Teacher Unions Plan Unity

The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, longtime liberal rivals in their representation of government school teachers, confirm that a "partnership" agreement is being drafted, which could be voted on by both unions' representative bodies next July.

"The partnership is not a merger document, and certainly there are many advantages to finding an orderly way to collaborate. We typically do that. We collaborate on many things together. This provides a more routine structure for identifying and accomplishing tasks together," said Kate Mattos, NEA communications director.

AFT spokesman Jamie Horwitz says the two unions have been talking about a partnership for some time.

"A couple of years ago, the AFT voted to merge, although the NEA did not accept the merger agreement. At their invitation, we went into more talks. We have been working closely with the NEA in the last couple of years and there are plans to continue to do so. We've had some state and local mergers in the last couple of years as well."

Officials from Education Intelligence Agency, a watchdog group, are measuring the possible effect of an NEA/AFT partnership. An EIA report wonders whether such a deal can settle the disagreements between the two unions that "have kept them apart for 30 years: AFL-CIO affiliation, the secret ballot, raiding in states without collective bargaining laws, and guaranteed minority representation."

However, Schlafly blames both teacher unions for the problems in America's government schools and for leading efforts to defeat ballot initiatives in California and Michigan that offered more educational choices for parents.

"They still have the overwhelming majority of children in public schools, but there is a growing dissatisfaction with the public schools ... There may be people who think that the handwriting's on the wall. People are really fed up with the failure of the public schools and tend to blame the unions," Schlafly said.

"It's not just their power over the schools and the curriculum, it's their political power and they have one of the largest political action committees," Schlafly said. "They exercise a lot of clout on Capitol Hill always, of course, in favor of more worthless federal spending."

"I think it's obvious that the (union) leadership wants to combine because they want to be a bigger gorilla on the block. They want to be a 10-ton gorilla instead of an 8-ton gorilla," she added.

EIA says the "agreement" calls for a 30-member joint council made up of 15 NEA officials and 15 AFT officials, including executive officers from both unions. The council will be bound by the directives of their respective union's policies and bylaws, and each union will be responsible for funding its share of the council's expenses.

In early 1997, according to EIA, members of the two unions oversaw "joint activities in the areas of school discipline, school infrastructure and teacher quality."

Mattos says she doesn't expect any action on the possible partnership before the NEA Board of Directors meets in February.

EIA believes if the agreement is approved by the NEA board in February, the rank and file of both unions may vote on the matter some time next summer.

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