In this revealing video spoken by teachers themselves who describe how teachers unions negatively affect education (from Teacher Union Facts).
The Truth about Teachers Unions from Union Facts on Vimeo.
Tags: budget, Chicago Public Schools, CPS, high school, reform, teachers union, trackitfan, union, Unions
This video is pure silliness.
Unions and tenure don't protect bad teachers. Bad principals do.
Tenure is misunderstood by teachers and laypersons alike. It is not job protection. It is a process, mutually agreed upon by employer and employees, by which an unsatisfactory teacher is dismissed. That's it. Bad administrators, who are unwilling to observe educators and file the appropriate paperwork, protect bad teachers. It is a leadership problem, not a Union or a contract problem.
The Agreement my Union has with our employer is adversarial, but not on the part of the Union. Our school district is insane - literally. Our contract is chock full of articles like this:
"Each school shall provide a desk and a chair for the counselor/computer tech/truant officer/nurse, etc. Telephone service and computer access shall be available."
Now why do you think that is in the contract? Because the school district refused to provide a desk, a chair, a telephone, and computer access for these workers. Seriously. I'm not joking.
How about this one:
"...duplicating machines should be made available for the use of teachers in preparing instructional materials."
Gee, ya think? Is the Union being overly demanding here?
My employer used to pay its employees irregularly - whenever it felt like it. Because of my Union our employer is now required to pay us every two weeks. That didn't happen without an article in our contract. (Of course, now the problem is accuracy. Greater than 50% of my paychecks have been incorrect over the last 5 years. Really, I'm not making this stuff up, folks.)
I personally have class sizes ranging from the mid-50s to the high 90s, though that is not typical in my district. But class sizes in core academic areas are routinely in the mid-40s. Why? Because the state took away my Union's right to negotiate with the district over class size. (We are the only school district in the state banned from this negotiation.) The result? Class sizes in the mid-40s. If my Union had the opportunity to bargain for class sizes we might actually get something reasonable - like 24 students per class.
How about New Orleans? There's very little, if any, unionization there anymore. (Education Secretary Arne Duncan called hurricane Katrina the best thing to happen to the New Orleans public schools.) Their superintendent, Paul Vallas, believes teaching should look something like the Peace Corps. He says that young, new, inexperienced teachers should be viewed as a cheap, renewable resource of laborers because their youthful exuberance and enthusiasm will overcome any deficiencies of technique or expertise. (Sorry, that's just flat wrong - education research clearly shows that experience matters.) As a result there is little left of teaching as a career in New Orleans. It is rare to find a teacher with 5 years of experience due to the revolving door of teachers who then leave the profession. The abuse of teachers and the neglect of the students most in need has skyrocketed. In New Orleans education has become a scarce resource available only to those who are deemed worthy. These are the results of non-union educating systems.
I understand that neither Unions and school districts are perfect. But my employer is a massive and ongoing embarrassment to the field of education. Without my Union our schools would be an even bigger disaster than they already are.
The video is solid. The last commenter, while I'm sure is good intentioned is completely wrong.
#1 Tenure is there to protect those who have years of service. Unions want to protect them because they command the highest salaries. So a tenured teacher is much harder to fire regardless of how good or bad they are. If Unions only cared about performance they would get rid of this whole tenure concept.
#2 Unions intentionally want to keep class sizes low. The thinking is, the lower the class sizes the more teachers they have to higher. I agree some classes require small class sizes like one which require quality discussions. PE, on the other hand does not benefit with small class sizes. My point is that class sizes should be a decision based on may factors and not determined by some one size fit all union contract.
#4 Local and smaller decision is the best. Apparently, some in Louisiana have made questionable decision. But to say that if Unions were there it would be better is completely misguided. In fact it would be worse. It would raise costs even more in an already cash strapped state. Let the states or better yet local districs make decisions on how much to pay salaries, how much office equipment to purchase, etc. The market will automatically correct itself. If a teacher feels underpaid or feels underequipped, the teacher is free to find another job. It's not feasible to add another layer (unions) in an already too much bureaucratized world.