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Philip OConnor
Professor Carr
English 1A
May 9, 2011
The Teachers Union
She must not marry during the term of contract, she must not keep company with men,
and she must be home between the hours of 8pm and 6pm (Pastore 2). These rules seem as if
they were intended for nuns, however these were some of the rules for female teachers back in
1915. Since then, working conditions for teachers have changed for the better and now they
enjoy more benefits and freedom. This is mostly due to the unionizing of teachers, which
allowed them to ban together and fight for more rights. Despite this progress, the teachers union
has been the subject of vast political debate. Many people accuse the unions of protecting
incompetent teachers, being too politically involved, and being too powerful. During its long
history in the United States, the teachers union has provided many positive benefits for teachers,
but it has also caused some negative effects on the education system.
In early America there was no teachers union and teachers had very little rights inside and
out of the classroom. This was due to the fact that teachers rights were based on strict religious
belief instead of the law at the time. For example, in 1872 Male teachers may take one evening
each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly(Pastore
1). Clearly this rule was influenced by the Bible due to the reward of an extra courting day for
weekly church attendance. However, the problem with this rule is that under the power of the
United States Constitution it is illegal because it infringes on the right to assemble and the right
to be free from an established religion. The first amendment to the Constitution says, Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably

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to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. In an attempt to

modernize their profession and gain more rights the first teachers union, the Nation Teachers
Union was formed in 1857 (Teachers' Unions 4). As time went on the teachers union became
more powerful as they acquired more members and as pro-union legislation passed. The most
significant piece of pro-union legislation was the Wagner Act which gave unions the right to
establish "closed-shop" workplaces. In a closed-shop workplace, only union members can be
hired (Right-to-Work Laws 4). The biggest setback to union power was the Taft-Hartley Act
which weakened the Wagner Act and stated that Unions could no longer require employers to
hire union members only. Union shops remained legal, but the Taft-Hartley Act left open the
possibility that those could be outlawed as well, on a state-by-state basis (5). Since their
forming the teachers union has fought for better work conditions nationwide, but in some cases
these efforts have actually worsened the school systems they sought to help.
One of the greatest complaints against the teachers union is that they protect incompetent
teachers. The worst of this problem can be found in New York, where unions have become so
powerful that firing incompetent teachers is almost impossible. Teachers who are unfit for the
classroom are sent to off campus rubber rooms, where they are being paid their full salaries to
sit around all day playing Scrabble, surfing the Internet or just staring at the wall, if that's what
they want to do (Matthews 2). These teachers wait in the rubber room until their case is ready
to be heard. This process is long and slow because it takes between two and five years for cases
to be heard by an arbitrator (Brill 5). Seeing an arbiter takes awhile, because their cases are
heard by 23 arbitrators who work only five days a month (Matthews 3). Steve Brills article,
The Rubber Room, The battle over New York Citys Worst Teachers, mentions Lucienne
Mohammad, a 5th grade teacher who was sent to the rubber room on charges of incompetence.

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There was over five thousand pages of transcripts filled with evidence against her. This evidence
included failure to complete report cards, to make lesson plans, to return student work, to
manage her classroom, and meet many more requirements. It was also noted that she assigned a
student as an enforcer to keep the other students in line. Her trial has gone on for thirty days
and will likely take ten more to come to a final decision, which is eight times longer than an
average criminal trial (7). This long unnecessary process costs New York far too much, all of
this cost the city between 35 million and 65 million a year for salary and benefits alone,
depending on who was doing the estimating (Moe 1). This situation in New York shows the
very worst of unions, however not everything the union does hurts the education system.
Teachers unions help protect teachers from unfair legislation; the most recent case of this
is the fight against merit pay plans for teachers. Merit pay is a system that pays teachers based
on their students performance on standardized testing. Supporters of a merit pay system such as
Terry M. Moe who praised merit pay in his book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and
America's Public Schools, good teachers should be rewarded, all teachers should have
incentives to do their best, and no one should get paid for just showing up (106). The flaw with
this logic is that there is no effective way to evaluate a teachers ability to teach through tests.
Every class is different, every student is different, and there is more to learning than filling in a
Scranton on a standardized test. History also shows flaws with a merit pay system. According to
the article Merit Pay for Teachers from the academic data base facts2facts, a merit pay system
was implemented in Britain in 1860. The plan gave money to schools based on students test
scores, which would later be added to teachers salary. However by the 20th century, the plan was
eliminated because teachers were more concerned with students memorizing facts rather than

