Voice of the worker?

Note: The following is an email I sent to one of my union leaders as part of a discussion about the wisdom of the California Teacher's Association supporting tax increases in the May special election. I feel that the legislature deliberately underfunded education in this year's budget, because they know that by holding teachers and students hostage, they can get the taxpayers to pay more. I feel that it is wrong to encourage and support this type of terrorism. The response I received was along the lines of "You need to do what the CTA tells you to do. All the problems stem from the Republican minority in the state legislature, and the governor's refusal to raise fees." I was repeatedly told to look at the CTA website, where they "explain" the issues (which I did - but found unsatisfactory). I was also told that I am "anti-union" for wanting the union leadership to represent me and to listen to my opinion, and that the union is a last refuge against doom. - Joe

While (our local union) is a pretty good union (the membership isn't as involved as it needs to be, and there could be some improvements, but I'm happy to be a member), the CTA seems to be way off track when it comes to representing teachers in education issues.

Why accept "bad" because the alternative might be "worse"? Why not strive for "better"?

If the union is to be my last refuge, why not have my last refuge be a fortress where I can stand tall and see the sun, rather than a cave where I can huddle in darkness?

It is not the job of the workers to do what the union leaders tell them. It is the job of the union leadership to represent the union members by doing what the members tell them. I'm sorry that you seem to have lost that basic truth.

Politically, the union is a means for the workers to exert influence over politicians who might otherwise ignore them as unimportant. You are telling me that not only should we not try to influence the politicians to do what is best for us (the workers), but that we must follow them blindly - and follow the union leadership blindly rather than ask the union leadership to represent us.

I believe in democracy, not the kind of dictatorship that you seem to be espousing here. If the politicians don't care what the people want (i.e. placing a low priority on education, and then using lack of education funding as an excuse to raise taxes), they need to be thrown out and replaced by legislators who are willing to represent the citizens.

Similarly, if union leadership isn't willing to listen to what the union members have to say, then they are not representing the workers (union members) and must be thrown out and replaced by leaders who are willing to represent the workers.

So it is very disturbing to me when I send a message to a representative of my local union stating my opinion that the state organization is engaged in activity that will be harmful to teachers in the long run (as it presents the public with the spectacle of "greedy" teachers demanding a tax increase while giving the politicians someone to hide behind), and to set/further establish a dangerous precedent (that teachers will do the heavy lifting to help the legislature - even after they've screwed us over), and am told that:
a) my opinion doesn't count.
b) I need to shut up, sit down, and do what the union leaders tell me to do.
c) that Republicans are capitalist and evil, while Democrats can do no wrong (instead of looking at individual politicians and their individual voting records regarding education) even if they are the majority in the state legislature that keeps screwing us over (I don't think that this is because that small group of Republicans outsmarts them every time. It's obvious to me that there are plenty of Democratic legislators in Sacramento who don't give a damn about education - yet we refuse to call them on it because our leaders have demonized the Republican party and everything it stands for.)
d) that I am anti-union for actually trying to utilize the union as a way to voice my opinion.

This doesn't sound like the message I should be getting from an organization that I belong to, work with, and that is supposed to represent me.

Maybe you need to do some self reflection on whether you are prepared to actually represent the union membership, or whether you are content to act as a tool of the union leadership, and repress the voices of the workers.

I think that you need to look at the CTA site, and read what it says - critically read what it says. Read what is promised, and what is specifically NOT promised. Think about what else the CTA could be doing to resolve this budget problem.

Perhaps the CTA should be challenging the education cuts in the budget as being in violation of minimum education funding laws previously passed by the voters of California (prop 98). Perhaps we could take the legislature and governor to court for breaking the law by not prioritizing education in the budget. This could force them to rewrite the budget, prioritizing education and keeping in most of the funding that was cut. Of course, we should have been doing that throughout the budget process.

Perhaps the CTA could have the current budget analyzed looking to see where the money is being spent, and look at what the legislature has prioritized. Since education is one of the key responsibilities of the states, it should be in the top three items (if not the top priority item) in terms of budget priority (the other two would be judicial and infrastructure/safety). If non-priority items are being funded at the expense of education, we should publicize the fact that education is being robbed in order to fund x. There are plenty of "sunny day", "feel good" projects that somehow manage to keep getting funded even during rainy days and storms when money is too tight to afford everything.

Perhaps we could spend our money on anti-incumbent advertising to unseat those legislators who violated the law and chose to de-prioritize education funding. This would get rid of the worst anti-education legislators, and cause others to respect/fear us (as legislators respect/fear the prison guards union) - allowing us to see more real gains in the future.

Perhaps we should back a proposal that would restore education funding this year, or even next year, instead of having a little money trickle in in 2011 (with no real guarantee that those funds won't be appropriated for something else if the overall tax revenues don't increase enough).

Perhaps we should tell the legislature that if they want to raise taxes, they need to do it by themselves, rather than asking us to put it over and take the heat for their inability to make appropriate budget cuts.

Since we're looking at a couple of bad years in education either way, we can choose to reward those who have screwed us - guaranteeing that such things will happen in the future, or we can choose to fight them - which could make people hesitate to screw us over in the future.

I know what I would choose - if I had a choice, a voice, a vote, or an option.