Labor Unions in the Education System

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Negative effects of teachers unions
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Most professions and work groups in most parts of the world today have labor unions in place that are responsible for the welfare of their professional workforce. As far as history dates, unions have continuously strived to protect their members by helping them get the most out of their engagements. The education sector has also witnessed growing numbers in labor unions which mainly take forms of teachers unions. The National Education Association (NEA) was the pioneer public school employee union to be created in the United States in 1857 by a few teachers. It was formed mainly to advocate for children who did not go to school.

The NEA grew with time and currently is the largest teachers union with a membership of over three million teachers in the United States. Numerous teachers unions have been created since the formation of the NEA in 1857. Many teachers join these unions since they are responsible for protecting them against harsh government policies, providing them job security among many other gains. Teachers unions today have become tools for protecting the selfish interests and gains of teachers while neglecting the needs of the average student and the school at large and should therefore not be part of the education system at all. This paper reviews the negative effects of teacher unions on learners and the education sector in general.

Negative effects of teachers unions

Effects on the education system

The teachers unions have contributed adversely to the deterioration of the education system. Due to the influence of teachers unions, it has become very difficult to get rid of bad teachers from the system. It takes a very long time and consumes a lot of financial resources trying to remove a bad teacher from the system (Chen par. 10). Furthermore, Unions make it possible for teachers of poor employment records to continue receiving salaries (Barro 8). Incompetent teachers in the education sector are protected by teachers unions which moreover oppose measures towards paying teachers according to the length of time they work (Kahlenberg par. 5). The contracts of these unions with teachers state that teacher’s salaries should be based on the number of years of service and the degrees of academic qualifications rather than on their classroom performance. These contracts clearly promote laziness on the part of a teacher who is guaranteed better salary due to their years of service and possession of a degree regardless of whether they perform or not. Furthermore, hardworking teachers could easily be de motivated since there are no rewards for outstanding teacher performances.

Teachers with poor records are also kept safe by teachers unions. There are no programs for determining teachers’ performance, neither are there measures of removing ineffective teachers (Kahlenberg par. 8). It is important that teachers’ performance are evaluated on a yearly basis so as to identify those that are fit to drive the nation’s education sector to a brighter future and reward them with promotions and salary increment rather than giving teachers automatic step increases due to their years of service. The warranty of employment guard for teachers is seen as an impediment for new candidates for teaching. Job security as stipulated by the unions ensures that the poorly performing teachers are retained in the system until their retirement age beckons while at the same time locking out potential, young, brilliant and creative new graduates from joining the teaching fraternity and making their contributions to the education sector.

Effects on learners

Research and statistical data indicate that teachers unions are only beneficial to teachers and union leaders where as the students and the school in general stand at a loss. Research confirms that zones with great numbers of teachers’ unions compete weakly academically. Unions have been found to increase per-pupil expenditure by approximately 12% which mostly contributes to increasing teachers’ salaries (Barro 8). Unions do put forward measures to reduce student-teacher magnitude justifying their position by saying that they are indispensable in order to help learners adjust their performance. The student-teacher ratio decreased from an average of 18 to one in the 1960s to an approximate average of 8 to one in 2009 (Coulson p 155-170). What the unions fail to understand is that the reduced student-teacher ratios coupled with increase in teachers’ salaries has led to an increase in the numbers of learners dropping out of schools. Teachers unions also lower the effectiveness of school inputs by diverting them to increase teachers salaries. Lower student-teacher ratios only serve to reduce the efforts needed for dealing with few learners and not improving student performance (Barro 8).

Effects on schools

The teachers unions have also had their effects felt at school administration levels. School governing boards do not have much power of negotiation for teachers’ contract. These boards are forced to comply with the teachers unions’ terms pertaining teachers employment or otherwise they risk facing teachers strikes due to the power of their unions. Under such terms, unmotivated teachers do not struggle to help students improve their performance as they are confident of their employment security and mostly end up de motivating learners as well. It is clear that most teacher unions overlook the interests of learners in their quest to protect their members and safeguarding teachers’ jobs.

Most public school teachers unions are politically partisan and usually lead to political polarization and have been constantly accused of lowering the level of education in public schools and constantly raising costs of public school education (Coulson p 155-170). Most advocates of schools have often mentioned the political sway of teachers unions as the greatest obstacle to modifications in schools (Coulson p 155-170). Teachers unions have put more focus on their interests in raising their members’ wages, growing their membership, increasing the share of the public school labor force that they represent, pre-clouding pay based on performance or aptitude, and minimizing competition from non union schools while neglecting student performance, welfare and conditions of schools (Coulson p 155-170).

Personal experience

Personally I have encountered the impact of the teachers unions on students and the education sector. My physics teacher, Mr. Clement was notably the most notorious, he rarely showed up for the physics classes. You could find him in the staff room busy with his computer playing games and chatting about social media while his lesson was in session. For the small number of instances that Mr. Clement turned up for the lesson, he would usually teach for at most fifteen minutes and then give learners lots of research work to do while he sat at the front keeping himself busy with his cell phone. There was also an instance when teachers went on strike for more than three weeks demanding for a pay hike. During this time we just sat in our classrooms with most students playing around and talking without any teacher stepping into the classes, in fact we did not complete most of of the subjects’ syllabuses for the term, further more students performed poorly in the end of term examinations.

Conclusion

Like any other labor union, teachers unions carry the responsibilities of streamlining the education sector and overseeing that teachers are not bullied by their employers. The unions are beneficial to the education system since they advocate for formulation of educational policies that benefits learners, teachers and the society at large. They also help teachers get better pays as would be everybody’s wish; to get a good salary and have job security. On the other hand, the disadvantages of these unions are very many. School governing bodies cannot grant learners suitable knowledge since they have to get by ineffective tutors who are sheltered by unions.

Unmotivated teachers influence their learner into lazy practices, the numbers of school dropouts is increasing parallel to increased school’s spending and increased salaries for teachers. On a fairness scale, this paper finds that the negative implications of teachers unions by far outweigh the positive contributions to the education sector. If teachers unions were allowed to continue imposing their rules and regulations on the education system, the education system would shift its focus from safeguarding the interests of learners to protecting teachers and helping them secure their employments. This paper upon analyzing the effects of teacher unions on students, teachers, schools and education system finds that teachers unions are not fit for the education system and recommends the abolishment of unions in order to save the already collapsing education system.

Works Cited

Barro, Robert J. “Teachers’ Unions Don’t Deliver Quality.” Wall Street Journal: 8. 1996. ProQuest. Web.

Chen, Grace. “Are Teacher Unions a Help or Hindrance to Public Education?” 2013. Public School Review. Web.

Coulson, Andrew J. “The Effects of Teachers Unions on American Education.” Cato Journal (2010): 155-170. ProQuest. Web.

Kahlenberg, Richard D. “Taking Teachers’ Unions to Task.” The Washington Post: n. pag. 2007. ProQuest. Web.

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