The Purpose of Unions

There are constant comments made about unions and the idea they "protect bad teachers." I, too, suffered from this misunderstanding of the function and purpose of a union. The reality, however, is different, and I recognize how easily I bought into this rhetoric. The true purpose of unions is to protect its members.

Consider the history (briefly) of unions.  They were created to help workers in various industries work decent hours, earn decent pay, and be treated humanely. Without unions, workers often work crazy hours; earn minimum wage (or below); have no benefits, including retirements; and workers cannot get ahead financially. We have plenty examples in our current world of corporations that have fought unionization to protect their interests. Forget the employees who work with customers or stock shelves! Certain corporations have them working  less than forty hours a week and paying a wage that does not permit them to live successfully. They also do not provide benefits to their employees because they don't have to give them full-time status.

So back to teachers' unions. What is their purpose? Well, they make sure we have manageable class sizes. It is unreasonable to have 30 or more students per class, per day. It's a management and learning nightmare! My contract stipulates that I cannot have more than 150 students per day. Sure, I'd like fewer students, but I don't have more than 150. My contract stipulates that I am paid a "fair" and "equitable" wage. I have benefits and retirement. I work eight hours a day (honestly, it's more, but I am paid for eight hours). I have a duty-free lunch, meaning I can have a 30 minute break each day.  If I feel unfairly targeted by an administrator or another teacher, my union helps me work through those issues. My union prevents me from being unfairly fired if an administrator does not like me. It guarantees due process to teachers.

Those "bad" teachers out there, who are they? I've often wondered, We can rule out the sex offenders and the abusers. Unions don't protect them. What defines a "bad" teacher? I've been called a bad teacher by parents and students who didn't like my policies, or my refusal to lie for them. Are "bad" teachers those who don't do much during their class? How does a union protect them? It's an administrator's job to discipline a teacher who is not doing his job. A procedure is in place to document and prove the  necessity of removing a teacher, it just takes an administrator to do it. However, before blaming administrators for "bad" teachers, it is important to note that administrators (who don't have a union in my district) often have 20-40 teachers they are singly responsible for evaluating, in addition to their other duties around supervision, curriculum, athletics, activities, discipline, and scheduling. They are also overloaded with work, which often makes it difficult for them to monitor every teacher. Again, without a union, administrators have incredible workloads--at least in my district.

Current US attitudes toward education are misguided, with politicians and "think tanks" putting full blame on teachers' unions for what is wrong in our classrooms. Is it wrong to want to work a reasonable schedule? With reasonable pay and benefits? I'm sure politicians don't decry their salaries or compensation packages, including government subsidized healthcare. Again, unions protect their members from unreasonable work conditions. How does that hurt public education? Happy employees are more productive, including teachers. Feeling valued is a necessity in the workplace. Regardless of workplace, employees want to be treated respectfully, and unions help them do this.

Do unions protect "bad" teachers? What defines a "bad" teacher? Until those questions can honestly be answered by education critics, including school boards and the general public, the reality is this: school boards and the general public wish to pay teachers less, reduce their benefits, discount their contributions to society as a whole, unless their children are individually hurt by these practices. Teachers' unions are not the problem. Anti-education sentiment in this country is the true problem.