Education

My Union Doesn’t Get It

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I am forced to join a union. By law, I have to pay 85% of the dues, even if I don’t want representation. Hardly fair. The reasoning stems from the fact that the union negotiates my wages and I am the beneficiary of their efforts. Of course, I have maintained that my salary is suppressed because the union has to negotiate for poor teachers too.

Anyhow, we have worked without a contract this year. I blame the union for this. The union expected unrealistic results. Instead of settling early for no salary increase that would have saved us health benefits (we now pay 1.5%) and garnered tons of good PR, the union dragged out the process.

Now it has come to an agreement with the school district. In order for it to take effect, union members need to ratify the contract. Yet again, the union doesn’t understand it’s role here.

All year the union has asked members to wear certain colors on certain days and stand in specific places at specific times. It made no sense, but the minions followed direction. The union now is recommending ratification of the contract. It will pass today.

Yet, it shouldn’t. This isn’t about me. I make out very well on this two-year deal, perhaps better than any other on the salary guide. The issue is that a large portion of the union does not know what it will make next year. The secretaries have not been provided a salary guide. For some reason, they have been told they won’t receive one until July.

As I have stated publicly, if teachers did not have a salary guide, no teacher would vote for the contract. A union is bound to its members. If we vote in favor of this thing without the secretaries knowing their salaries, we are not protecting union members. Yes, me an anti-union guy, seems to be the only one who is concerned with acting as a union. The secretaries are ticked, and rightly so. They have little say as they are outnumbered. A union isn’t supposed to represent the majority, but the entire collective. It isn’t.

The issue isn’t resolved as there are differences between 10- and 12-month secretaries. Until that is resolved, no vote on a contract should take place. Our union doesn’t understand its role.

Fancy that!

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