By Kyle Olson
EAGnews.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The notion that teachers unions are “for the kids” continues to be dispelled each time union activists open their mouths.

The latest example comes from a project called “Use Your Teacher Voice,” which is a series of videos shot during the recent NEA Representative Assembly in Washington, DC.  In the videos, various activists use their “teacher voice” to advocate for something near and dear to their heart.

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The average person might assume that boosting graduation rates or improving student reading skills might be topics worthy of a “teacher voice.”

Turns out they talked about anything but.

Michelle Harris-Padron, a teacher in Oxnard, California, said in her classroom she “advocates for bicycle helmets,” while she also uses her teacher voice “to advocate for teachers, so they can get listened to and their opinions heard.”

Meanwhile, recently-retired Illinois teacher Fred Klonsky urged listeners to “write your legislator and tell them that they owe me my pension.”

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Brent Gaspaire of Tacoma, Washington said his union’s recent strike wasn’t about pay.  It’s not that teachers are asking for too much, but that others are asking for too little, he said. “If you make a minimum wage job, I suggest you organize a union, that’s how you get a decent wage.  If more people organized unions, America would be in a better place today.”

“Secondly, I would say you can’t put students first if you put teachers last,” he said.

Unions, as evidenced by these videos, have been putting the interests of school employees first for quite some time.  The reason the obvious dichotomy has developed is because the adult issues (pay, benefits, work rules) are often divergent from student needs.

It’s the union activists who have often sacrificed the best interests of students for the best interests of themselves. They tell us that much themselves, in their own voices.