I am a conservative teacher. I have never opted out of union dues or PAC contributions. I have complained loudly about how grossly one-sided union political spending is towards liberal issues and candidates. The usual union response is to blame conservatives. They blame us because our preferred candidates are not liberal enough. They blame us because we do not engage in union leadership enough. CTA union leadership has often belittled and attacked conservatives in their speeches at State Council, so it is little surprise that nothing ever gets done to fix the political spending problem. One reason that business lobbyist groups seem to be more successful is because they are smart enough to make friends on both sides of the aisle. My personal belief is that CTA is weaker than it should be because it has painted itself into a corner. Our democratic friends abuse the union because they know that CTA has no friends in the republican party. CTA is further weakened because most conservative members do not engage in politics because they do not believe that CTA represents them or their values. When CTA begins to make real changes that engages conservative elected leaders in productive dialogue that respects their viewpoint (without demanding strict adherence to a liberal approach to governing before offering financial support) then we will begin to see dynamic growth in our union. Being a conservative is not antithetical to being a pro-education union member. We just think about education issues and talk about them differently than our liberal colleagues. Finally, the proof will be in the actions and outcomes. When CTA equalizes how much it gives to Dems and Repubs and works to really engage conservative teachers in that process, we will know we have entered the new modern era of inclusive unionism.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 01:22:35 +0000
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