it at least possible that, in spite of the massive demand for their services in public schools, there’s a reason these folks choose to work in a non-union environment?  Like maybe being free of the stifling mediocrity and insane bureaucracy in public schools?  Oh, and if you’re going to hammer away at school choice, presumably you’ll start with Mayor Richard M. Daley, who by all accounts is a big public charter school booster.  

Robert: If nonunion workers choose to work for less, then that might create an unfair playing field and bring down the average.  On the other hand, if they make more, then they might create an unfair playing field.  So, I guess the conclusion is that everyone should make exactly the same amount of money.  Is that not straight out of the Soviet Farm Economy manual for the 5-year-plan?

WHEREAS, workers in said nonunion schools also often are forced to work in excess of the traditional eight-hour work day, which is an insult to organized labor everywhere, given that one of the most significant union-related incident (sic) in the history of organized labor in the nation, Chicago’s famed Haymarket incident of May 4, 1886, was sparked by workers’ demands for the eight-hour work day; and

Ryan: And shame on those teachers for showing some initiative and work ethic!  Seriously, though, these teachers choose to work in nonunion schools for a reason.  Why don’t you ask them their reasons? 

Robert: “Forced?”  Maybe, just maybe, there are educators who look upon teaching as a profession, that these aren’t widgets in front of them on some vast assembly line that is, by nature, boring, repetitive, and for which they deserve at least a break after eight hours.  Maybe some educators see teaching as a calling, a ministry and a way of life.  And some days life demands a bit more of you than others.  

WHEREAS, the members of the Chicago Teachers Union have called upon their fellow unionists in the American Federation of Teachers and in the varied other organizations that support workers in the United States of America to support efforts to guarantee union protection for all teachers and educational support personnel who are employed in tax-supported public schools in the nation:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers urge members of all unions in the nation to refrain from giving any form of support or approval to tax-supported nonunion schools in any fashion whatsoever; and

Robert: And I thought the unions were “liberal” organizations.  They’re actually quite conservative by this definition.

lib•er•al     Pronunciation Key 
adj.

1.    Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
2.    Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded. 

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers urge its members and the members of any and all labor organizations with which it is affiliated not to permit their children to attend tax-supported nonunion schools; and

RESOLVED, that the chief executive officers of all major labor organizations in the United States, the members of the Congress of the United States of America, and representatives of the national media be informed of this action by the American Federation of Teachers by receipt of a certified copy of this resolution. (emphasis added)

Robert: So if I belong to the union, then I cannot choose to send my own children to a non-union school?  At least it’s consistent. 

This is why, for them, education will never be a profession.  A professional is defined as one who can choose his/her clients, and, in turn, the clients can choose them.

The world envisioned here is truly a closed shop.

Ryan: Well, then.  In the wake of findings that public schoolteachers are significantly more likely than other parents to send their kids to private schools, it looks like the union is making noises about cracking down.  Could cries of "scab" be far behind?  (For related thoughts, go here.)

Personally, I truly hope this resolution is adopted.  Because it just might go a long way towards introducing some major divisions within the union.  After all, how many Catholic public school teachers send their kids to private Catholic schools?