The National Education Association represents some 3.2 million school employees. It doesn’t negotiate just on behalf of teachers. The NEA also represents non-instructional employees, such as custodians, food service and transportation workers.
Long posturing itself as a “professional association,” it wasn’t until recently that it claimed the mantle of being a full-fledged union.
The NEA will often cite the interests of children when it takes positions on legislation or candidates, or advocates for certain public policies. For example, more funding for education invariably means more compensation for its members.
But a remarkable thing happened in 2009. Retiring general counsel Bob Chanin was given the microphone at the NEA convention in San Diego and he spoke truth to power.
The NEA provided his entire address on YouTube, though we suggest you fast-forward until about the 15:30 minute mark to see Chanin in his full-throated union glory.
There, Chanin articulates, in no uncertain terms, that the NEA’s agenda is about power. Attacking the “right-wing bastards” that he says don’t like the NEA’s “liberal social and economic agenda,” Chanin explains the secret to his union’s success:
"Despite what some among us would like to believe, it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children. And it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power. And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year because they believe that we are the unions that can most effectively represent them, the unions that can protect their rights and advance their interests as education employees.
(standing ovation)
This is not to say that the concern of NEA and its affiliates with the closing achievement gaps, reducing dropout rates, improving teacher quality and the like are unimportant or inappropriate. To the contrary. These are the goals that guide the work we do. But they need not and must not be achieved at the expense of due process, employee rights and collective bargaining. That simply is too high a price to pay.”(emphasis added)
This portion can be seen here:
He also explained the genesis of the union as it is today:
“When I first came to NEA in the early 60s, it had few enemies and was almost never criticized, attacked or even mentioned in the media. This was because no one really gave a damn about what NEA did or what NEA said. It was the proverbial sleeping giant—a conservative, apolitical, do-nothing organization.
But then, NEA began to change. It embraced collective bargaining. It supported teacher strikes. It established a political action committee. It spoke out for affirmative action. And it defended gay and lesbian rights. What NEA said and did began to matter. And the more we said and did, the more we pissed people off…”