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having a solid understanding of the topic (3). Merit pay is unable to produce better teachers or
students and would further burden already underpaid teachers.
In addition to protecting teachers interests, when it comes to legislation, unions also fight
for higher teacher salaries. Most recently unions have been fighting against New Jersey
governor Chris Christie and his proposed cuts to teachers pay and benefits. The governors plan
would force teachers to pay 1.5 percent of their salary to cover their medical, dental and vision
benefits (Fermino 1). This plan would hurt New Jersey teachers because like most teachers
they are underpaid. However, opponents of the unions argue that the raises secured by unions
are often excessive and damaging to the education system (Teachers' Unions 8). These
people fail to realize that a teachers job is not solely being in the classroom. Teachers must
spend long hours after school grading tests and preparing lessons. Because of these extra hours, a
teachers salary pays less than many other jobs. This was shown in a 2004 study by the
Economic Policy Institute, which found that teachers' weekly earnings were 12% lower on
average than the earnings of similarly skilled workers such as accountants, architects and nurses
(Teachers' Unions 4). While the teachers union does a good job negotiating higher salaries,
they often have a political agenda of their own that has nothing to do with teachers.
Unions claim to help teachers, but they have become so powerful that they are no longer
accountable to teachers and would rather follow their own agenda. If teachers are unsatisfied
with their unions, there is little they can do unless they live in a right to work state. In a right to
work state, teachers are free to leave the union and refuse to pay union dues. Teachers in 28
states and The District of Columbia do not have a right to work law and do not enjoy this luxury
(Right-to-Work Laws 5). In these states, teachers are not free to leave the union, but they do
not have to pay full union dues in order to keep their jobs; they merely have to pay the portion of
the dues supporting collective bargaining (Right-to-Work Laws 4). The unions are then free to

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do whatever they like because teachers are unable to deny the unions their membership or their
dues. The only way a teacher can completely avoid paying union dues is to be a religious
objector to the union. The National Right to Work Legal foundation states, In non-Right to
Work states, sincere religious objectors may have the right to redirect the entire union fee from
the union to a nonunion, nonreligious charity (1). Teachers should not need to have religious
objections to be able to deny paying union dues. Unfortunately, due to this power unions exert
over teachers, they have become a powerful political entity in America.
The sole purpose of the teachers union is to fight for higher pay and better benefits for
teachers. However the teachers union is heavily involved in politics by donating vast sums of
money to campaigns and politicians they support. Mike Antonucci, from the Hoover Institute,
writes about the unions and their political spending in his academic journal The Long Reach of
Teachers Unions: Using Money to Win Friends and Influence Policy. A joint study by The
Center for Responsive Politics and National Institute on Money in State Politics tracked union
spending in the election year of 2007 2008. The total money spent that year for all election
expenses was 5.8 billion dollars. The National Education Association was the highest spender
contributing over 56.3 million dollars, while the second highest contributor spent 12.5 million
less. In addition to the Nation Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers
contributed 12 million to the election. Overall the teachers union spent over 71.7 million dollars
(2). While the sum of money the unions spend on campaigns is outrageous, their clear bias for
the Democratic Party is equally unsettling. Former union negotiator, Myron Lieberman, notices
this trend, the NEA contributed $1.8 million to the Democratic Party and only $97,850 to the
Republican Party (Teachers' Unions 9). Another spending trend of the teachers union is
paying large sums of money to obtain research results that further their cause. Examples of this

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include $150,000 to FairTest for education research as well as $650,000 to the Economic Policy
Institute for research on budgetary issues and $165,000 to People for the American Way for their
research on social policy (Antonucci 4). The worst part of this excessive spending is that it is all
funded by teachers who might not even support where their money is going to.
It is hard to deny the influence of the teachers union in the education system, in the lives
teachers, and in American history. The creation of unions was a step in the right direction for
the rights of teachers who were burdened by unfair religious regulations and they continue to
protect teachers to this day. However as the teachers unions gained more power it stared to
develop its own agenda separate form teachers and has even forced membership in many states.
Because of this power gain the unions became the subject of nationwide political debate. Many
people accused unions of protecting lazy teachers and being too involved in politics. Unions still
to this day fight for teachers making sure they receive fair treatment form their employers. The
future of the teachers union lies in politics because a vast majority of democrats support unions,
while most republicans oppose them. Unions now face a Republican congress and a Democratic
president. If a Republican is elected in the upcoming 2012 presidential race will have an
astronomical effect on unions because Republicans would then control all three houses and be
able to pass anti-union laws. Regardless of what the Democrats or Republicans think, the only
job of the teachers unions is to fight for teachers, they should not force memberships or spend
teachers money on political issues.
Works Cited
Antonucci, Mike. "The long reach of teachers unions: using money to win friends and influence
policy." Education Next 10.4 (2010): 24+. Academic OneFile. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.

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Brill, Steven. The Rubber Room, The battle over New York Citys Worst Teachers.
www.newyorker.com. The New Yorker, 31 August 2009. Web. 27 April 2011.
Fermino, Jennifer. Christie Rips Out of Control Teach Union. www.nypost.com. New York
Post, 26 May 2010. Web. 27 April 2011.
Matthews, Karen. New York Teachers Paid To Do Nothing: 700 of Them.
www.huffingtonpost.com. Huffington Post, 22 June 2009. Web. 29 April 2011.
"Merit Pay for Teachers." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts
On File News Services, 17 Dec. 2006. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.
Moe, Terry. Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools. Washington, DC:
Brookings Institution Press, 2011. Print.
Pastore, Raymond. Principles of Teaching. http://teacherworld.com. Bloomsburg University.
n.d. Web. 10 May 2011.
"Right-to-Work Laws." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts
On File News Services, 7 Mar. 2008. Web. 11 May 2011.
<http://www.2facts.com/article/i1300140>.
"Teachers' Unions." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On
File News Services, 22 Dec. 2006. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.
What if I have Religious objections to joining or financially supporting a union?
http://www.nrtw.org. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc. n.d.
Web. 12 May 2011.

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