My guess is most teachers don't know that any union situation beyond the one in which they inhabit exists. In other words, in California most teachers have probably never even heard of Right To Work states, where teachers don't have to join unions or pay to support them.
I got the following information at last week's Concerned Educators Against Forced Unionism conference. I don't know how current it is, but it's a good place to start.
Model 1: Mandatory, monopoly, and compulsory exclusive bargaining for unions
Alaska
California
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana (somehow, also part of Model 2)
Maryland (somehow, also part of Model 2)
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Montana
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Washington
Wisconsin
Model 2: Mandatory monopoly exclusive bargaining without compulsory unionism
Florida
Idaho
Indiana (see also Model 1)
Iowa (a Right to Work, or RTW, state)
Kansas (RTW)
Maine
Maryland (see also Model 1)
Missouri
Nebraska (RTW)
Nevada (RTW)
New Hampshire
New Mexico
North Dakota
Oklahoma (RTW)
South Dakota (RTW)
Tennessee (RTW)
Vermont
Model 3: No mandatory bargaining statute, but bargaining is not illegal and does occur at the will of the local school board
Alabama (RTW)
Arkansas (RTW)
Colorado
Kentucky
Louisiana (RTW)
Utah (RTW)
West Virginia (RTW)
Wyoming (RTW)
Model 4: Collective bargaining is illegal or not accepted
Arizona (RTW)
Georgia (RTW)
Mississippi (RTW)
North Carolina (RTW)
South Carolina (RTW)
Texas (RTW)
Virginia (RTW)
I found that list to be a tremendous eye-opener with regards to the possibilities of a future without compulsory unionism.
3 comments:
To be fair, in Texas many educators join teachers' organizations for the insurance. But we also have little meaningful representation in Austin. That's not to say I favor unions, because I think that would add a whole additional layer of bureaucracy to an already top-heavy system. I just wish that they would stop messing around with the retirement funds. I have this bad feeling that the state is using them to balance the books and we just don't have enough recourse.
In Georgia, I see the same thing...at least with the teachers I've asked. They are members of our "professional organizations" because of the liability insurance and that's it. They can't stand the constant barage of politically biased literature they/me receive and the other publications are often useless. I have never received more offers for magazines and low-cost car insurance than I have since becoming a member of our "professional organizations."
Until I stopped by I didn't even know the organization you mention exisited.....interesting. I'm going stick around and read a bit more.
What more could I ask for? That's why I write!
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