So teachers' unions exist for reasons other than looking out for teachers?

They look out for themselves. I have posted on this forum before. I taught in a system that had experienced a strike a couple of years before I began teaching. Bitterness from my colleagues who had participated. The only people that benefited from the strike were the leaders--who were fired, but hired back two years later into supervisory positions. Apparently, a deal was worked out with the end of the strike. The person who benefited the most? The guy who organized the strike. He was hired as the president of the local teachers' "association" making 7 times more than I did as a beginning teacher.

This was many years ago, but the rules are the same. Randi Weingarten is not looking out for kids or teachers. She is protecting her fiefdom.

Anonymous wrote:I was a teacher. Unions or "associations" do not represent "education." They do not help the students. They don't really help the teachers. Who do they help? Themselves--the union leaders. I don't ever recall being asked how I felt about an issue. The leaders made all the decisions.

signed
Voice of Experience.

Where were you teaching? Which state?

Anonymous wrote:I was a teacher. Unions or "associations" do not represent "education." They do not help the students. They don't really help the teachers. Who do they help? Themselves--the union leaders. I don't ever recall being asked how I felt about an issue. The leaders made all the decisions.

signed
Voice of Experience.

So teachers' unions exist for reasons other than looking out for teachers?

I was a teacher. Unions or "associations" do not represent "education." They do not help the students. They don't really help the teachers. Who do they help? Themselves--the union leaders. I don't ever recall being asked how I felt about an issue. The leaders made all the decisions.

signed
Voice of Experience.

Anonymous wrote:https://www.brookings.edu/book/special-interest/

It is an obscene conflict of interest for any group to elect and endorse the board that is supposed to govern them. Unions stack school boards (as do police and fire for city councils).

There are usually less than 9 in either group and a layman can do a whip count on any issue it’s become so predictable.

So even before this last year, union endorsement was an indicator/red flag. Then the teacher unions kept schools closed while many boards, superintendents and politicians sent their children to private and in person.

Unions are an absolute no vote.

How do you vote at the state and county leave when the police unions support one candidate and the teachers unions another?

https://www.brookings.edu/book/special-interest/

It is an obscene conflict of interest for any group to elect and endorse the board that is supposed to govern them. Unions stack school boards (as do police and fire for city councils).

There are usually less than 9 in either group and a layman can do a whip count on any issue it’s become so predictable.

So even before this last year, union endorsement was an indicator/red flag. Then the teacher unions kept schools closed while many boards, superintendents and politicians sent their children to private and in person.

Unions are an absolute no vote.

Anonymous wrote:Does it make a difference to you if the union endorses a school board candidate? Why or why not? I'm from the Midwest where union endorsements are critical. But after the last 18 months in the pandemic, I now question the teachers' unions role in public education in the pandemic. I'm a progressive Democrat and usually pro-union, but I'm having a hard time regarding endorsements from unions. What is the point of say NoVA labor endorsing a candidate or most of their donations from unions rather than individual donors? Would love to hear others' thoughts. At the same time, I hesitate to vote for people who have problematic views on immigration or public health.

SO in Virginia, the unions have not had any power until maybe this year. Anything you experienced last year and are blaming on the "union" is misplaced because Virgina was a
"right to work commonwealth" meaning that they union did not have ANY power for bargaining or contract negotiations. Teachers joined the union to have a guaranteed lawyer if they were ever accused by crazy parents or children of abuse, neglect etc. If you experienced hell in the last 18 months, it wasn't due to a union so figure out someone else to blame.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This isn't factual. Teachers were in the classrooms teaching in person during concurrent.

I think you are anti union parents pretending you are teachers.

I thought it wasn’t a union.

It isn't, and that's why the poster you're responding to didn't call the association a union. But people who are anti-union are generally anti-teacher, and you can just skip the part where you insist that you do like teachers, that you know some teacher, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Does it make a difference to you if the union endorses a school board candidate? Why or why not? I'm from the Midwest where union endorsements are critical. But after the last 18 months in the pandemic, I now question the teachers' unions role in public education in the pandemic. I'm a progressive Democrat and usually pro-union, but I'm having a hard time regarding endorsements from unions. What is the point of say NoVA labor endorsing a candidate or most of their donations from unions rather than individual donors? Would love to hear others' thoughts. At the same time, I hesitate to vote for people who have problematic views on immigration or public health.

