Commentary
Teacher Unions Pick Politics Over Students and Teachers
Originally published at The American Spectator
There’s a war brewing in education — and it’s not just on parents. It’s on the teachers themselves — and the same unions claiming to protect them are waging it. It starts with control — as the unions are preventing current members from recertifying the unions and their leadership.
A 2022 report from the Commonwealth Foundation focuses on laws that empower government union executives at the expense of workers. Many states allow government unions to restrict membership resignations to narrow opt-out windows, negotiate contracts without transparency, and even use taxpayer resources to collect money for political campaigns and lobbying. According to the report, Maryland, California, Oregon, and Washington have the worst public-sector labor laws in the country.
It’s state laws like these that help public-sector unions — including teachers unions — maintain their outsized influence despite declining support.