Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! In my 20-plus years in education, the union has been in the background of my career until very recently. I have always known that the union negotiates contracts and would provide support if I needed legal assistance, but I […]
union
West Virginia Teachers Make History and Mandate a State-Wide Strike
Public school teachers in West Virginia have had enough. All 55 counties across the state of West Virginia have chosen to go on strike – together – to bring awareness and change to teacher’s health insurance benefits and salary. “The strike has put 20,000 teachers and 13,000 school service employees on the picket lines,” according […]
Why Join The Teachers’ Union?
For most of my teaching career, I did not belong to a professional organization, such as a teacher’s union. I always rationalized that with a teacher’s salary, I could not afford the dues. So for all those years, I was someone who benefitted from the strength in numbers that the teachers’ union provided, but I […]
Why I Favor Fair Share
On Monday, February 9th, 2015, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner told the Chicago Tribute that he felt “government union bargaining and government union political activity are inextricably linked,” causing him to sign an Executive Order eliminating fair share policies for unions across the state. And for this, he is fundamentally wrong. Let’s explore a few questions to understand […]