Teachers and Their Unions: Labor Relations in Uncertain Times: Todd A. DeMitchell: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Teachers and Their Unions

Labor Relations in Uncertain Times

Teachers and Their Unions

Labor Relations in Uncertain Times

Description

Teachers and Their Unions: Labor Relations in Uncertain Times explores the decade of uncertainty in public education following the Great Recession by first laying a foundation that describes the development of teachers and public education and the rise of teacher unions. The selection of the industrial labor model at the outset of public sector collective bargaining set the table for challenges to its fit with education. The theme of teacher as member of a union and teacher as a professional is explored within the context of a collective bargaining environment. The section “Law and Politics in Uncertain Times: Retrenchment and Assault” explores the decade of uncertainty. It reviews the industrial union model and within the twin challenges of the conundrum of teacher as union member and professional in the struggles of the decade. Tenure (boondoggle or necessary protection), VAM (rank and yank), right-to-work, agency fees, and teacher strikes are explored within the themes of the industrial union model and the tension of union member and professional. The book concludes with thoughts for the future and responds to the question of whether teacher unions are still pertinent.

Table of Contents

Preface: Labor Unrest, or Unrest with Labor?

Chapter 1. Introduction: 2010 to the Present, Teachers and Their Unions

The Legislative Response

The Judicial Response

Tenure

Agency Fees: Subsidized Compelled Speech

Getting Rid of Rotten Apples?

The Book

Section I. Teacher Unions

Chapter 2. Teachers, Their Work, and Their Union

From Colonies to a Republic: A Glimpse at Early American Education

The Common School Movement: Setting the Table for Bargaining

Education: A People Intensive Enterprise

Labor Relations in Education

What Do Unions Do?

Chapter 3. The Rise of Teacher Unions: The Influence of the Law

A Legal Framework for Teacher Unions

National Labor Relations Act

The NLRB and Charter Schools (Jacob A. Bennett, Graduate Assistant and doctoral candidate in Leadership & Policy Studies, University of New Hampshire)

History of Teachers Unions

The AFT

The NEA

Collective Bargaining in the Public Schools

Public Sector Labor Laws

Enforcing the Law: State Public Sector Labor Boards

Chapter 4. The Industrial Union Legacy

Labor, Not Craft, Art, or Profession: The Organizing Model

From the Assembly Line to the Classroom

Strikes and Work-to-Rule

The Ocean Hill-Brownsville Strike

Work to Rule: Just Follow the Rules

Section II. Transitions: The Impact of Unionization

Chapter 5. Transitions: Formalize, Standardize, and Centralize Relationships

Collective Bargaining and Relationships

Formalize Relationships

Standardize Relationships

Centralization for Uniformity

Transitions

Transition: Union President to Administration (Nathan Fellman, Assistant Principal, Ross A. Lurgio Middle School)

Chapter 6. The Union Member and the Professional: A Tangled Fit

The Conundrum: The Union Member

The Conundrum: The Role of the Profession

The Fit in Two Parts

Short Answer

Protection

Advocacy

Support

Blind Protection

Work of the Union

Divisiveness

The Union Label

Bread-and-Butter and/or Professionalism

Section III. Law and Politics in Uncertain Times: Retrenchment and Assault

Chapter 7. Power, Money, and Politics: Responses to Teacher Unions

A Legal Retrenchment Up to 2010

Beyond 2010: The Struggle over Unions, Power, and Influence

Wisconsin’s Budget Repair Act: It’s About Money and Unions

Right-to-Work: Starve the Beast or Protect Workers’ Rights?

The Janus Decision: Free Speech and Free Riders

Questions Raised

VAMming Teachers: “Rank and Yank”

Charter Schools and Teacher Unions: A New Horizon for Unions?

#RedforEd: Teacher Protest/Strikes/Walkouts

Concluding Comments

Chapter 8.Teacher Tenure: Necessary Protection or Boondoggle for the Incompetent? The Courts and State Legislatures Respond—Joseph J. Onosko, Co-author

Herein Lies Tenure: RIP. Maybe?

What is Tenure?

Due Process: Procedural and Substantive Rights

Attacking Tenure through the Courts: Vergara v. State of California

The Complaint

The Tenure Analysis: Uber Due Process

1. The Tenure Statute

2. Dismissal Statutes

3. Last In, First Out (LIFO)

The Appeals

Legislative Attacks on Teacher Tenure

North Carolina’s Legislation is Declared Unconstitutional

Successful Legislative Attacks on Tenure: Louisiana & Kansas

Attacking Tenure: Context and Impact

Should Tenure Practices be Modified? Yes!

Section IV. Thoughts on an Uncertain Future

Chapter 9. Labor Relations in an Uncertain Time

An Uncertain Time for Teachers

Loosening the Grip of the Industrial Labor Model

Us-And-Them

Standardization v. Flexibility

The Role of Seniority

Retaining Effective Teachers: Serving the Common Good

The Union

Moving Forward

About the Authors

Other Books by Todd A. DeMitchell

Index

Product details

Published	15 Jan 2020
Format	Paperback
Edition	1st
Extent	222
ISBN	9781475854282
Imprint	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Illustrations	1 b/w illustration; 2 tables; 32 textboxes
Dimensions	223 x 154 mm
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

In Teachers and Their Unions: Labor Relations in Uncertain Times, Todd DeMitchell and his contributing authors have skillfully addressed the tangled maze of issues pertaining to professionalism and unionism in education. Particularly enlightening is the discussion of why the industrial union model of “us versus them” is not appropriate in school settings. This book is a must read for scholars, policy makers, and practitioners interested in the political and legal history, current status, and possible future of teachers’ unions in our nation.

Martha McCarthy, Presidential Professor, Loyola Marymount University; Chancellor's Professor Emeritus, Indiana University; Past President of the Education Law Association
Teacher unions have played an important role in the shaping of public education over the last half century and are largely responsible for the gains teachers have made in wages and working conditions. Nevertheless, collective bargaining in the schools is similar to collective bargaining in the industrial sector, which forces teachers to assume two sometimes conflicting roles: professional educator and union member. Professor DeMitchell's book traces the history of unionization among teachers in the United States and analyzes the ongoing political and legal challenges to the collective-bargaining model in the schools. His book is an important contribution to the literature on collective bargaining in the public sector and is a must read for anyone interested in labor relations and education policy.

William Richard Fossey, Paul Burdin Endowed Professor of Education, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
This work is invaluable in labor relations, struggles within public education, and advocating for teachers’ rights. Moreover, it is a dialogical tool for providing clarity of knowledge about teacher unions and collective bargaining. This book serves as a practical guide for improving labor relations among educators (Han, 2019). Such a holistic approach provides an understanding of unseen politics within the teaching profession (Martínez, 2020). The book demands a metaphorical public amphitheater to echo how policies and practices are dealt with by unions within public schools and districts. Moreover, it is vital for the public to be conscious of how unions continue to be the avant garde of such struggles. Altogether, the book is organized with an introduction, four sections, and subsequent chapter(s) for each one.

Journal of Labor and Society