Freedom Of Association

The Kenosha school district’s teachers vote to decertify their union in the third-largest district in Wisconsin:

Today, teachers in Kenosha, Wis., voted to decertify their union, the Kenosha Education Association, by a margin of nearly two to one. Only 37 percent of the teachers opted to retain the union in an election made possible by the labor reforms enacted under Gov. Scott Walker (R). The result goes to show that when workers have a choice on whether to join a union instead of being forced into one by law, they often choose to vote down the union.

It wasn’t even close; the margin of victory was very nearly as large as the “yes” vote total.

6 thoughts on “Freedom Of Association

  1. I’m reminded of being back in Boulder when a non-union-endorsed school board got the teachers the biggest raises they’d had in years by streamlining the district, and of course the NEA got mad and moved Heaven and earth to get rid of them.

    Idiots.

    It also suggests that a great way to end the hegemony of the left is to get right to work in as many states as possible, after which the unions won’t be able to milk as many members for political contributions–I mean union dues.

  2. As it should be.

    There are aspects of the teaching profession in which I would feel quite vulnerable without some form of civil, criminal, and work environment protection. A single teacher who runs afoul of certain highplaced entities for reasons beyond h/er control (test scores, political stances, unfounded allegations of the worst type, etc.) is screwed.

    I do not include compensation, management’s rights issues, or other quantitative work issues within the scope of union power. However, having to get results from many uncontrolled kids or their parent(s), or defending one’s self against the power of a politically motivated system, is beyond the ability of most individual teachers.

    Ideally, unionization (via a regulated protective group) is best determined by the group itself, not a district-, city-, or region-wide body. Hopefully this was the case here.

    Unions are like flood insurance. There are those who need them, and those who do not.

  3. Joe, could you elaborate on your thought? Suppose a Conservative gets hired in a Liberal school district and the new Board despises him for the usual lefty reasons. Does he need a union, or would the Teacher Tenure Act be enough? And would the union actually do anything for a Conservative, given where their sympathies lie?

  4. As my brother has worked as a teacher, I understand Joe’s point in principle, but in reality, is an NEA-endorsed union leadership really a counterweight to an NEA-endorsed school board? More or less, teachers’ unions fail the most basic test of a union; are they a counterweight to the excesses of management? Since they’re not, they can go with no harm done.

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