By now you have heard that the American Federation of Teachers voted by a margin of 1,982 to 46 to approve the Principles of Unity. You have also heard AFT President Sandra Feldman and NEA President Bob Chase respond to the vote with their renewed commitment to negotiating a merger. Feldman has even told reporters that NEA and AFT officials will meet later this year in an attempt to draw up new merger terms (wasn't there supposed to be a survey of delegates taken first?).

But, just as you didn't hear about how the speeches of former Iowa State Education Association President Bob Gilchrist and Louisiana Association of Educators President Mary Washington roused the NEA delegates to vote against merger, you didn't hear about the one speech at the AFT convention that brought the house down. Here is an excerpt from the report filed by Janet McConnaughey of the Associated Press:

The crowd only got really fired up by Ivan Steinberg's rousing demand that any future merger talks be more insistent on AFL-CIO affiliation — something many NEA members oppose, even though half the federation's 13 million members are white-collar workers....

"The devil is in the details, and the devil is in the NEA," said Steinberg, of the Jersey City State Federation of College Teachers.

"I am not a manager. I am a teacher. A worker. No better than a plumber," Steinberg said, and was interrupted by applause.

"From the time I was a little boy I was told that no matter how high you reach, you are no better than anyone else. I too am from a family of immigrants. I will not sell my soul, and I will not sell my heritage to join any group whose members refuse to say they are part of a union!"

More applause. And yet more when Steinberg pooh-poohed the idea that people would no longer consider NEA members professionals if they joined the AFT.
        
"You are not a professional in the strict sense. Professionals decide how much they will charge and set their own hours!" he shouted.

And long, loud applause, with hoots and hollers of support when he shouted, "I want you to vote tomorrow as follows: Go back and fight. But fight for victory for all of us!... We are not an academic organization! We are union! Union! Union!"

Knots of people stood to applaud. And the chant grew: "Union! Union! Union!"   

Times are evidently good at the Wisconsin Education Association Council. The union is expanding its offices to nearly double their current size and is planning to increase its staff 41 percent over the next eight years. Most of these new employees will be assigned to the union's insurance group and a new 3 ½ acre parking lot will accommodate them.

Well, we're making some progress. A story by Peter Brimelow in the latest issue of Forbes highlighted a table from EIA's report "One Yard Below: Education Statistics from a Different Angle." The table, which compared average teacher salaries to average worker salaries in each state, elicited a strong response from teachers and union officials alike. For the first time, however, no one is disputing the accuracy of the figures. 

A researcher from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock told the legislature the state's computer records were so bad there was no way to tell which programs were working and which were failing. "The biggest problem is that outside researchers cannot make an independent evaluation of how well the department or school systems are doing, based on these records," said Professor Larry Dickerson, director of the Center for Research on Teaching and Learning. What little data was available was nearly impossible to obtain. Dickerson attempted to get math and science results for grades K-6. "It took six months to get access to that data," he said. "The information was there the entire time. It was just not a priority to the department and there was no procedure to share it."

Quote of the Week: "[E]very teacher should put some money into one of these campaigns if you expect to be working in this district next year." —  From a letter sent by officials of the Van Buren Education Association in Michigan to its members, as reported in the Detroit News. The union was soliciting $60 donations to "fight the radical right."