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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hi- not a private school teacher but I have come from industry. Just some food for thought. [b]If you have an employer who values their employees, there is NO need for any union[/b]. The fact that we have to ‘rely’ on the crappy one we have is a huge red flag IMO.  True professionals understand the importance of mutual respect and collaboration.  Best of luck. I hope you find happiness and a positive, welcoming work environment! [/quote]

You can find that but there’s no way to guarantee that lasts going forward.

1998-mid 2001, I worked for a mid-sizes women-owned tech company that felt like a dream come true. Pay was competitive. We got fabulous benefits. Work-life balance was respected. Non-toxic work environment. Then, the owners decided to expand. One brought in her husband as a VP. He brought in his own people and, boy, were they toxic!  Within eight weeks, people were resigning. A union would have resolved the worst issues by giving us collective bargaining power.

A friend and her DH both taught math at the same private school. No union. No tenure. Her DH was not given a new contract because he also was the baseball coach and had a losing season. Some alum with deep pockets wanted him gone. After she wrote a FB post about how broken-hearted they were over it, the school cut her teaching load by two classes so that she was part-time for the upcoming year and wouldn’t get benefits. She had to leave, too. Both ended up teaching public for the next decade. A union would have prevented this. MCPS can’t fire a coach from a teaching job or switch a teacher from 1.0 to 0.6 status. A school could lose two sections of math, but MCPS has to find you full time work somehow (sometimes at two schools) or pay you full time.[/quote]

I don't think a union can do anything to save company culture after the company is sold. And why are you brining up something from 20 years ago?  I mean...things have definitely changed since then.  See..when you are locked into a yearly contract and you have an absolute NIGHTMARE of a boss, you are stuck.  The union won't do anything about the toxic admin at MCPS.  [b]Public school teachers have a very small window of time to secure a new job - if they want to leave with their teaching certification untarnished. [/b]  If I see a union, I see a red flag. Unions only exist because the company is too damn big and doesn't listen to their employee's needs.  What would be better would be to strength labor laws federally.  [/quote]

This is only true if you need to work in the same state. Plenty of teachers know the trick of resigning “for health reasons”, waiting a bit and then hiring on elsewhere. You don’t need medical documentation to resign for health reasons and with the teacher shortage, it’s easy to find a slot elsewhere.

Unions negotiate things like paid maternity leave, family medical crisis leave, and other benefits that our federal government doesn’t mandate. I don’t trust them to do so any time in my remaining work life or my kids’ early careers.

I’ve seen friends and relatives suffer at small privates where the argument is that we’re like a family and it’s such a privilege to work here that the salary doesn’t matter.

[/quote]

My last public (MCPS) school was like that. Any place that says you are family is a HUGE RED flag.  And most teachers that I know don't have the luxury of 'resigning' before they have another job lined up. I sure don't.[/quote]

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