Wisconsin delivers message to big labor
CHICAGO — Everyone is busy making inferences about Wisconsin’s recall vote and what it might mean for the 2012 presidential election. But more interesting is what the results say about the public’s opinion of labor unions right now.
Voters at the center of the internationally watched litmus test on the future of organized labor’s grip on the levers of government decided—if not resoundingly—that, no, they would not take power from the party that stood up to the teachers unions.
As a former teacher and the spouse of a current teacher, I disagree with the popular narrative that most Americans demonize teachers and consider them summer-vacationing underachievers who soak the public till regardless of their performance. It’s really their unions that people have negative feelings toward.
After all, nearly everyone can remember a teacher who changed his or her life for the better. But many non-union members still can’t swallow why the representatives of well-educated white-collar workers insisted their troops take over the Wisconsin Capitol for weeks last winter just because they’d been asked to pay near-to-what every other working stiff pays for benefits. If they’re lucky enough to have them, that is.
That dissonance, coupled with the continuing pitiful economic climate, is driving interest in revamping collective bargaining rules—and pension plans—across the country in a variety of sectors. But let’s stick to teaching.
Why must teachers effectively be forced to join a union to teach in public schools? Nineteen states require it and, according to the Public Service Research Foundation, another 31 states offer varying degrees of opt-outs for teachers who don’t want to be part of the union, but they have to either still pay the member dues or adhere to the district’s collective bargaining agreements.
More and more teachers are wondering whether that’s necessary.
The National Center for Education Information, a nonpartisan research organization based in Washington, D.C., recently released its report “Profile of Teachers in the U.S. 2011.” In it you’ll find evidence of an anti-union mindset coming into its own.
When asked what would strengthen teaching as a profession, 19 percent of a randomly selected national sample of K-12 public school teachers favored getting rid of teacher unions altogether.
Even more illuminating are attitudes toward other reform measures that were once considered anathema because they strike at the very heart of the union status quo. A whopping 59 percent agreed that paying teachers based on job performance would strengthen the teaching profession. Fifty percent said the market should be a factor in determining teacher pay.
Fifty-five percent agreed that a national proficiency exam for entry into teaching—similar to the bar exam for lawyers or the CPA exam for accountants—would improve the teaching profession. And almost 100 percent want individual teachers to have more direct participation in decision-making at the school-building and district level, an opportunity teachers feel their unions deny rank-and-file members.
Those figures are all up from 2005, the last time the report was compiled, and are significantly higher if you separate the views of veteran teachers from those of new teachers who have been analyzing education reform while going through the teacher preparation process and also people coming into education after careers in the private sector. The numbers also jibe with similar teacher surveys reported in the past year.
Across the country, small groups of teachers are in the early stages of organizing themselves to get out from under the thumb of union power. Many parent- and community-led anti-union groups include teachers as outspoken advocates. This can be partly attributed to the education reform movement’s momentum, but it also has to do with teachers being people, too, and regular people aren’t so hot on unions.
A February 2010 Harris poll found that the public had about as little confidence in organized labor as they did in the mainstream media and big business—only a few points above Wall Street and Congress.
More telling, a March 2011 Gallup poll found that 43 percent of adults nationwide felt that labor unions had too much power—15 percentage points higher than those who felt big labor had the right amount of power.
The lasting impact of the Wisconsin recall election boils down to this: Voters said they’re OK with curbing union power. When put to the test, I believe the rest of the country will say much the same.
Esther Cepeda is a columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group. Her email address is estherjcepeda@washpost.com.
Aug 12, 2011 at 4:15 p.m.
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Hey Bucky 12345 @10:51
I was in the union 73-83. Just qualified for union pension in April after waiting 27 years for the money my employer gave them on my behalf. Haven't seen any money yet.
They owe me for July, August. Good thing I have peas & bush beans.
Yes, yes, the union sure looks out after the little guy.
Aug 12, 2011 at 1:37 p.m.
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Fear -- my point is the destruction of the middle class is NOT something new and began a long time ago. It has no relationship to organized labor excepting that organized labor impacts the cost to manufacture. Global resources affect the cost to manufacture and as Unions push for greater and greater pay and benefits, you need to make up the difference in material cost etc,,,,,,,until you reach a breaking point.
Aug 12, 2011 at 1:36 p.m.
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Public unions should be outlawed as tax payer highway robbery. Thank God for Governor Walker and Wisconsin for their support of him.
Freedom of choice still lives in Wisconsin and thanks to the recalls, we have hope for the future that we REJECT leftists policies.
Aug 12, 2011 at 1:26 p.m.
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And for any anti fisherpeople... I practice catch and release.
Aug 12, 2011 at 1:25 p.m.
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Hey fear..... 78 fat 'gills and 9 largemouth (all over 3 pounds!) at Lake Delavan today in less than 3 hours! Get away from this crap and get out there!!!!
