LaborPains.org

With the Indiana House passing right-to-work legislation, and the expected quick approval from the Senate and Gov. Mitch Daniels, Indiana might be the first, but possibly not the only state to trim back union influence this year. Other states including Minnesota and Rhode Island, to name a few, have joined the trend to scale back union influence in one way or another.

Minnesota’s 2012 legislative session began on Jan. 24, and interest in right-to-work legislation is already heating up. The Pioneer Press reports State Sen. Dave Thompson (R) plans to introduce legislation in the coming weeks, and the conservative think tank Center of the American Experiment released a report claiming if the state had prohibited closed union shops when the majority of other right-to-work states had, then on average Minnesota workers would have made from $2,260 to $3,072 more in 2008.

Providence Eye Witness News reports that Rhode Island State Sen. Nicholas Kettle (R) has plans to introduce a right-to-work bill for teachers. The current laws mandate public school teachers must pay union dues or agency fees as a condition of employment. “The National Education Association uses questionable tactics when dealing with our legislature… harming the reputation of many fine teachers and placing our children at the bottom of our priority list,” said Kettle.

While these bills may not find the same success as Indiana, they are sure to face the same critics – unions. In response to Kettle’s legislation in Rhode Island, NEA government relations director  Pat Crowley said, “The results are always the same: more profits for the 1%, more work for the 99%.” This is a bizarre response considering that giving teachers the option to opt out of union membership doesn’t create profits for anyone (though it would take money away from union leaders). If anything it could reduce the cost to the tax payer (the 99%).

Teacher unions around the country are taking the gloves off and aggressively attacking officials trying to reform the education system by reigning in costs and holding educators accountable through teacher evaluations.

While good teachers have nothing to fear – and may even receive a bonus – unions are standing up for bad teachers by making sure that they don’t have to undergo any scrutiny whatsoever.

Up North, Massachusetts’s largest teachers union plans to circumvent the democratic process and go to the courts. The Massachusetts Teachers Association has filed a lawsuit against the state for allowing a ballot initiative that may breakup the union’s monopoly, making a teacher’s performance, rather than years of service, the primary factor in deciding who should be laid off.

In the Empire State, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew has rescinded his invitation to New York City education officials for training sessions on the new teacher evaluation system. This has only increased tensions between the union and Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the city’s effort to hold bad teachers accountable.

A proposed constitutional amendment in Missouri would prohibit tenure for teachers in that state. Under the amendment, districts would be required to use local performance standards for employment decisions that consider student performance, a notion that supporters argue would improve education. Under the proposal, school districts receiving public funding could not enter into new contracts with teachers for a period lasting more than three years.

The Louisiana Federation of Teachers and Louisiana Association of Educators both blasted Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposal to expand the school voucher system and significantly change how teacher pay increases and tenure are applied.

“The coalition of the status quo will always say we need more time and more money,” Jindal’s communication director Kyle Plotkin said. “When we’re wasting almost a billion dollars on failing public schools, we don’t have any more time to waste.”

There is no reason for unions to protect bad teachers at the expense of good ones, other than maintaining an overinflated base from which to collect dues. Maybe if bad teachers focused more on teaching, rather than keeping their jobs through arcane labor agreements, unions wouldn’t be in this predicament.

Remember a while back when a Rhode Island district unceremoniously fired an entire school of teachers when they refused to agree to do more work — for more pay — in a school that was failing in almost every way (high dropout rates, laughably bad test scores, etc.)? A reminder:

Her plan calls for teachers at a local high school to work 25 minutes longer per day, each lunch with students once in a while, and help with tutoring.  The teachers’ union has refused to accept these apparently onerous demands.

 

The teachers at the high school make $70,000-$78,000, as compared to a median income in the town of $22,000.

Well, the teachers were rehired … but only after they caved to each and every demand laid out by administrators.

Under the agreement, which is expected to receive final approval next Tuesday by the Board of Trustees, teachers will be required to work an additional 30 minutes a day, devote 90 minutes after school every week to planning, and submit to rigorous evaluation to retain their jobs after the 2010-11 school year.

 

The teachers will also eat lunch with students one day per week, attend five to 10 days of professional development every summer, and accept a staffing policy that eliminates strict seniority. The high school principal will be replaced.

Teachers at the 850-student school will be paid for the extra work, Gallo said.

The teachers didn’t really have a choice. Their traditional allies ignored their plight; even the President of the United States said the firing was a good thing:

“If a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if it doesn’t show any sign of improvement, then there’s got to be a sense of accountability,’’ the president said. “And that’s what happened in Rhode Island.’’

Combined with a weak economy — almost a thousand teachers applied for the spots that would have opened up in Rhode Island should the firings have become permanent — these hardball tactics broke the union without too much difficulty. As a result, the children of Central Falls, R.I. will now have the benefit of teachers who put in something closer to a full day’s work. This is the first step toward improving their lives; demanding accountability from their well-paid educators is the next step.

Image courtesy of jkirkhart35