Archive for April 2020
Heartland Institute Develops Ingenious New Idea –Strike Vouchers
Teacher strikes are harmful to everyone. Students lose valuable learning time. Parents are forced to lose work time and money when schools close because of a strike. Even teachers who do not agree with union officials often feel they have no choice but to go out on strike even though they do not wish to. …
Read MoreNEA Plays Politics
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way many unions will conduct their business this year, and it comes at a time when NEA teacher union officials have a lot to accomplish to keep their power. The changes are especially significant considering this is a presidential election year. Considering the National Education Association (NEA) has…
Read MoreNEA’s Virtual Conference Will Not Deter “Playing Politics “
National Education Association (NEA) President Lily Eskelsen Garcia announced the union’s annual convention will be a virtual one this year, and many of the resolutions and extraneous noneducational issues will have to wait until 2021 (or longer?) to be reinforced or decided. Garcia noted the pandemic as the reason for the decision to have a…
Read MoreNew Hampshire AFT Local Must Run New Election
The importance of the Department of Labor’s oversight of union activity is reflected in this story about an election gone awry. An American Federation of Teachers-AFL-CIO affiliate has been cited by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) for elections violations. The complete story is a complicated one involving allegations of mismanagement of…
Read MoreAs Pandemic Shutters Schools, It’s Business as Usual for Union Bullies
With schools across the country now shut down as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, many parents are gamely trying to keep the education process going outside the classroom, without unnecessary and harmful delays, by enrolling their children in online public charter schools. But as they do, teacher union bosses and their allied politicians in a number of…
Read MoreNEA Affiliates Prepare for Labor Department Oversight
Unions which represent private sector employees are covered under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA). The United States Labor Department is responsible for administering the LMRDA. While most National Education Association (NEA) members are public sector employees, which are governed by the laws of their several states, those NEA affiliates which…
Read MoreNew Independent Teachers Association Blooms in Texas
Texas teachers now have an additional alternative to secure professional support and liability insurance in Texas. The Lone Star state does not allow monopoly bargaining so teachers are not forced to be represented against their will by any union. In fact, most Texas teachers are members of the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) whose membership figures…
Read MoreLA Teachers Union Uses Coronavirus as a Weapon Against Charter Schools Expansion
At a time when educators and parents are searching for ways to keep themselves and others healthy but continue to educate children, teacher union officials could be stepping up to the plate and really ease the panic caused by the pandemic. So what are they doing? Alex Caputo-Pearl, outgoing president of United Teachers of Los…
Read MoreEducational Choice, Oregon Education Association Style
The Oregon Department of Education has knuckled under the Oregon Education Association’s (OEA) and other “labor allies’” demands that parents be prohibited from sending their children to any virtual charter school. Brick and mortar public schools closed down March 16 in response to the coronavirus spread, many parents turned to what the perceived was the…
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