Aug 12, 2011 at 1:14 p.m.
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Fear -- its sounds like you are partially coming to your senses...... now let me pull you the rest of the way....
Yes -- some of the low end products are cheap -- chinese made. or even come from India. But actually, GM, Phillips Medical, (Many Manufacturers) now manufacture quality products in China or lets say that its equivalent to same level items from the US or anywahere else in the world. Not everything, but many if not most products. The companies that choose to manufacture in China have trasnferred manufacturing processes to China to take advantage of cheaper labor. The time to make a change has long in LCR sourcing was 30-40 years ago, but at this point we must look forward to determine how to compete. That beomes innovative products and ,anufacturing techniques and processes -- which means investment by companies. Companies may be willing to invest with tax incentives, given that we can prove that the technoology remains in the US from a manufacuring and sourcing perspective, and is built with US labor. You can no longer use the Chinese crap message any longer. India crap still remains accurate. However, what we are now seeing is the outsourcing of drafting/engineering (software mainly) to India.
So -- those tax credits and corporate loop holes lefties want to close, reduces the amount available for investment as companies must still satisfy stockholders and stakeholders by generating returns on investments.
Obama needs to create a villian to achieve his socialistic objectives. He does this by drumming up class warfare as others have done.
Now natioanlistic buying tendencies in the US will create and environment where competition is reduced, meaning inflation and prices therefore rise. --- US manufacturers in the short run could never (assuming they even exist in some cases) meet the demand. Thus making the inflationary problems worsen. Over the long run that should correct, to some extent, but other nations would then follow suit and global demand for OUR US products would fall. Not to mention that this drives an inefficient supply chain (sources for each nationalistic market. This creates the opposite economic effect.... overall we would pay significantly more and be able to afford significantly less.
Aug 12, 2011 at 11:43 a.m.
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Unfortunately some unions have fallen into the greed and corruption hole. Here in Janesville , watching hundreds of GM workers being protected while getting drugged up and boozed up for years was not a good case to make.
That being said, the teachers and police and many other professions need unions to protect themselves from greedy people that want to degrade their professions. I would also point to the fact that with declining union membership in the USA , the decline of the middle class has almost gone hand in hand. For some of you that is accepatable, for me, I think that it is unfortunate , and telling. That the most fortunate amongst us cannot be trusted with keeping our middle class thriving. In the end it IS the responsibility of business owners to keep us thriving as a nation. Unfortunately they have failed , they use freedom as a punchline, a punchline to make excuses to keep more for themselves and not reward people for hard work and productivity. Hard work, productivity and profitablity is rewarded by moving factories to Taiwan, Vietnam, and China. These people could care less about the USA, except their own tax rate that is.
I am all for holding people accountable for performance(teachers included) the problem is, how to do it? Test scores just dont work. Tell a teacher working in a large inner city that, when a huge majority of their students go home to essentially NOTHING.
To put it into a larger context, I have never belonged to a union, and never will. I do understand why people need protection, If the folks at the top could show a little more responsibilty , then we wouldnt need unions. If unions werent so corrupt in many cases , then they would be much more relavant. This is the deadly circle we live in, and the MAJORITY of our nation suffers, because greed and selfishness wins out, not nationalism, or pride. Keep buying cheap Chinese mad crap people, you are contributors as well. We all are complicit in the destruction of our nation, congrats.
Aug 12, 2011 at 10:24 a.m.
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It appears the mouse has been eating nothing but stink cheese.....
Aug 12, 2011 at 6:11 a.m.
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Greed and self interest, at the expense of the common good, is what is at the root of our problems in this country. Neither management nor the unions have a monopoly on either. Unions have been instrumental in raising the living standards of millions of workers. Individuals coming together to promote a living wage, better and safer working conditions, and fair treatment evolved because there was (and is) a need. At times unions themselves have overreached and have been guilty of some of the same sins that they were formed to fight. When greed and self interest are what motivates a union agenda they in fact can destroy a business. When greed and self interest dominate business they can destroy a country.
Aug 11, 2011 at 10:51 p.m.
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I doubt anyone commenting here has ever been in a decent union or worked some place that had a union. If they had they would not make such idiotic statements. Stop drinking the tea and and watching faux news.
Aug 11, 2011 at 10:19 p.m.
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I agree with all of the comments made here so far. The voters have spoken...again. Hopefully, the powers that be are listening.
Aug 11, 2011 at 9:05 p.m.
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Although she speaks for teachers and the unions they are forced to join, I believe the same feelings are being generated by other union members. People are tired of the corruption within the union leadership and the way they are destroying American industry with their unreasonable demands. For most unions, there days of unchecked power are ending...thankfully!
Aug 11, 2011 at 7:55 p.m.
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I agree completely vat.
Aug 11, 2011 at 5:45 p.m.
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Finally people from the education profession are willing to speak out openly about their concerns with the unions. Bravo to her.
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