Intercepts
A listening post monitoring public education and teachers’ unions.

The good folks at Education Sector have provided a service by conducting interviews with the presidents of 30 local union affiliates in six states: California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Ohio.

There isn’t anything earth-shattering in there, but it’s all the more useful for that. You get in narrative form what seems clear from NEA opinion surveys of local presidents – the further you are from NEA/AFT headquarters, the more diversity of opinion you find.

Sure, we all complain about China not being communist enough, but former Vermont NEA organizer Ellen David-Freeman decided to do something about it.

Read her heartwarming tale of trying to “help mitigate the negative effects of the global market economy model espoused by Gov. James Douglas and the Vermont business leaders who recently concluded a joint prospecting trip to China.”

Commisserate with her as she “notes ruefully that most of the students say they have little use for the Marxist worldview that she regards as essential to understanding history and politics.”

Learn as she explains that “China does not conform to many Americans’ depiction of it as a monolithically repressive and exploitative state. ‘Sure, there are sweatshops’ and strict limitations on individual freedom, David-Friedman concedes. But there’s much more to China than that, she adds.”

And finally, be inspired: “But maybe, in some small measure, these Vermont Progressives can help put the world’s largest country back on the track toward socialism.”

After extensive negotiations with organizations representing retired NEA staffers, the union agreed in writing to fund to 100 percent its liabilities under its new multiemployer pension plan (see Item #4 in yesterday’s communiqué). In exchange, the retirees agreed to give NEA 14 years to achieve full funding, and to refrain from any demonstrations, picketing or organizing activities at the NEA convention in Philadelphia next week.

If you are going to challenge a well-established union for representation rights, you have to be a bit of a maverick – or a screwball – by nature. I’m not sure which of these describes Ron Taylor, but he’s making a splash in Sin City.

Taylor’s entrance into the world of union raiding came courtesy of a controversy surrounding the Clark County Education Association’s (CCEA) administration of a teacher training program (see Quote of the Week here, with accompanying link to newspaper story). Taylor claims CCEA colluded with the school district to silence his criticisms.

CCEA defended its program, but its return salvos against Taylor really crossed the line, including a veiled insinuation that he might be some sort of pervert.

Taylor is certainly a larger-than-life character, and it has helped gain attention for his cause, which is to decertify CCEA and replace it with a teachers’ union affiliated with the Teamsters.

Teamsters Local 14 has made deep inroads among the district’s support employees, and may yet snatch representation rights from the NEA-affiliated Education Support Employees Association (see Item #2 here).

Now the chances of the Teamsters unseating CCEA are so slim as to be hardly worth mentioning (especially with NEA HQ trying to work out a national no-raid agreement with Change to Win), but Taylor’s first mission is to get CCEA members to drop their membership during the two-week window in July. This is the same first step that was taken in the Teamsters’ campaign against ESEA.

Taylor has a web site, support from the Teamsters, TV coverage and the likelihood of more media attention as he stages a rally in front of CCEA’s offices to promote his campaign.

Teachers’ unions are notoriously bad at handling militant protest tactics so this bears watching.

Click here to read:

1) Coverage of NEA Representative Assembly Begins July 1
2) EIA District Tables Now Include Teacher Stats
3) Bullseye the Target Dog Buys Off Union
4) NEA Staff Pension Issue Won’t Go Away
5) School Choice Black Market Goes International
6) Denver, Performance Pay and Recruitment
7) Stop the Presses! I Agree with the Union!
8) Looking for a Few Thin Men Who Can Read
9) Your Shop Steward Is Not Your Lawyer
10) The Wages of Sin
11) Last Week’s Intercepts
12) Quotes of the Week

Former United Teachers of Dade President Pat Tornillo died in Tallahassee today.

Tornillo will forever be the poster boy for union corruption, particularly so because he committed his crimes as head of a teachers’ union, where such acts are relatively rare occurrences.

Tornillo made many appearances in the pages of the EIA Communiqué and Intercepts. Take your pick from this page or simply dig into this EIA exclusive from May 5, 2003.