Teacher's Union Lost 70,000 Members Last Year

[red states rule]

You can find some good news in the Obama economy if you look hard enough. Perhaps part of the reason is some sates gave teachers a choice to stay in the union and not be forced to be a member.
This is actually pretty incredible news. According to Mike Antonucci over at Intercepts, the National Education Association is down 70,000 teachers. (http://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2013/03/19/nea-only-down-70000-more-members/)
This passes for good news these days when it comes to union membership, but the National Education Association is down 70,000 members compared with this point last year. The reason it is relatively good news is because the union budgeted for a loss of 130,000 teachers and 10,000 education support employees in the 2012-13 school year.

Of course, the school year isn’t over yet, but the budget projection did seem excessive, considering the worst of the recession’s layoffs were already behind us. The situation for teacher union membership remains fluid, as there is still legislation pending in a number of states regarding collective bargaining, agency fee and payroll deduction, all of which can have a considerable effect on union membership.

Overall (http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/01/23/union-membership-2012/1858705/), union membership is down in the United States.
Union membership in the USA dropped half a percent in 2012 to levels not believed to be seen since the 1930s, driven largely by a decline in the number of government employees who are union members.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday released its estimates of union membership for this past year based on the Current Population Survey, a monthly sample of 60,000 households nationwide.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/03/20/teachers-union-lost-70000-members-last-year-n1543914

[aboutime]

red states rule. Is there any known way to verify whether those 70,000 teachers may have also been part of the Exodus from BLUE states with Democrat legislatures????

Seems like the most logical reason, or excuse. If someone wanted to investigate????

[logroller]

red states rule. Is there any known way to verify whether those 70,000 teachers may have also been part of the Exodus from BLUE states with Democrat legislatures????

Seems like the most logical reason, or excuse. If someone wanted to investigate????
I recall some statistics on public employment relative to dem vs rep in the White House and local governments tend to increase in size during republican administrations and decrease during democrat admins. I don't know about state level public employment though, or legislative composition by party. Would be interesting to see. But assuredly, many of those are from blue states. However, since many, if not most, of the most populous states are blue--it skews the aggregate number-- so you'd have to look at it as a percentage of the total employed in each jurisdiction, not just the number out of the 70,000 who left the union.

[red states rule]

It is amazing to see the results of giving people a choice if they want to be forced to join a union. It is also fun to watch Dems react as they claime to be the party of choice

Thank you MI and WI!!!!!

[taft2012]

It is amazing to see the results of giving people a choice if they want to be forced to join a union. It is also fun to watch Dems react as they claime to be the party of choice

Thank you MI and WI!!!!!

Could be a few contributing factors. In NYC public schools are increasingly being closed and replaced with non-union charter schools. So as older union teachers retire, public schools close, new teachers in the replacement charter schools are increasingly non-union.

[red states rule]

Could be a few contributing factors. In NYC public schools are increasingly being closed and replaced with non-union charter schools. So as older union teachers retire, public schools close, new teachers in the replacement charter schools are increasingly non-union.

No matter what the reason, fewer teachers protected by unions is a good thing. Now teachers are like the rest of us. They are evaluated and retained based on performance and not union bosses interested in increasing their political power and financing elections to keep Dems in power. The taxpayers win and so do the kids

[aboutime]

I recall some statistics on public employment relative to dem vs rep in the White House and local governments tend to increase in size during republican administrations and decrease during democrat admins. I don't know about state level public employment though, or legislative composition by party. Would be interesting to see. But assuredly, many of those are from blue states. However, since many, if not most, of the most populous states are blue--it skews the aggregate number-- so you'd have to look at it as a percentage of the total employed in each jurisdiction, not just the number out of the 70,000 who left the union.


Oh. I see. Guess that explanation isn't based on the huge numbers of New Federal employee's under...OBAMA.?