Teacher Unions?

Question

I was surprised with another question that seemed to state that teacher in the USA are not part of a union. Is this true? How are your wages set and contracts negotiated?

The reason I am wordering is because in Canada we have provicial teachers unions. (In most provinces)They are the ones who issue your licence to teach. You can't teach if you are not a member. They represent us in contract negotiations. Our wages vary throught the province and district however.

Answer 1

There are two national Unions that together form the largest Union in the United States. The teacher's union is often mentioned in politics because it is the largest surviving union. The two branches are the UFT and the AFT. Some religious and charter schools are not unionized, and graduate students in colleges often are not either- that's where the confusion may come in. If you have union questions just do a google on AFT or UFT locals in your area and they will be happy to tell you about their operations.
The Unions do not issue direct licenses though, here that falls under the different school districts and states and that leads to corruption and inequities. The union approves and makes recommendations, also creates accrediting committees and national committees to recommend curriculum changes. It does all the normal union activities - retirement fund, healthcare (in the US that's huge), legal, etc.
The private religious school/charter school movement is, in part, an attempt to break this large and powerful union.

Answer 2

There is definitely a teachers union. I know this because I used to work for the school district in my area. I worked as a teachers aide. We also had a union. I was being accused of some things I didn't do. I called my union. Without them I would have been jobless.
I wish that I could remember the names of the unions,but I quit working in that field years ago. I am in Californa.

Answer 3

In Texas, it is against state law for teachers to unionize. Therefore we cannot go on strike. We have teacher organizations that lobby our state legislature just like any other special interest group.
Wages and contracts are offered by individual districts around the state and can vary widely from one location to another.

Answer 4

That's not true at all. There are extremely strong teachers unions in the united states, sometimes so powerful that they are actually impeding good education for the students.

There are cases where teachers have been found guilty of things such as pedophilia but are legally unable to be fired by the school because of the union threatening to sue, so they are forced to have that teacher sit in the teacher's lounge all day collecting full pay.