In keeping with the season.

I'm not a member of any union. I'm not a teacher. I don't have enough information to give an informed opinion regarding this matter.

Yet enough to criticize. :s

What I know of the teacher union (which granted isn't a lot) . . .

including the fact that it's "teachers' unions", not the great monolith that some press outlets portray.

. . . is I would predict that their position would be support a teacher's job rather than support the teaching profession (perhaps they a smarter than this, but this is my "public perception" of this institution).

Teaching is, as you say, a profession. The teachers' unions are therefore constituted of professional people in pursuit of professional goals. It's a mistake to view a professional union in the same light as a labor union, whose focus is the welfare of the membership. Professional unions have professional codes and missions to support and promote, as well as their mission to protect their members and negotiate on their behalf.

Now, you say it is an isolated situation.

Have you heard otherwise? Have you heard of a large number of widespread accusations? I haven't. Or do you assume that this is only the tip of the iceberg?

I say it's part of a pattern.

Oh? Some doctors -- anesthesiologists especially -- are drug addicts. Some priests (and some ministers -- believe me) are pedophiles. Some nurses are murderers. Some police officers are on the take. Some firefighters are pyromaniac arsonists. If I were so inclined, I could look at those as "patterns" too. Using this logic, those entire professions must be corrupt because some of their members are criminals.

Your statement is based on data you admit you don't have.

I see it as a result of a philosophy/doctrine/dogma.

This says more about your perception than it does about real people. Also, what an interesting multiple definition! Since when is "philosophy" equivalent to "dogma"?

Who, and what exactly, do you think teachers are? If teachers were as doctrinaire as you say, don't you think that the US would have a lot different look, feel and sound than it really does? Teachers are the ones who work with the young. What do the young sound like?

Or are you drawing your conclusions not from the actual witness of your eyes and ears, what you've seen and heard of the young and in the schools, but from what you've read in politically motivated publications or heard someone say on Fox?

If a union actually represents large numbers of teachers and most teachers don't want these extreme and even less extreme type of situations from occurring then the union would be wise to "do something" that would curb this type of behavior.

You mistake teachers' unions for the Mafia. They don't have "enforcers" to "do something". Not even the Teamsters operate that way anymore, although they do have a crack legal staff.

Teachers do, however, have professional codes of conduct that deal with less-than-desireable behavior among the membership. They publish professional journals, and sponsor training, and establish mentoring and other types of support, and that kind of stuff. This is offered, not required. Whether the individual members avail themselves of it is another question. Whether the schools for which they work cooperate in the area of professional development is yet another question.

Let me bring in a different topic. Does any teacher's union have a means of hearing any parental complaints regarding the teachers belonging to a union?

Try here to start. And then, follow up the links <http://www.politicsol.com/advocacy-directory/advocacy-education.html>here. Or maybe you could just call your local school district and ask them directly instead of making observations based on things you admit you don't know.

Ordinarily, the teacher's employer would be the place to complain. The employer is the one authorized to pursue disciplinary action. The union would be brought in to the issue by the school administration or by the teacher him- or herself, mostly as a resource to deal with professional shortcomings or (if the teacher is making the request) to provide legal advice paid for by the member teacher's dues. Sometimes the legal advice is "Quit now", or, "Aren't you eligible for early retirement?"

If you have a problem with an employee, or with the level of workmanship, or with professional conduct, who do you go to? Do you report a bad doctor to the AMA, a national organization, or to the hospital at which he practices?

I simply don't know. I believe that most other types of unions do have this type of feedback mechanism- so that would make me believe there is, but I'm drawing a blank as far as ever hearing about it.

All unions are organizations. Organizations have addresses. Individuals can write to addresses. Sometimes they even get responses.

Mostly, though, unions, being private organizations, deal only with their membership and with the organizations with which their membership interacts. Customer complaints about a union employee's behavior go to employers, who may then consult the union representative. Complaints about the behavior of the union itself go through legal mechanisms meant to deal with criminal or civil complaints aimed at objectionable organization practices. The union can't be blamed for the behavior of individual members unless it can be shown that the union instructed, aided, abetted, covered up, or otherwise conspired in the behavior in question.

Professional organizations have other duties besides those connected with trade unions, but as we can see with the AMA's history, turning over their memberships to legal authorities is not one of them. Teachers' unions are, however, also bound by state statutes pertaining to child abuse, to which medical and child care personnel are also subject, requiring the report of any suspected criminal abuse or neglect of children to law enforcement. This would include abuse by any members of the union just as much as it would any other person.

Teachers' unions are, if anything, more responsive to the public because all their membership has direct contact with their clients every business day, as well as personal recognition in the community. How many people who work in the local factory are greeted by name by children and parents in grocery stores and Walmarts because of their jobs?

The membership ultimately determines the direction the profession takes. If you think of the size of the group we are talking about, as well as the number of organizations, you can see that this process takes a while. The teaching profession doesn't follow a military model. There is no central command structure, and it doesn't take orders well. It is a deliberative body.

Regards--
Mary Anne