Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Union Acts As Boss Rather Than Servant
"New York State United Teachers has not cooperated with requests from teachers for the creation of a bargaining committee and has not been responsive to the concerns of instructional members at the charter school."
This account, from today's Niagara Gazette, is the description from Laurie Munzert, a 2nd grade teacher at the Niagara Charter School. She and her colleagues are trying to drop the union (see Chalkboard account, below) but the union refuses to leave.
Ms. Munzert's description rings all too familiar to the description by teachers from two KIPP charter schools in New York City, who stated last March:
"the UFT sent a letter to the KIPP: Infinity Board of Directors with the goal of beginning collective bargaining on teachers' behalf; the UFT neither consulted nor informed the staff of this request. In addition, a union-initiated grievance has been filed against KIPP Academy without solicitation or support of staff. It is our belief that the active presence of an external negotiating representative could compromise the strong environment of communication and collaboration that is integral to the success of our schools. "
This bossy role-play by the union is being outed by teachers on opposite ends of the state, and they've performed a valuable public education role outside the classroom.
Peter Murphy
for The Chalkboard
This account, from today's Niagara Gazette, is the description from Laurie Munzert, a 2nd grade teacher at the Niagara Charter School. She and her colleagues are trying to drop the union (see Chalkboard account, below) but the union refuses to leave.
Ms. Munzert's description rings all too familiar to the description by teachers from two KIPP charter schools in New York City, who stated last March:
"the UFT sent a letter to the KIPP: Infinity Board of Directors with the goal of beginning collective bargaining on teachers' behalf; the UFT neither consulted nor informed the staff of this request. In addition, a union-initiated grievance has been filed against KIPP Academy without solicitation or support of staff. It is our belief that the active presence of an external negotiating representative could compromise the strong environment of communication and collaboration that is integral to the success of our schools. "
This bossy role-play by the union is being outed by teachers on opposite ends of the state, and they've performed a valuable public education role outside the classroom.
Peter Murphy
for The Chalkboard
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