Charters And Unions

Q and E and Joe Williams have all the links to the various comments about this situation in NYC last week. I didn’t think there was much to add, and still really don’t. It’s bad and if true, as it seems, then there should be consequences. But, as I understand it, those consequences are already specified under state law. Where I come down on this is that, like other workers, teachers in charter schools should be able to choose to join unions just as they’re able to exercise choice in the school they work at. And they should be able to decide whether they want to be an independent bargaining unit with their own contract or join the one in their school district. But, I don’t buy the idea that charters are somehow more hostile work places than other schools or places of business and consequently demand special regulations that don’t extend more generally to other workplaces. I also think that it would be a little anti-climatic if the law were changed dramatically. Sure, there are some schools where, as Joe Williams put it, you wonder why there are any teachers left, but they’re a real minority.