Tell me what you really think.
Amen. My wife was a member of a union when she first started teaching. A more useless group of people I've never seen.
I, too, wish I would have instead taken the money she spent on union dues and burned it in a fire pit. At least then we would have had some fun along the way.
When I see how unions have strangled American businesses as they desperately try to compete with more agile, union-free foreign competitors, I have to laugh at the irony. It has never occurred to them that they've grievanced themselves - and their parent companies - into oblivion.
I hold the usually unpopular position that unions have outlasted their usefulness. Clearly, when unions were developed, there was a need.
My ex-husband is in the Broadway Stagehand Union, Local One. What a racket! If they work a rehearsal and it goes ONE MINUTE past the hour, they get a full hour's pay.
If there is a show that requires 16 men for ONE "move", but only 8 men for the rest of the show, they have to pay all 16 men to sit there and do nothing for the rest of the show. (Some of those guys run over to a different theater and do the one move they need over there).
I could go on... but I won't. I think it's ridiculous.
Ok, I'm compelled to weigh in. My local teachers' union has worked their butts off to secure fair pay and benefits for its teachers. A more diligent, hard-working group of people you'll never find. They provided legal support for me when a parent threatened my life (sad, but true), and have been there for us when we most needed them.
I guess it depends on the local constituency. I know there are less stellar unions out there. But my colleagues and I are thankful for ours!
I agree with DG - my union up here has been top-notch all the way around, and has backed me up when administration started getting kooky about scheduling. I suspect the problems with the local union have to do with the people running it rather than the actual concept.
Personally, if I felt the union wasn't doing right by me, I would have run to get on the board and tried to change it. But then again, I've always been a political animal.
WF
My grandma taught in England for over 50 years and she was vehemently opposed to unions for teachers because she said that the only people hurt when they went on strike were the children. I had to join the union when I worked at Disneyland even though my part-time/seasonal position wasn't covered and that really chapped my hide, but I have no experience with them otherwise.
Well, how do you really feel about this?
It's no good holding things in, you know.
NEA is worthless as a voice for teachers. Teachers are SUPPOSED to be educated folks, who have the ability to write or phone their elected reps at whatever level of government to voice their opinions.....
Any State teachers "Association" is just about as worthless as NEA.
Here in the Great People's Democrat Republica de California, we teachers are forced by court order to be in either NEA/CTA or the AFT. Yes, we can resign from the union, but the "union" decides how much of our dues money goes for "collective bargaining"....and that amount seems to be at least 2/3's of whatever is deducted for "Union" dues. AND, while declaring themselves to be "democratic" organizations, they do not have open election nominations or elections.....In the almost 20 years of being in NEA/CTA, I have yet to be allowed to personally cast a vote for any elected NEA or CTA official.
Corrupt. Them do Boss Tweed proud.
Having never belonged to a union, I don't think it's fair for me to weigh in...but when does that ever stop me? 
My uncle is the union top dude at the GM plant in Defiance, Ohio--he and I have argued many, many times about the current usefulness of unions and whether they've all become greedy, money-grubbing organizations concerned with filling the pockets of the top people.
And how cool is it to spit on people or break the windshields of those who cross a picket line, when those people are just trying to support their families like everyone else.
He loves unions. I'm not a joiner.
I don't think I'd ever join a union myself, because I prefer to go my own way.
I'm sad that you don't feel like your needs were met by your association. I'm VP of my local, and this year already I've had to step up and face down our superintendent over personnel issues. It's not fun, but it's what I was elected to do.
The state and national organizations will do what they do, but when the local fails that's unforgivable.
Union what Union? Don't got no of them there teacher unions here in Texas!
We have "professional organizations" in Georgia and we don't have the right to bargain. I generally don't agree with their political stance and through every piece of mail I get into the trash. The $40 I pay each month is a ripoff and is a mighty high price to pay for an attorney in case I get sued.
Well, it's clear that some local unions prove themselves useful and some do not. Thank you, TheRain, for working tirelessly for your teachers. Again, our union is the most under-recognized, hard-working, but oh-so-appreciated group I know. And they have to deal with the hilljacks on the school board who fought to keep us from even a cost-of-living raise for the past 5 years. Shame on them--and kudos to our union for standing up to them!!
Wow...
I think locals do the lions share of the work when it comes to working conditions compared to state affiliates or nationals. It's too bad you feel that way about your local, but I'll still read your posts.
Unions won't work unless you do..........get off your butts and help out !!
Sounds like your union needs to be shaken up. I am classified staff, so maybe it is different, but my union has always been there for us.
A couple years ago the school threatened to lay off a hand full of classified staff, my union reps stood up and fought for us. No one got laid off.
The year before that my school gave a sad story about how they could not afford to give us our annual COLA, then turned around and gave the faculty one of the biggest COLAs they have ever seen.. My union stepped up to the plate and got use our COLA.. it took a couple years, but they got us PTO for the years owed.
There are more examples of what a GOOD union can do for you. I'm very happy with my union and the SMALL amount they take from my pay check every month is worth it.
If your union is bad, step up to the plate, get on the board and make changes.. Unions are good things, with out them employers would just walk all over us.
-Fratm
i worked in Beer Distribution. Our workers were insanely lazy, and unionized. There were guys who would openely sit around every day, for their entire lives there.
But when management tried to simply get them to do work, the union would call it harrassment, and threaten legal action, and the owners backed down.
SERIOUSLY! Peopl earning $50000 a year to sit on forklifts and not move anything. NOTHING! And now our brewer is crippled by their insane labour cost since they are paid too much, and we need twice as many of them since they do almost no work. I almost want the company to go out of business, because i'm intelligent and a hard worker. i will find new work. These union slobs? NO CHANCE! They are scum plain and simple. Living off their fellow man essentially. By all accounts, they should be fired. Not all of them. Just the 25% that do nothing other than pick up a paycheck.
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