The changing nature of teacher unions.
JULY 5, 2013
At the Atlanta NEA RA we will be voting on a Constitutional change that if passed would end the practice of having a prescribed percentage of teachers on any body or committee of our union.
This may appear to the outsider as pretty inside stuff.
But this organizational change is but a small reflection of the changes that are going on inside both national teacher unions.
The changes are significant.
It is visible back home in Chicago where the CTU’s African-American membership has dropped from over 50% a decade ago to under 20% now.
The change is visible as more classrooms have none-certified staff in them. More students are directly cared for by educational employees who are not professional teachers.
In the sixties the NEA changed from being an organization that was mainly run by