Not sure what county you're in, but the problem in NoVa is one party rule. One party rule not only hinders good problem solving, but can lead to misunderstanding of the issues, tyranny of the majority, and corruption in some cases (examples: New Orleans and Chicago and dare I say DC). We're well on our way.

The problem with the teacher's union in NoVa is the inordinate amount of power it holds with the one party that gets elected over and over, not to mention the fact that the union itself has taken some radical positions during the pandemic in particular. It's a worker's union, and is looking out for its members' interests, rather than what's good for the children. They deserve to have a voice, but not wholesale ownership of school boards.

Unions (and associations) are made up of members. They are only as strong as its members make them. Let’s not pretend in right-to-work Virginia that they were able to dictate policy. It was a bad situation with only bad options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The teachers unions advocating for "concurrent learning" resulted in them losing my respect, and my vote for their backed candidates. They were speaking for only a minority of teachers who supported it over going back to the classroom. My own kids' teachers ALL wanted to be back in the classroom last spring after vaccines became available.

This isn't factual. Teachers were in the classrooms teaching in person during concurrent.

I think you are anti union parents pretending you are teachers.

I thought it wasn’t a union.

Anonymous wrote:The teachers unions advocating for "concurrent learning" resulted in them losing my respect, and my vote for their backed candidates. They were speaking for only a minority of teachers who supported it over going back to the classroom. My own kids' teachers ALL wanted to be back in the classroom last spring after vaccines became available.

This isn't factual. Teachers were in the classrooms teaching in person during concurrent.

I think you are anti union parents pretending you are teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I do not hate teachers. My partner is a public school teacher.

So then you know that Virginia doesn’t have unions. They have some associations with basically no power.

Teacher here (posted above). They aren’t unions, but if you don’t think they heavily influenced the schools being closed last year, you’ve lost your mind. Many of us wanted to teach in person to escape the hell that was concurrent. But the association speakers were too loud.

I am also a teacher who hated concurrent and wanted to be back in school 5 days a week. I don't think the AEA had much pull, I think APS looked at their staff surveys, requests for leave and the general buzz and knew they wouldn't have the staff if they called everyone back.

It was both. The association was loud, but they didn’t speak for me. Many of us would have gone in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I do not hate teachers. My partner is a public school teacher.

So then you know that Virginia doesn’t have unions. They have some associations with basically no power.

Teacher here (posted above). They aren’t unions, but if you don’t think they heavily influenced the schools being closed last year, you’ve lost your mind. Many of us wanted to teach in person to escape the hell that was concurrent. But the association speakers were too loud.

I am also a teacher who hated concurrent and wanted to be back in school 5 days a week. I don't think the AEA had much pull, I think APS looked at their staff surveys, requests for leave and the general buzz and knew they wouldn't have the staff if they called everyone back.

Anonymous wrote:The teachers unions advocating for "concurrent learning" resulted in them losing my respect, and my vote for their backed candidates. They were speaking for only a minority of teachers who supported it over going back to the classroom. My own kids' teachers ALL wanted to be back in the classroom last spring after vaccines became available.

I didn't hear any teachers (or teacher associations--not unions yet in VA) advocating for "concurrent learning". They were advocating for schools to follow the health guidelines, and until the spring of last year, that was 6 ft distance between people (they only changed it to 3 ft around March). There was no way to do that and not do some kind of concurrent teaching. I don't think anyone thought it was ideal. I think it's what was doable at that moment in the global pandemic. It was concurrent or stay virtual. Yes, I realize that we could have just said to heck with it and sent everyone back, but there would have been tremendous pushback not only from teachers, but also from families. There was no perfect solution. You don't get perfect solutions in a global pandemic.

I didn't hear about ANY teachers or ANY teacher associations being against the idea of full 5 days a week learning this fall. It also appears that teacher associations are in support of required vaccines for all teachers now that is rolling out.