Unions

Frankly, I'm mildly surprised by my husband's anti-union tendancies, since one of his grandfathers worked for Ford. I don't know much about Ford, but you'd think that UAW would run in his blood. Anyway, I personally spent my formative years with my dad working in a blue collar job and my mom as a teacher. Now my dad works for a Land Surveyor, and as the only employee, I don't think the union is on his mind. Frankly, I don't know whether my dad was even a member of the union when he worked for "the shops" as we called them (Machine Tool Shops - if you're really interested, you'll ask me - actually, I'll probably tell you all about my town's glorious past in another post). Anyway, for a while both of my parents were teachers, and my mom was even *gasp* asked to be a union rep for her school. This does not mean that she went around and told everyone they were bad for not being in the union. Everyone has a choice. I just want to say this - no matter what Andy says, about not wanting to hear personal stories (he's already heard this one anyway), my mom's job was saved by the union. I know that Andy thinks that the union exists solely to protect crummy teachers, and I'd say that some crummy teachers still have jobs who shouldn't, because of the union. However, I actually had my mother as a teacher, and she wasn't half bad :)

Maybe in Vikki's case the union isn't very appealing - she is working in a rich school district with plenty of money to throw around, and probably the majority of the people in the town are well educated and appreciate education. The town I grew up in was primarily blue collar, and many people thought that teachers didn't work hard enough (like they did) to earn their salaries. (By the way, in 1980 when my parents both returned to town after college, my dad (the factory worker) made 2x as much as my mom, the starting teacher.) At that time, just picking up and moving wasn't really an option, and it wasn't "the time the union saved my mom" Today, it's a different story, with rich school districts drafting teachers left and right. But what about the teachers who are willing to stay in the bad districts to help the kids that no one else wants to deal with? There's a good reason for the union to protect teachers like that - without the union my mom wouldn't have good health benefits, family sick days, etc. The union doesn't just help people keep their jobs, it helps people keep their benefits. Just because you are a member of the union doesn't mean that you have to vote for "their candidate" for governor. Politics aside, there is a reason for unions. If there is ever a time when the teacher shortage becomes a teacher overflow, those teachers will be glad the union is still around and they don't have to form one all over again.

Ever think about this? Teachers are supposed to be professionals - they have college degrees and even master's degrees. Why aren't they supported as professionals? Then maybe they wouldn't need a union. You might complain about the fees your doctor charges, but you still pay it because he/she went to school for a long time. Well, if you add it all up, my mom has probably spent more time in school than a doctor, since teachers have to take all kinds of classes to maintain their license. She's not asking to be paid like a doctor - she's just asking that people stop acting like the wage she earns (which is less than my husband's first year engineering salary) be recognized as a wage she deserves.