Teacher unions needed, Wages aren’t the only protection.

This is a well written letter to the Columbia Tribune editor.


BY HERB PANKO
Tuesday, March 8, 2011

As a retired Minnesota teacher and former union member, I can sympathize with the teachers in Wisconsin and other states where Republican governors are attempting to weaken or destroy collective bargaining and public unions.

First, there is a misconception that collective bargaining is just about financial compensation. It’s much more than that. Just as important to teachers are working conditions that do not inhibit effective student instruction, being treated fairly and having protection against arbitrary, petty, unwarranted teacher dismissals unrelated to an employee’s job performance. Before the days of the unions and collective bargaining, such types of unfair, arbitrary firings were common, and teachers had little legal recourse without union representation.

Another common misunderstanding is that collective bargaining and unions’ support of the teacher tenure law prevents a poorly performing teacher from being fired. That is simply not true. First of all, unfit teachers are often allowed to become tenured even though during his or her initial probationary period, when it is relatively easy to dismiss an inadequately performing teacher, there is usually ample evidence that an employee is ineffective or incompetent. The problem is administrators frequently fail to adequately monitor, evaluate and offer assistance to a failing employee, thus allowing an ineffective teacher to achieve tenure.

But contrary to popular opinion, a teacher can still be dismissed even though he or she is tenured. Again, the problem is often that of administrators who fail to do the proper evaluation, documentation and other legal, procedural steps necessary to dismiss an ineffective, incompetent or insubordinate teacher. These rules were put in place by unions through collective bargaining to ensure dismissals are fully justified and to ensure employees are treated fairly. Of course, these legal steps take some time and effort, which administrators often resist. No one, including teachers, wants to see an incompetent employee stay on the job. That makes the job of all teachers that much more difficult. But blaming teachers and unions for ineffective teachers remaining on the job misses the point.

There are broader, more serious and deeper implications at play in what is now going on in states such as Wisconsin. The attack on unions and collective bargaining strikes at the very core of what a healthy, compassionate democracy is all about. A properly functioning democracy is measured by how well it treats its elderly, its poor, its disadvantaged and its working middle class. Reducing or eliminating the ability of its workers to negotiate with their employers over working conditions and compensation is one of the signals that a democracy is in the initial stages of disintegrating.

That is why it is imperative that teachers and other associated with both public and private unions not allow such union-busting tactics by the Republican governors to succeed.

Herb Panko is a retired teacher who lives in Columbia. As a Minnesota educator, he was an active union member.