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1) Teacher Union Legislators: Who's
Representing Whom? We usually measure teacher
union political influence by PAC contributions, lobbying expenditures,
campaign volunteers, phone banks and media buys. Not a lot of attention has
been paid to union officers and activists who are also elected public
officials. There are union employees and officers serving on school boards
and state legislatures across the country.
Most recently, Margaret Doherty, who was
a UniServ director for the Oregon Education Association for 22 years, was
named to a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives. And just to show
the doors swing both ways, Kory Holdaway resigned his seat in the Utah House
of Representatives to become the
government relations director for the Utah Education Association.
Reasonable conflict-of-interest laws are
sufficient to handle most difficulties when elected officials deal with
issues related to their livelihood. But teachers' unions deserve special
attention because "their" representatives work for one of only two
organizations - NEA or AFT. Imagine if the state legislators whose primary
business is retail sales were all employees and officers of Wal-Mart.
The poster child for
conflict-of-interest problems is
Matt Rector, president of the Guam Federation of Teachers (GFT). Rector
was elected to the Guam Senate, and proceeded to use his legislator's budget
to rent office space from the union - at the princely sum of $2,500 per
month for 835 square feet. Rector claims he's getting extra services for
that price, which is a testament to the union, since it only decided to get
into the office rental business two days after Rector was elected to the
senate. The person who applied for the business license to allow the union
to do so was... you guessed it, Rector.
The comedy continued when it came time
to sign the lease. Even GFT thought it might not look too good if Rector the
union president were to sign a lease agreement with Rector the senator.
Fortunately, union by-laws allow the vice president to sign contracts if the
president is absent. So Rector left the island. While he was absent, GFT
Vice President Tim Fedenko signed on behalf of the union.
Rector then returned and signed the lease as senator.
There's more, but the point is made.
Guam ethics law is much like any other. It states: "No employee shall take
any official action directly affecting: business or other undertaking in
which the employee has a financial interest; or private undertaking in which
the employee is engaged as legal counsel, advisor, consultant,
representative, or other agency capacity." The fact that much education
policymaking involves the teachers' union's financial interests seems to
have eluded government watchdogs.
2) District Spending Tables Revived.
Well, it took about six weeks, but I've finally
managed to overcome multiple computer problems and resume building
EIA's famous district spending tables. Right now there are just the
national, Alabama and Alaska tables, but the rest of the states should go up
fairly quickly starting Wednesday. When completed, you'll be able to review
the enrollment, hiring and per-pupil spending trends for each of the
nation's almost 14,000 operational public school districts.
3) That'll Teach 'Em.
If I understand
this national story correctly, the American Federation of Teachers is
upset with filmmaker Michael Moore because he used non-union stagehands on
his latest documentary. So the union is refusing to accept free tickets to
screenings. Uh, okay, so AFT members will have to pay to see it, which means
more money for Moore, right?
Similarly,
NEA Alaska canceled its contract with the Anchorage Hilton because the
hotel is in a contract dispute with the local chapter of Unite HERE. I don't
have a copy of the agreement, but when the California Teachers Association
did something like that, it ended up costing the members $500,000 (see
item #2, here).
Maybe some enterprising economist can
determine if a union boycott is a net moneymaker for the boycotted.
4) Unintentionally Funny Headline of
the Week. From the September 24 Jackson Sun:
"Local
briefs: Robbery; Collective bargaining."
5) Contract Hits.
Wherein we highlight a contract provision from the current agreement between
the National Education Association and its largest staff union. This is
Article 27, Section 1:
"Employees in the bargaining unit shall,
not later than the thirtieth calendar day following the beginning of
employment, become and remain members in good standing of the Union by
signing and tendering to NEA a copy of the 'Assignment and Authorization
Form' set forth in Section 4.
"If the authorization required to be
made under this subsection remains un-tendered for a period of 15 calendar
days, NEA shall notify the Union, and the Union shall notify the employee in
writing of his/her obligation hereunder and a copy of said notice shall be
given at the same time to NEA. If the required authorization is not made by
the employee within 15 calendar days after receipt of the aforesaid notice,
NEA shall notify the Union. Following receipt of such notice, the Union will
notify NEA of its obligation to discharge the employee and NEA shall
immediately discharge the employee in question."
6) Last Week's Intercepts.
EIA's blog,
Intercepts, covered these topics from September 24-October 5:
*
Many Different Angles to Van Roekel's Testimony. Which will be more
flexible, contract language or testimony language?
*
The Good Old Days. When all they wanted was a seat at the table.
*
Lost. Teachers' unions and the press - chums no longer.
*
NEA & ACORN: The Details. A measly $400,000.
*
Massachusetts Charter Decisions Made to Rescue Governor from "Political Cul
de Sac." Kids are an afterthought.
* "Why
didn't anyone tell me this?" The real victims of the teacher "shortage."
*
Rhee Photographer Won't Give AFT the Broom. Swept away.
*
Just Not My Month. Computers are such labor-saving devices.
7) Quote of the Week.
"It's one thing to protest the District when they do something but this is
our own union that threw 6,000 of us teachers under the bus. He threw us to
the wolves." – Los Angeles substitute teacher Dave Peters, referring to
United Teachers Los Angeles President A.J. Duffy, who negotiated a deal with
the district that gives laid-off full-time teachers preference in hiring for
substitute work over more senior regular substitute teachers. (September 23
San Fernando Valley Sun) |
