TEACHER UNIONISM IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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The American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) started as the Chicago Teachers’ Federation in 1897, led by Margaret Haley. Its current president is Randi Weingarten (www.aft.org). On the website (ibid) it is indicated that one of the biggest brains behind the AFT, was Albert Einstein. In 1916 Black educators from Chicago, Illinois and Gary Indiana formed the AFT with the intention of promoting the well-being of educators. The emphasis was to be placed on quality education as the main objective. The AFT also fought for racial equality, as it was, by 1904, mainly composed of Black educators (Henderson, 2004:27). This objective seems to be in line with that of the SADTU, which is mainly Black, and has, since its formation in 1990, been fighting against racism, and for equality, as one of its main objectives ( www.sadtu.org.za).
At first the AFT agreed not to strike. The reason, according to Selden (1985:5-6), was that they were not sure whether the educators would abandon middleclass values and follow the labour militants. There was also the fear of possible prosecution by the authorities, as indeed happened. The school boards instituted a vicious campaign against the AFT membership by intimidating educators to resign (www.aft.org ). This caused the membership to drop dramatically towards the end of 1920. The SADTU was subjected to similar conditions after it was launched in 1990. The SADTU members were detained and harassed by the apartheid government. What is interesting is that it boosted SADTU membership by means of the militancy of the younger educators who were the survivors, or had been affected by the Soweto up-risings in 1976.
According to Selden (1985:7) the AFT’s constitution excluded principals and supervisors from membership. The reasoning behind this was based on the view that management could not negotiate for fellow educators in good faith. This could also explain why managers and educators were not subjected to similar conditions at school level. The AFT constitution differed from its South African counterpart, the SADTU, in the sense that the SADTU did not exclude principals from membership. In fact, the SADTU president used to be a primary school principal, Membathisi Mdladlana, who later became the Minister of Labour. In 1921 principals and supervisors were admitted to the AFT, according to Urban (1982:40-41). This change of mind by the AFT is not explained in the source.
Teacher unionism in the USA, according to the AFT website, (www.aft.org), came at the time when educators were faced with contracts which stipulated that female educators
• had to wear skirts of a certain length;
• had to keep their galoshes fastened;
• were not allowed to receive gentlemen callers more than 3 times per week; and
• had to teach Sunday school.
Murphy (1990:215) reports that the AFT went on a one-day strike for improved conditions of service in 1962. This strike was led by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and brought about victory and growth for the AFT. Membership figures grew from 59 000 in 1960 to 551 359 in 1980, an 800% increase. It is further reported that the AFT grew much faster than the NEA. Stinnet (1968:97-98) reported that in 1963 the right to strike was recognized by the Department of Education in the US. Murphy (1990:215) explains that teachers were not allowed to strike before because anti-strike laws sent strikers to jail and were even expelled from the teaching profession. These are similar conditions to what were faced by SADTU members before 1994.
The main reasons for the new radical approach by the AFT, according to Stinnet (1968: 35, 80) and Selden (1985: 228), were that
• there were young educators who had high expectations of becoming professionals but were instead treated as workers;
• there was overcrowding as a result of a baby boom;
• forty percent (40%) of the educators had to moonlight because of low salaries;
• they were against a bureaucracy that denied them the organizational right to participate in shaping educational policy;
• there was a lack of occupational mobility as it was too late to change careers, so they had to fight within the existing system to get it to change; and
• there were more educators with degrees, and they were younger.

Most of the above conditions are similar to those faced by the SADTU members before 1994.
Bascia (1994: 76) holds the view that even if educators differed on the question of radicalism, they still expected some form of vigilance when it came to job protection.
The next section looks at the views of teacher unionism by the various stakeholders, with the authors posing arguments for or against teacher unionism.

Views on teacher unionism

There exist conflicting views on teacher unionism on the part of the public. Some are opposed to it, while others are in favour of teacher unionism, for different reasons. Bascia (1998:896) reported that unions in America and Canada partnered with the Ministry of Education in teacher development. This happened to such an extent that those unions were responsible for making recommendations to the district officials for the promotion and dismissal of educators, as will be seen later in this chapter.

Arguments against teacher unionism

Brimelow (www.thinkingschoolsonline.com), argued that teacher unions negotiate higher salaries and benefits to competent and non-competent educators alike, and this does not include merit pay for good teachers. In comparison to the SA conditions, the North West MEC threatened to fire the principals of schools where the matriculation learners under-performed (www.sadtu.org.) The SADTU came to the support of the principals when its provincial chairperson, Mxolisi Bomvana, issued a statement to the Minister of Education saying that the MEC could not simply dismiss principals without first determining whether there had been sufficient educational support for the schools. On the same website (ibid) Mxolisi further stated that the SADTU would ensure that all procedures were followed before charging an educator for misconduct, as outlined in the EEA. This clearly shows that the MEC had not followed the correct procedures. In other words, the DoE was quick to issue threats to school principals in South Africa without serious introspection regarding its own delivery mandate. The researcher views the educators’ continuous demands for improved conditions of service as a precondition for effective service delivery.
Brimelow (2003:273) further argues that unions want smaller teacher-pupil ratio’s, not for the sake of giving individual attention to learners, but to pay less competent educators more. Brimelow’s argument becomes hollow, in the sense that smaller
classes imply quality delivery of learning content, since smaller classes enable learners to receive more individualized attention. In addition, there is no causal link between more educators in smaller classes and the low competence of educators. Brimelow (ibid) further comments that unions push for weak books and programmes that are easy for their not so bright members to use. Again, this argument does not hold, in the sense that the choice of books and programmes is not the sole prerogative of unions, but of all other education stakeholders. In summary, there is an underlying presumption in Brimelow’s argument that unionized educators are less competent to do their work, however this statement, presumably, has not been tested, considering the sweeping statements made.

