Maryland is just one of just nine states where class size is an illegal subject of bargaining

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean illegal? Is it a state law? a regulation by the state’s education department? something to do with labor laws?

Does it just have to do with collective bargaining or is it a general gag order? The union is heavily involved in local school board politics. If they really cared about this, they could make it a criteria for the apple ballot.

There is no union, actually, here. They are just associations. They can bargain, but the ability is limited to specific areas. Also, teacher’s cannot strike in Maryland.

MCEA is an affiliate of the National Education Association, which is the larger of the two national teachers' unions. Historically, the NEA represented school administrators as well as teachers; AFT did not. This is why it used the term "association" to describe itself. Also, AFT affiliated with the AFL-CIO; NEA didn't and hasn't. None of this makes the NEA, or any of its affiliates, "not a union."

Bargaining rights are restricted in certain ways in all sectors where the right to collective bargaining is enshrined in law. Mandatory, permissive, and prohibited subjects exist everywhere where collective bargaining is allowed. These limitations also do not mean that the organizations bargaining are "not unions."

Strikes by public employees are illegal in many states. I have personally participated in a strike in one of these states, in spite of one of these laws. Striking being illegal also does not mean that there is "no union here, actually."