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

We’re coming down to the wire and will be out of here by the end of next week. You’ll still be able to contact me through e-mail and snail mail, though reaching me by phone might be problematic.

There won’t be any communiqués for the next couple of weeks, and precious few blog posts, unless I have something exclusive I want to pass along quickly.

Now I remember why I don’t do this very often. If you move frequently, you have my sympathy. On the positive side, I am gaining upper-body strength.

“He’s sort of like a 2-year-old: He’s digging his heels in, and it’s his union, and he gets to spend the money, and gets to do whatever he wants, and nobody can tell him what to do.”

That’s Washington Teachers Union vice president Candi Peterson describing WTU president Nathan Saunders. The two elected officers are involved in a personal dispute, which even the Washington Post‘s Bill Turque can’t make heads or tails of, but it’s resulted in Saunders having Peterson’s union leave of absence revoked, and Peterson filing suit against Saunders.

The good news is that the current controversy doesn’t yet involve minks, Tiffany or firearms.

I guess a little publicity didn’t hurt after all.

Details as they become available.

Dan Popkey of the Idaho Statesman thoroughly profiled NEA executive director John Stocks on Sunday. Stocks lived in the state in the 1980s, serving one term in the state senate.

There are lots of fascinating facts in the piece, which I’ll leave you to discover on your own, but try as I might, I can’t pass up this takeaway quote from Stocks’ former business partner:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he walks in there with a 20-year plan in his pocket. And it won’t be limited to the NEA. He’ll be leveraging the NEA to remake America in his progressive vision.”

Click here to read:

1) While Tacoma Teachers Strike, Their Union’s Staffers Work Without Contract

2) Last Week’s Intercepts

3) Quote of the Week

The big-time blogosphere is fascinated not just by the National Staff Organization’s boycott of hiring at the Wisconsin Education Association Council (first reported here, I might add), but by the fact that union staff unions exist at all. The story appeared on Hot Air, Instapundit and Megan McArdle with a “how about that?” tone in each.

Cornell law professor William A. Jacobson, in his blog Legal Insurrection, asks this question:

Isn’t that great, education union employees have their own union? Is there a union for employees of education union employee unions?

Professor Jacobson is joking, but the question is almost reasonable. I refer you to this item from the EIA Communiqué of February 9, 2004 – item #7:

Union’s Union Has Labor Problem. Labor unrest is a perpetual problem, even for unions. But the latest hilarity from DC shows that no one is immune.

Long-time EIA readers are fully aware of the fact that teacher union employees themselves belong to a union – normally referred to as a staff union. The staff union negotiates a collective bargaining agreement with the teachers’ union (who act as management). As a short trip through the EIA archives will illustrate, the relationships between the unions and their staffs are often divisive.

The latest dispute goes to another level entirely. The National Education Association Staff Organization (NEASO) represents about 400 staffers who work at NEA headquarters in Washington, DC and in various regional offices. NEASO collected more than $327,000 in dues in 2002. This staff union is big enough to require, well, its own staff. To oversee NEASO affairs, the staff union employs a staff of two: an executive director and an executive assistant. In 2002, the executive director, Deborah Leahy, earned $73,940.

Last fall, NEASO dismissed Leahy for undisclosed reasons. Last week, NEASO informed its members that Leahy has retained an attorney and is considering suing the staff union for breach of contract.

If only Ms. Leahy had belonged to a union! She could have formed the National Education Association Staff Organization Staff Organization (or NEA-SOSO). Or she could have sought the help of EIA’s now-dormant staff union: EIEIO.

Dateline – Hawaii:

The Hawaii State Teachers Association’s actions before the Labor Relations Board have once again backfired and resulted in a scathing ruling from the board.

An overblown attempt by the union to strike the state’s opposition to HSTA’s request for relief from salary cuts amounted to an “egregious and reckless disregard for the truth in this case,” according to the board ruling on a procedural motion, issued Sept. 2.

Dateline – Washington:

Teachers failed to show up for classes Thursday in spite of a judge’s order. They instead took to the picket lines in protest of reduced wages and increasing class sizes.

Their decision violates Judge Bryan Chushcoff’s order, issued on September 14, whereby teachers were required to return to work, and for all parties to continue to negotiate and bargain in good faith….

“I think it sends a message that we advocate for ourselves,” said [Tacoma Education Association vice president Adrienne] Dale, adding, “we do what is right and what’s best for kids. We’re doing what’s best for teachers. This is why we’re here. We’re working to get a fair settlement that’s going to be best for those kids.”

Dateline – Connecticut: “Union leader: To tackle education problems, raise teachers’ pay”