What Do You Think About Teachers Unions

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   Sharlee01posted 20 months ago

   
   What Are the Pros of Teachers Unions?
   
   1. It protects teachers from political changes.
   When the politics of a community or state change, education tends to be a popular department to address. In the last generation, teachers have seen efforts to tie their salaries to testing performance, curriculum changes, and other potentially negative impacts on their job heads in their direction because of political changes. Teachers’ unions help to lessen the impacts that do occur, providing a buffer that allows each teacher to continue teaching.
   
   2. It creates the possibility of tenure.
   Tenure is a misunderstood concept in the world of public education. It is often viewed as giving a teacher a “job for life,” but that is rarely the case. Tenure is a resource that allows teachers, after a probationary period, to have guaranteed due process rights as part of their employment. It protects teachers from favoritism so they can continue teaching their students. In the US, it takes an average of 3 years for a public school teacher to earn tenure.
   
   3. It creates unification.
   People working together can create change faster and better than people working apart from one another. By working together in a teachers’ union, each teacher can advocate for their own classroom and district while being able to support students at state or national levels simultaneously. It is an effective way to let teachers have a positive influence on the public education that children can receive.
   
   4. Schools with high levels of unionization tend to perform better.
   Countries that have 100% unionization levels in their schools, such as Finland and Singapore, produce better results for their students than schools in the United States. In the US, states with high unionization levels, such as Maryland and New York, tend to perform better than states that have low unionization levels, such as Louisiana or Mississippi. The Washington Post reports that out of the 10 non-union states in the US, only Virginia has an average rank above the media for education. 7 of the 10 states are in the bottom 15 for performance.
   
   5. Teachers can have a voice in policy.
   Teachers’ unions allow individual teachers to be an advocate for higher education spending. It gives them a voice in policy decisions that would normally exclude their input, but demand their compliance. It is the teacher who is in the classroom every day full-time, not the administrator or the politician. Their front-line experience, when put into policy, can help children learn effectively.
   
   6. Union fees are often tax deductible.
   Although there is a cost to joining a union and those fees can add up for substitute or casual teachers, those fees are tax deductible. Unions also provide discounts at certain shops, health providers, and restaurants that can help make up the cost of the fees as well.
   
   What Are the Cons of Teacher's Unions?
   1. Actions by unions can reduce educational opportunities for children.
   One method that is commonly used or discussed by teachers’ unions to negotiate contracts or CBAs is to threaten a strike. Most districts will only threaten a 1-day strike, as Seattle and Chicago have done in the past, which means educational opportunities for children are threatened. Using children as a negotiation tool has its own set of ethical and moral considerations that must be individually addressed.
   
   2. It can lock districts into bad contracts over long periods.
   For a collective bargaining agreement to be effective, both sides must send skilled negotiators to be part of the process of contract negotiation. Failing to do so can result in a bad contract for one side or the other that may be in effect for several years. That can mean poor-quality teachers may not be able to be removed or teachers could receive below-market wages in the district for an extended period.
   
   3. The emphasis of the school changes.
   Instead of emphasizing educational opportunities, teachers’ unions are part of a process that changes the school into an economic opportunity. Children shouldn’t be caught in the struggle between teachers and administrators who want resources in specific places.
   
   4. Unions may funnel funds to places that teachers do not support.
   Some teachers’ unions will support political candidates financially or lobby for a specific cause. They’re able to do so because of the contributions that teachers must make to the union for the representation that is received. If an individual teacher doesn’t support the candidate that the union supports, they typically have no say in where their money is spent. Some states have passed laws that restrict this spending in the US, but it is a common complaint for teachers and many other public-sector employees.
   
   5. It creates a funding cycle that leaves taxpayers out of the equation.
   Teachers often receive salary support from property taxes and other public resources that are distributed by the government. The government negotiates a salary with the teachers, who then have unions that advocate for the government officials. It creates a cycle where each group benefits the other but at the expense of the average taxpayer.
   
   6. It can be costly to remove a bad teacher.
   Even when contracts allow for a bad teacher to be removed from the classroom, the process can be costly for the school district. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Terry Moe, a professor of political science at Stanford, said that it takes an average of $200,000 to remove just one poor teacher and up to 2 years of time to do so.
   
   So, what do you think, do teachers need a union? Share your pros and cons.

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      Credence2posted 20 months agoin reply to this

      In a naturally exploitative economic environment that is American Capitalism, every worker needs a advocate, "a union"

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