Labor Pains

Insight on the News, Sept 13, 1999 by Josh Mercer

The tactics and political agendas of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers are driving more educators to alternative organizations.

The National Education Association, or NEA, and the American Federation of Teachers, or AFT, are trying once again to merge -- a move that would create a 3.5 million-member megaunion that would purport to speak with one voice for the pedagogical profession. But more and more teachers are growing suspicious of such an all-powered entity. Some already have switched their allegiance to the American Association of Educators, or AAE -- a genuine professional alternative to the "union mentality" that has dominated big unions for decades, says AAE President Gary Beckner.

Though independent teachers groups exist in 22 states, AAE is the only nationwide alternative organization of teachers. "We are a professional organization, not social engineers or pop psychologists," Beckner boasted before a group of education reformers at a recent conference in Alexandria, Va., hosted by the Link Institute and the Center for Education Reform.

Teachers are attracted to AAE and other alternative organizations because they don't endorse political candidates or take positions on noneducational issues, says Ginger Tinney, executive director of the Association of Professional Oklahoma Educators. The 17,000 member AAE by contrast opposes teacher strikes, work slowdowns, compulsory union membership and collective bargaining.

Not surprisingly, alternative organizations face an uphill battle from hostile unions. Teachers often are ostracized if they don't join the NEA or AFT. More disturbingly, says Becket, they are victims of censorship -- the big unions often intercept and destroy AAE mailings before they reach intended recipients at school sites. "We've had two different rulings from postmasters," says Walter Jewell, executive director of the Professional Educators of Tennessee, a state affiliate of AAE. "One said it's mail and can't be destroyed; the other said it's being delivered to a business and the business can handle the mail however it wants."

Alternative organizations have focused mostly on one issue -- the right to work. In most states, unions negotiate exclusively with school districts on behalf of all teachers through collective bargaining. Right-to-work advocates say teacher freedom would foster more independent teachers' groups by changing the way teachers negotiate pay. "Who gets hurt in collective bargaining?" asks Kent King, executive director of the Missouri State Teachers Association, or MSTA. "The kids," he says, noting that the strategy often leads to counterproductive strikes.

Missouri, for example, provides an unusually competitive environment for teachers' associations, although the state has a long history of independence dating back to 1857, when the MSTA became the first teacher organization in the United States. A few years later, it affiliated with the NEA and remained so until 1972, when the NEA shifted from a professional organization to a union. (The NEA would not allow the MSTA to remain affiliated unless its members paid dues, and the group refused.) Today the MSTA and the MNEA -- the Missouri affiliate of the NEA -- each have about 42,000 members, notes Bruce Moe, MSTA director of communication.

Not everyone would agree that Missouri should be held up for emulation. "I don't believe in having competition," Carol Schmoock, MNEA's assistant executive director, tells Insight. "I have seen how competition diverts your energy from schools. If we were cooperating, we'd be more productive. Time and money that could be spent on working together is spent trying to encourage teachers to join one or the other."

Schmoock believes that it's bad that only education legislation that has the support of both groups passes the Missouri Legislature. But Moe believes this is good because it prevents either group from dominating the educational agenda, as the NEA does in so many states. Indeed, he relishes the competition. "It keeps us sharp by having to earn every year your trust and your dues dollars," says Moe. "I think the bottom line is that we are membership-driven, rather than organization-driven."

AAE and Affiliates

* Association of American Educations
26012 Marguerite Parkway, Suite 333
Mission Viejo, Calif. 92692
(800) 704-7799; fax: (949) 595-7970
Website: www.aaeteachers.org.

* Professional Educators of Iowa
P.O. Box 296
Norwald, Iowa 50211
(800) 734-0590
Website: www.peiowa.com

* Kansas Association of American
Educators
P.O. Box 296
Olathe, Kansas 66063
(913) 764-3566
Website: www.kanaae.org

* Kentucky Association of Professional
Educators
P.O. Box 24506
Lexington, Ky. 40524
(606) 278-7016 phone and fax
E-mail: kape@juno.com

* Associated Professional Educators
of Louisiana
7912 Summa Avenue
Baton Rouge, La. 70809-3416
(800) 364-2735; fax: (504) 766-5053
E-mail: apel@tlxnet.net

* Associated Professional Oklahoma
Educators
420 Cripple Creek Dr.
Norman, Okla. 73071
Website: www.APOE.com

* Keystone Teachers Association
Box 868
Mechanicsburg, Pa. 17055
(717) 432-1727; fax: (717) 432-8851
E-mail: keyta@compuserve.com

* Professional Educators of Tennessee
1116 West 7th St., Suite 234
Columbia, Tenn. 38401
(931) 841-5460; fax: (931) 840-5461
Website: www.teacherspet.com