READ STUDY OF BRAIN SIGNALS WITH ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY (EEG).

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Background to the study
1.3 Problem statement
1.3.1 The Research questions
1.4 The aim of the study
1.5 Theoretical framework
1.6. Position of the study in the social sciences
1.7. Literature preview
1.8. Relevance of the study
1.9. Methodology
1.9.1 Data analysi
1.9.2 Ethics
1.10. Dissemination of the findings
1.11 Delineation, and limitations
1.12. The study programme
1.13 Conclusions
CHAPTER 2 TEACHER UNIONISM IN SOUTH AFRICA
2.1 Introduction 21 2.2 Background to the study
2.3 Teacher unionism in South Africa
2.4 The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union
2.4.1 Background
2.4.2 Objectives
2.4.3 Site committees
2.5 The National Professional Teachers’ Organization of South Africa
2.5.1 Background
2.5.2 Objective
2.6 Education International
2.6.1 Background
2.6.2 Objectives
2.6.3 Teacher union unrest activities around the world
2.7 The School Management Team
2.8 The School Governing Body
2.9 The Education Law Amendment Bill (Act 31 of 2007)
2.10 The South African Schools Act (Act 84 of 1996)
2.11 The Employment of Educators Act (Act 76 of 1998)
2.11.1 The advertising and filling of educator posts, according to the EEA
2.11.1.1 Advertising
2.11.1.2 Sifting
2.11.1.3 Short-listing and interviews
2.11.1.4 The redeployment of educators
2.11.1.5 Time-off
2.12 The status of the teaching profession
2.13 Debates on teacher unionism
2.14 The Labour Relations Act (Act 66 of 1995)
2.15 Conclusions
CHAPTER 3 TEACHER UNIONISM IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The National Education Association (NEA)
3.3 The American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
3.4 Why teacher unions are good or bad for educators and the public
3.4.1 Views on teacher unionism
3.4.2 Arguments against teacher unionism
3.4.3 Arguments for teacher unionism
3.5 The Toledo Plan 76 3.6 The Knowledge Works Foundation and the Cincinnati Teachers’ Federation
3.7 The Gaining Education Masterly Academy (GEM)
3.8 The GEM relevance to South Africa
3.9 Fresh- starting
3.10 The significance of Labour-management collaboration in the USA
3.11 Conclusions
CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Aims of the research
4.3 The research design
4.3.1 Background to the study
4.3.2 The nature of qualitative research
4.3.3 The origins of qualitative research
4.4 Data gathering techniques
4.4.1 The research instruments
4.4.1.1 One on one interviews
4.4.1.2 The attributes of an interviewer
4.4.2 Focus group interviews
4.4.2.1 The origins of focus group interviews
4.4.2.2 Characteristics of focus group interviews
4.4.2.3 The advantages of focus group interviews
4.4.2.4 The disadvantages of focus group interviews
4.4.3 The questions
4.4.4 The rationale for the selection of data gathering techniques used in the study 107 4.4.4.1One-on-one interviews
4.4.5 The role of the researcher
4.5 The population sample
4.6 The transcription of the data
4.7 The analysis of the data
4.8 The validity and reliability of the data
4.8.1 The validity of the data
4.8.1.1 External validity
4.8.1.2 Internal validity
4.8.2 The reliability of the data
4.9 The researcher’s subjectivity
4.10 Triangulation
4.11 Access to the interview sites
4.12 Limitations of the study
4.13 Ethical considerations
4.14 Conclusions
CHAPTER 5 DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The theoretical perspective
5.3 Transcriptions
5.4 Stages in data analysis
5.5 The presentation of the data
5.6 The presentation, analysis and discussion of the findings
5.7 Theme 1: The filling of promotional posts
5.7.1 The perceived role of the unions
5.7.2 The actual role of unions
5.7.3 Recommendations for future involvement
5.8 Theme 2: The rationalization and redeployment proc
5.8.1 The perceived role of the unions
5.8.2 The actual role of the unions
5.8.3 Recommendations for future involvement
5.9 Conclusions
CHAPTER 6 A SYNTHESIS OF THE FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Summary of the study
6.3 A synthesis of the finding
6.4 Findings and recommendations
6.4.1 On the involvement of unions during the filling of promotional posts
6.4.2 On the involvement of unions during the rationalization and redeployment process
6.6 Recommendations for further research
6.7 Limitations and challenges of the study
6.8 Conclusions
REFERENCES
APPENDICES