Read Online Shadowbosses: Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind by Mallory Factor - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Mallory Factor
Tags: Political Science, Labor & Industrial Relations, Political Science / Labor & Industrial Relations
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to come to. “In this case, I’m a Democrat, and I believe, I really believe in unions, I’m a member of a good union,” he lamented. “So that was an uncomfortable truth for me to have to talk about, but I’ve tried to make a reasonable film.” He notes that “somehow it’s written that you can’t criticize the unions. Otherwise, you hate teachers.”
What’s wrong with the teachers unions? Guggenheim explains that union contracts run to 200 pages and control so many aspects of how our schools are run: “School day ends at 3, principals can’t visit the classroom, can’t fire a teacher, can’t reward another good teacher.” 1 Teachers union control over schools stops innovation dead in its tracks and stifles creative solutions to our nation’s educational crisis.
This isn’t a partisan issue—Jonathan Alter, liberal columnist for
Newsweek
, puts it well in the film: “It’s very, very important to hold two contradictory ideas in your head at the same time. Teachers are great, a national treasure. Teachers unions are, generally speaking, a menace and an impediment to reform.”
Guggenheim documents the effects of teachers unions in the film and what a big part chance has in the outcomes of these children’s lives. Most heartbreaking, he shows five students sitting, biting their nails at those lotteries, waiting for their names to be called. One young girl wants to be a veterinarian, but she’s stuck in a dead-end school, and doesn’t win the lottery to attend a charter school; another young boy also doesn’t win the school lottery and has to stay in his failing school, while his brother has the opportunity to attend a successful charter school; a few others win spaces in better schools and perhaps also win the chance for a better life.
And what are the chances of kids in failing schools getting into better ones? Unfortunately, their chances are very slim. For example, one charter school in Harlem had 792 applications for forty spots, and its numbers are fairly typical. There are far too many kids who want to go to successful charter schools than spaces at those schools. Clearly, kids want to learn; parents want them to learn; teachers want to teach them. But the teachers unions are keeping most of them in rotten schools.
Teachers Unions’ Dues Machine
The story of teachers unions is a story about power and money. The money comes from teachers in the form of union dues payable to the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and their state and local affiliates. The NEA, headed by Dennis Van Roekel, is the single largest and most powerful labor union in America. Its rival and sometimes partner is the much smaller AFT, headed by lawyer-turned-educator Randi Weingarten.A veteran of many teachers union battles, Weingarten took over as head of AFT after eleven years at the helm of New York City’s teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). The NEA and the AFT generally act in concert to control our educational policy through their political activity and propaganda. Local and state teachers unions are generally affiliated with either the NEA or the AFT, or in some cases both unions.
The teachers unions—the NEA, AFT, and their state and local affiliates—collect an estimated $2 billion in dues and fees from educators every year. Just how extensive is the teachers union control over our nation’s teachers? Two-thirds of America’s three million K–12 public school teachers are now under union monopoly bargaining control, and an estimated three-quarters of teachers are members of a teachers union.
The teachers unions—the NEA, AFT, and their state and local affiliates–collect an estimated $2 billion in dues and fees from educators every year. 7 Just how extensive is the teachers union control over our nation’s teachers? Two-thirds of America’s three million K–12 public school teachers are now under union monopoly bargaining
What’s wrong with the teachers unions? Guggenheim explains that union contracts run to 200 pages and control so many aspects of how our schools are run: “School day ends at 3, principals can’t visit the classroom, can’t fire a teacher, can’t reward another good teacher.” 1 Teachers union control over schools stops innovation dead in its tracks and stifles creative solutions to our nation’s educational crisis.
This isn’t a partisan issue—Jonathan Alter, liberal columnist for
Newsweek
, puts it well in the film: “It’s very, very important to hold two contradictory ideas in your head at the same time. Teachers are great, a national treasure. Teachers unions are, generally speaking, a menace and an impediment to reform.”
Guggenheim documents the effects of teachers unions in the film and what a big part chance has in the outcomes of these children’s lives. Most heartbreaking, he shows five students sitting, biting their nails at those lotteries, waiting for their names to be called. One young girl wants to be a veterinarian, but she’s stuck in a dead-end school, and doesn’t win the lottery to attend a charter school; another young boy also doesn’t win the school lottery and has to stay in his failing school, while his brother has the opportunity to attend a successful charter school; a few others win spaces in better schools and perhaps also win the chance for a better life.
And what are the chances of kids in failing schools getting into better ones? Unfortunately, their chances are very slim. For example, one charter school in Harlem had 792 applications for forty spots, and its numbers are fairly typical. There are far too many kids who want to go to successful charter schools than spaces at those schools. Clearly, kids want to learn; parents want them to learn; teachers want to teach them. But the teachers unions are keeping most of them in rotten schools.
Teachers Unions’ Dues Machine
The story of teachers unions is a story about power and money. The money comes from teachers in the form of union dues payable to the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and their state and local affiliates. The NEA, headed by Dennis Van Roekel, is the single largest and most powerful labor union in America. Its rival and sometimes partner is the much smaller AFT, headed by lawyer-turned-educator Randi Weingarten.A veteran of many teachers union battles, Weingarten took over as head of AFT after eleven years at the helm of New York City’s teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). The NEA and the AFT generally act in concert to control our educational policy through their political activity and propaganda. Local and state teachers unions are generally affiliated with either the NEA or the AFT, or in some cases both unions.
The teachers unions—the NEA, AFT, and their state and local affiliates—collect an estimated $2 billion in dues and fees from educators every year. Just how extensive is the teachers union control over our nation’s teachers? Two-thirds of America’s three million K–12 public school teachers are now under union monopoly bargaining control, and an estimated three-quarters of teachers are members of a teachers union.
The teachers unions—the NEA, AFT, and their state and local affiliates–collect an estimated $2 billion in dues and fees from educators every year. 7 Just how extensive is the teachers union control over our nation’s teachers? Two-thirds of America’s three million K–12 public school teachers are now under union monopoly bargaining
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