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Education Law

: Edjurist

Politics and Teachers' Unions

By Justin Bathon

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The Nevada NEA is suing to block some caucus sites inside casinos and some speculate it is on behalf of the Sen. Hillary Clinton campaign for president. This lawsuit is aimed at stopping many in the gaming industry from voting in midday elections outside their home districts and comes on the heels of the Culinary Workers Union (Nevada's most powerful) endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for President.

I note this because just a couple of days ago the Salt Lake Tribune reported that the Utah Council of Educators (Utah's non-union teacher association) is growing in strength. While the Utah Council of Educators has begun to engage in some lobbying efforts, I wonder if the type of activities some unions are engaging in, such as the Nevada NEA lawsuit, are not beginning to drive some teachers to seek alternatives to traditional unions. The Utah association probably gained members during Utah's well publicized voucher fight where the Utah Education Association took a leading role in derailing legislative efforts to install a voucher system. While according to their website the UEA has 19,000 members and the UCE only has a few hundred, it is still an interesting development that is not unique to Utah. According to the Salk Lake Tribune article:

Utah is now one of more than 20 states with such a nonunion education association. Though the Utah council only has several hundred members, nationwide more than 300,000 teachers, school support staff and administrators are members of such nonunion groups, said Heather Reams, associate director of the Association of American Educators, which partners with many of the groups, including the one in Utah.

In several states, including Georgia, Texas and Missouri, the memberships of these nonunion groups, which often include all school workers, have actually eclipsed memberships of those states' teachers unions affiliated with the NEA.

While these independent, non-union teacher organizations are nothing new and have existed in many states for years, one has to wonder whether the NEA and its affiliates' interjection into these political fights is harming membership. I am especially concerned with this Nevada lawsuit. The union is not only backing a candidate, which it has every right to do, it is also now doing the candidate's dirty work. I am not quite sure that is what the dues paying members had in mind when they ponied up their $600+ for their union dues.

Full post as published by Edjurist on January 14, 2008 (boomark / email).