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1) "Valuable NEA Endorsement Up for Grabs?"
I honestly don't know what is going on at NEA headquarters
when it comes to the presidential campaign, but I'm confident that the
union's February 6 press release, headlined "Valuable
NEA Political Endorsement Remains Up for Grabs" is a desperate attempt
to remain relevant in a race that has passed the nation's largest labor
union by.
The notion that the candidates' failure to discuss
education is what is holding up an NEA endorsement is comical on its face.
All the Democratic candidates filled out a lengthy questionnaire on
education issues before their appearance in front of the union's
representative assembly last July. Their responses were published in the
delegates' daily newspaper. Additionally, each candidate had a personal
interview with Weaver at
NEA headquarters in October.
Nor is there any evidence that the endorsement is "up
for grabs." I'd bet the farm that majority sentiment in NEA circles is to
endorse Hillary, but doing so would alienate a significant number of Obama
supporters (including Weaver himself, I surmise). AFT had the same problem,
but its New York-heavy membership allowed it to endorse Hillary, while
riding out the Obama endorsement by the Chicago Teachers Union, AFT's
second-largest affiliate. An endorsement at this stage would serve only to
split the NEA.
Also, the endorsement becomes less valuable with time,
rather than more. In such a tight race for the nomination, NEA's national
help might be crucial. But it has to be applied in the states that remain.
In which states would NEA put either Hillary or Obama over the top? Ohio or
Pennsylvania? Large, important states, but in both the major population
centers are in AFT territory. Texas? Don't make me laugh. Wyoming, Idaho,
Montana and South Dakota? Are you kidding?
Interestingly enough, the only place an NEA endorsement
may have real weight is in a brokered convention.
Many of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention are NEA
affiliate officers, representatives and staff.
Finally, there is the question of whether an
endorsement at this late stage does NEA any good, never mind the
candidates. AFT may have ultimately made the wrong choice, but it has gone
all out for Hillary since last October, spending wads of cash even in Iowa,
where the union has a
grand total of 51 members. It's hard to envisage a scenario where either
candidate would feel obligated to NEA, but Hillary would certainly owe
something to AFT.
This primary season has further cemented the theory
that NEA is formidable when protecting incumbents or boosting a prohibitive
favorite, but is less helpful to a challenger or in differentiating between
two closely matched candidates. Whether this will affect the union's agenda
in the next administration is a question that is still "up for grabs."
2) Oregon Support Workers Join AFT Over NEA
Opposition. The Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA), an
independent labor union representing some 21,000 school support employees,
voted last week to affiliate with the American Federation of Teachers. The
vote was announced as 85 percent in favor of affiliation, but the number of
votes cast was not released.
OSEA and AFT issued a
joint statement and a
press release praising the virtues of the new arrangement. In the
aftermath of victory, no mention was made of the anti-affiliation campaign
waged by the Oregon Education Association, NEA's affiliate in the state.
During the mail-in voting, OSEA President Merlene
Martin told members the "NEA/OEA intrusion into the
business of our Union is not only self-serving on their part, but also
arrogant and extremely disappointing," adding that OEA's communications with
OSEA members were "misleading, untruthful, and designed to create doubt."
OSEA Executive Director Steven
Araujo produced a
handout about the NEA/OEA campaign featuring an illustration of a wolf
in a business suit holding a sheep mask. The handout accuses OEA of raiding
OSEA chapters and interfering with OSEA internal affairs.
For its part, OEA
sponsored a web site in opposition to the AFT affiliation, claiming OSEA
members were unaware of all their options. This effort prompted Oregon
AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain to send an
angry note to OEA President Larry Wolf, requesting that all NEA/OEA
staff "refrain from spreading misleading information and interfering in the
internal affairs of the OSEA."
Wolf replied that "neither the OEA nor the NEA leadership would
authorize or condone any actions that could, to use your words, 'undermine
the essential underpinnings of our union movement.'"
It's impossible to take sides in this dispute,
especially since virtually the same events occurred in Utah in 2004, except
it was AFT trying to undermine NEA's affiliation of the independent Utah
School Employees Association (see
Item #3 here).
However, should either national union decide to make a
play for the big enchilada – the independent 220,000-member
California School Employees Association – we could see an NEA-AFT battle
unlike any since the 1980s.
3) Columbus Education Association Plans to Join
AFL-CIO. It has been two years since NEA and the AFL-CIO signed their
Labor Solidarity Partnership Agreement. The agreement allows individual
NEA affiliates to join the AFL-CIO and participate in the federation's
central labor councils. It isn't easy to keep track of the partnership's
progress, but EIA has learned that officers of the Columbus Education
Association are urging members to approve joining the AFL-CIO in the spring.
Columbus is NEA's largest local affiliate in Ohio. If
the application is approved, Columbus would join the Seattle Education
Association, the Rialto Education Association in California, the Beloit
Education Association in Wisconsin, and the University of the District of
Columbia Faculty Association as NEA locals directly affiliated with the
AFL-CIO. At last report (see
Item #4 here), the Jefferson County Teachers Association in Kentucky,
and NEA's locals in Hayward and Oakland, California, were also in the
pipeline.
4) How Low Can You Go? Tomorrow the Thomas B.
Fordham Institute will release a report by Frederick M. Hess and Coby Loup
titled
The Leadership Limbo: Teacher Labor Agreements in America's Fifty Largest
School Districts. The institute is also hosting a panel discussion
of the report on February 20.
I haven't read the report, and so can't comment on its
contents, but I do know if you have a big policy institute with a
distinguished president you can commission
really cool cover illustrations with caricatures of union presidents.
Ah, but can Finn, Hess or Loup create their
own original animation?
5) Last Week's Intercepts. EIA's blog,
Intercepts, covered these topics from February 1-11:
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Hillary to Union: "We're Going to Get Rid of No Child Left Behind."
Different messages for different audiences.
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Teachers' Union Stamp Act? Something's brewing in Denver.
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Want to Be an NEA State Affiliate Executive Director? We're hiring!
6) Quote of the Week. "We can no longer afford inexperienced,
ineffectual people to head our union. UTLA members are not served by
bombastic posturing and empty promises." – United Teachers Los Angeles
presidential candidate Linda Guthrie. (January 25
United Teacher) |
