Do Teachers Really Need A Union?

By Larry Sand

Educators don’t get much for their $1,200 yearly dues.

In the aughts, after blindly being a dues-paying National Education Association member for years, I opened my eyes, and discovered that I’d been wasting my money. The teachers unions were primarily about politics, all of which went in a leftward direction. One in-your-face example at the time was at the Democratic Convention in 2008, where NEA president Reg Weaver spoke. His opening words were, “I am here today on behalf of 3.2 million NEA members to tell you why we support Barack Obama for President of the United States.” It sounded as if all 3.2 million members of the NEA were backing Obama. Then in his last sentence, he left no doubt. “That, my friends, is why the 3.2 million members of the National Education Association are organized, energized and mobilized to help elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States of America.”

Nothing has changed since then. Current NEA boss, Becky Pringle, speaking before a House Committee, blamed a “radicalized Supreme Court” for its decision to “unravel abortion rights, undermine the “separation of Church and state,” and also insisted that educators would “tirelessly fight for the rights of LGBTQ+ students and educators.”

At the latest NEA convention in July, the New Business Items (messages of concern from the hoi-polloi to the NEA aristocracy) are telling. While some noxious NBIs were voted down, many were passed. For example, NBI 39 states, “The NEA will demonstrate its support for the right to asylum for migrants from Venezuela and Central America now arriving at the U.S. southern border.” NBI 41 has the NEA “taking all necessary steps to defeat and overturn the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law in Florida and other homophobic and anti-transgender laws and attacks throughout the country.”

And then there is NBI 15 which directs the NEA to “compile research to create fact sheets about the largest 25 organizations that are actively working to diminish a students’ right to honesty in education, freedom of sexual and gender identity, and teacher autonomy. These fact sheets should include, but not be limited to, information about these organizations’ funding sources, their leaders within the organizations, connections to known entities that are seeking to dismantle public education….” So the union will be engaging in opposition research and creating an “enemies list” of groups that don’t buy into the NEA’s leftwing agenda. This exercise will cost union members – left, right and center – $140,000.

As Brenda Lebsack, teacher and former school board member, notes, “…as I read the 70 new business items and 40 amendments of bylaws, legislation, and resolutions, and listened to the platform speeches, it was obvious the NEA only represents those who hold the same ideologies and radical leftist political views.” She adds, “Its priorities were apparent, because of the 110 motions discussed and voted on, only four remotely addressed student academic achievement.”

The American Federation of Teachers convention, also held in July, was no less politically infused. The union agreed to call for a “week of action for reproductive freedom” in September to mobilize members “to participate in teach-ins, sit-ins, walk-ins, and other rallies and demonstrations.” The AFT will also urge boards managing the retirement funds of members to divest assets from corporations that “extract, transport, trade, or otherwise contribute to the production of coal, oil, and gas. Additionally, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) was peppered throughout various resolutions.

But mostly, the convention was all about Randi Weingarten – AFT’s supreme leader and most vocal lobbyist – who said many outrageous things. Before the convention began, she tweeted the results of a poll which shows that “nearly 9 out of 10 teachers say schools have become too politicized.” Not realizing that she’s a big part of the problem, Weingarten claimed, “AFT members were on the frontlines of the first wave of the pandemic, but in many ways the last year was even harder” due to “mask wars, culture wars, the war on truth, or the devastation in Uvalde.”

To continue reading, go to https://www.forkidsandcountry.org/blog/the-sandstorm-do-teachers-really-need-a-union

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of Citizens Journal

TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT CITIZENS JOURNAL  Help keep us publishing –PLEASE DONATE