Urban teachers unions, as mature institutions, face three dilemmas. First, they struggle to maintain their ranks through an active role in the preparation/recruitment of new teachers while raising standards (limiting supply) and thus raising demand and salaries. Second, unions seek to become a more powerful national voice for teachers (by attempting to merge the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Assocation while serving the local district needs of their membership. And finally, and most complexly, unions strive to preserve large, monopolistic public education while being aware of the need to reform, restructure, and even privatize schools to drive improvement.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ballou, D.
, & Podgursky, M. (2000). Gaining control of professional licensing and advancement. In T. Loveless (Ed.), Conflicting missions? Teachers unions and educational reform (pp. 69-109). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
2.
Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. State of New York, 719 NYS 2d, 475 (2001).
3.
Chase, R. A.
(1998, July 3). Keynote address. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Education Association Representative Assembly, New Orleans, LA.
4.
Conley, S.
, & Cooper, B. S. (Eds.). (1991). The school as a work environment: Implications for reform. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
5.
Cooper, B. S.
(1991a). Labor relations in education: An international perspective. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
6.
Cooper, B. S.
(1991b). National union competition and the school merger movement: Recent developments in the NEA and AFT. Paper presented at the Industrial Relations Research Association 1988 Annual Meeting, Ithaca, NY.
7.
Cooper, B. S.
(1998, March 11). Merging the teachers’ unions: Opportunity amid complexity [Commentary]. Education Week, pp. 34-34, 52-52.
8.
Cooper, B. S.
(2000). An international perspective on teachers unions. In T. Loveless (Ed.), Conflicting missions? Teachers unions and educational reform (pp. 240-280). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
9.
Education Testing Service
. (1999). The academic quality of prospective teachers: The impact of admissions and licensure testing. Princeton, NJ: Author.
10.
Etzioni, A.
(Ed.). (1969). The semi-professions and their organization. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
11.
Greenhouse, S.
(2001, May 20). Hurdles, but signs of hope for teachers’ contract, The New York Times, p. 41-41.
12.
Hrebenar, R. J.
(1997). Interest group politics in America (3rd ed.). Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
13.
Johnson, S. M.
(2001). Reform bargaining and its promise for school improvement. In T. Loveless (Ed.), Conflicting missions? Teachers unions and education reform (pp. 7-46). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
14.
Kerchner, C. T.
, Koppich, J. E., & Weeres, J. G. (1997). United mind workers: Labor relations and educational reform. New York: Teachers College Press.
15.
Kerchner, C. T.
, & Mitchell, D. E. (1988). The changing idea of a teachers’ union. Washington, DC: Falmer.
16.
Lortie, D. C.
(1975). Schoolteacher: A sociological study. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
17.
Martinez, J.
(1999, October 7). Observers are split on the effectiveness of Hornsby’s approach. The Journal News, pp. 1-1, 12-12.
18.
Murnane, R. J.
, Singer, J., & Willett, J. (1991). Who will teach? Policies that matter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
19.
Nelson, F. H.
, Muir, E., & Drown, R. (2000, December). Venturesome capital: State charter school finance systems. American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation. Washington, DC: U.S. Departments of Education, OERI.
20.
Poole, W. L.
(1999). Teachers union involvement in educational policymaking: Issues raised by an in-depth case. Educational Policy, 13(5), 698-728.
21.
Rosenholtz, S. J.
(1985). Teachers’ workplace: The social organization of schools. New York: Longman.
22.
Rottenberg, S.
(1962). The economics of occupational licensing. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
23.
Urban, W.
(1982). Why teachers organize. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
24.
Wirt, F. M.
, & Kirst, M. W. (1997). The political dynamics of American education. Berkeley, CA: McCutchan.
25.
Yonkers Federation of Teachers
. (1999a, September 23). Height of educational arrogance: Excerpts from September 13, 1999 press conference. Yonkers Teacher, 25(1), p. 3-3.
26.
Yonkers Federation of Teachers
. (1999a, June 16). Teachers authorize actions. Yonkers Teacher, 4(13), p. 1-1.
