"I expect we'll know the ansewer in the next two years as the assault on unionized teachers, federal and state employees, and other public sector workers, who are currently being made the scapegoats for the fiscal crisis of the state and widespread economic distress, gathers steam. They now comprise the majority of the US trade unionists, and are not as passive as is often assumed by virtue of their relatively higher status and income. In the 70's and 80's, the new unions of teachers, nurses, government workers, journalists, and other administrative, professional, and technical workers frequently engaged in militant strike action. But that was during a period when the public sector was growing rapidly and demand for their services was rising apace. The political and economic circumstances are different today, and whether they will have the will and capacity to emulate their European counterparts and defend their pay, jobs, and pensions in the streets is an open question."
I just had coffee this morning with the head of the Oakland Unified School District's teachers' union. She said one of the biggest problems right now is the teachers' complete demoralization.
The notion that the problem with education is unions is taken by many as common sense and trumpeted by the media everywhere. So here's the situation: teachers are miserably paid, working under horrendous conditions, have low status that is now further diminished because everything is their fault, and are threatened with job loss, health care loss, and pension loss in an economy where unemployment is about 20%. I don't think these people are passive, but demoralized and terrified they most definitely are.
Joanna ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk