Yes or No: Do you support teachers unions?

iamconfused wrote:

Nothing said on a message board will ever change anyone’s mind but I am curious of why so much hate. Hate for teachers... unions... is big business the only ones allowed to lobby big business?

I would really like to hear an intelligent response to why teachers & teacher unions are bad and why businesses should be allowed to do as they please.

There will be no intelligent response to that.

This is all happening thanks to Koch Brothers and Rupert Murdoch's fake media machine.

That's why I am enjoying the lawsuit against Fox News so much.

No

1ub2run wrote:

Every other profession is out there plodding through it.

Plodding through it... from home?

100% of my business or engineering friends are working from home.

coach wrote:

55YO wrote:

I am a teacher, and I am disgusted by most of what the unions do. They do not represent the majority of my school's faculty with their political rants that have very little to do with the classroom.

But are they important, at least where you work? Do you have a say on how you teach? Working conditions? Prep periods? How you are assessed and judged? Pay? Are you happy with your medical plan?

The medical plan is the only thing good they have done. They haven't ratified a contract in a few years, so we have to take whatever is offered. The union here does ZERO for us outside of benefits.

55YO wrote:

coach wrote:

But are they important, at least where you work? Do you have a say on how you teach? Working conditions? Prep periods? How you are assessed and judged? Pay? Are you happy with your medical plan?

The medical plan is the only thing good they have done. They haven't ratified a contract in a few years, so we have to take whatever is offered. The union here does ZERO for us outside of benefits.

New contracts have to be approved by union membership. You could strike if you had any b.a.l.l.s.

I support any group of workers who feel they need representation. I'm pro-Union.

I think Amazon workers will unionize at some point if they haven't already.

With that being said I believe that once the union overcomes what they unionized for they become greedy and are unnecessary. I also believe the political lobbying/donations of public sector unions needs to end.

While they aren't a public sector union the the UAW encapsulates the problem with unions long term. They basically negotiated themselves out of jobs because they were so greedy and almost bankrupted the big auto manufactures and supply chain.

I also believe police unions ability to negotiate overtime and detail pay to count toward their pensions is a huge municipal problem. The greed of the unions is detrimental to the greater good of the municipality they're sworn to protect.

If you want to see a great documentary about unions watch "American Factory" on Netflix

I have mixed feelings, but lean towards supporting them. There are absolutely some unions that push things too far. Good proactive and local union leadership is key but can be incredibly hard to find. There are some unions that are so pro-teacher that they forget the mission of schools and the art of compromise.

In my district, unions have helped allow teachers to have a seat at the table but I think have also done some small things to help make our work experience much better. For example, rather than advocating to go virtual all year, our union has advocated for better teacher support this year so that we can offer both in person and virtual options for families.

Our union met quite a bit with our school board and now teachers are now paid hourly if they substitute for another class during our plan times and our district adopted a more generous version of the FCCRA benefits (and is continuing those 2nd semester even though they ended federally in December). Those adjustments have allowed us to primarily be in person but addressed some of the biggest concerns teachers had.

Not when it comes to COVID. They need to adjust like everyone else has had to adjust this year. I know and am related to a number of teachers and I have known more that have gotten COVID in their personal lives than have gotten it at schools. My wife is a dentist and works in probably one of the most hazardous environments for COVID and not a single staff member has tested positive for COVID. If you take appropriate countermeasures, this is really a controllable disease. My kids have been in person for most of COVID (they attend a charter that has worked diligently to ensure the kids can get a quality in person education), while most of the district schools have been virtual. There are over 900,000 students and 55,000 teachers in the public schools in my state and there have been zero deaths related to outbreaks in schools.

I also lose faith in them when reports like this come out:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/baltimore-hs-student-fails-all-but-3-classes-over-4-years-ranks-near-top-half-of-class/vi-BB1eg4mk

1993 pay $25,600

2021 pay $126,600

Yep

Here is another article showing the disproportionate impact of school shutdowns on people of color:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/kids-in-these-states-have-had-the-toughest-time-during-covid-19-11614720323?mod=home-page

Quite honestly states like California should re-do the entire year for most kids, as online schooling is garbage.

Any teacher who despises unions can go work at a private school. Longer hours, less pay, more demands, no pension?

Teachers who hate unions... but then take pensions and raises are hypocrites.

iamconfused wrote:

Any teacher who despises unions can go work at a private school. Longer hours, less pay, more demands, no pension?

Teachers who hate unions... but then take pensions and raises are hypocrites.

moron

55YO wrote:

iamconfused wrote:

Any teacher who despises unions can go work at a private school. Longer hours, less pay, more demands, no pension?

Teachers who hate unions... but then take pensions and raises are hypocrites.

moron

You must be new here, moran.

The anti union teachers are like the Trumpers who are against democracy.

iamconfused wrote:

Any teacher who despises unions can go work at a private school. Longer hours, less pay, more demands, no pension?

Teachers who hate unions... but then take pensions and raises are hypocrites.

Spot on!

coahc wrote:

1993 pay $25,600

2021 pay $126,600

Yep

That is an average pay increase of 5.8748%.

It works fine in Scandinavian countries so why not in the US? It is a big part of democracy

ehehh wrote:

coahc wrote:

1993 pay $25,600

2021 pay $126,600

Yep

That is an average pay increase of 5.8748%.

132,400 in 2022 with 100 days long service leave. 41 weeks a year avg workday is 8-4:30 with about 30 minutes for lunch. Every 10 weeks we get 2 weeks off. Christmas is around 5 1/2 weeks off.

When a lot of your workforce cannot pick up and leave, the workers do need protection from abuse.

If it is 1960, and you are a teacher and the principal is maybe a little handsy, the union is pretty much the only hope. The school can't axe just the uppity you-know-what.

When job categories are practically restricted (for example, by sex) people get work that may not match their skills, because it's the best work they can get within the restrictions.

When the main differentiation of job qualifications is time-on-task, seniority as the primary system of advancement makes sense. When there is the legal or cultural bar to categories of work, a lot of your workforce will be overqualified on the basics.

Times have changed. It is great that people have more freedom to choose different employment. Handsy principals are unacceptable (still happens, but not so likely to be shielded). We now have lady lawyers and engineers! Fetch me the fainting couch.

The teacher's union, like the golem, has outlived its usefulness.

Good post. These yes or no surveys are amazingly simplistic and reflect low level black and white thinking.

Unions are definitely a needed and good thing. Even workers in companies that don't have unions have benefited from practices and conditions that unions have fought to establish.

However unions can do some harmful things as you referenced in your post.