Most public school principals, teachers and employees belong to unions. The implied value of membership is that the legal duties of unions – bargaining for wages and benefits, and providing representation in the event of workplace grievances – are performed fairly for all members. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Unions enjoy exclusive and collective bargaining rights. The natural right of principals and teachers to negotiate terms and conditions of their own employment independently is impossible to exercise within this framework of legal exclusivity. For unions, fairness means ‘sameness’; currently, merit has no place in public schools.
Unions also owe a duty to the Labor Party…
Unions also owe a duty to the Labor Party – the political party they established. They fund campaigns for State and Federal Labor candidates – an investment that comes from membership fees. Public school principals and teachers who pay union fees also invest in the Labor Party. Those who are not affiliated with the Party cannot re-allocate their investment funds to an alternative political party of their choosing. Currently, political freedom of association does not exist in public schools.
Unions engage with a host of political organisations, programs and campaigns, such as GetUp, Safe Schools and I Give A Gonski. Advertising and advocacy are funded through membership fees, even though many principals and teachers do not support them. There is no freedom to invest union fees in alternative campaigns. Currently, campaign choice does not exist in public schools.
Public schools boast about embracing innovation and creativity. However, exclusive union representation guarantees a non-competitive economic system, which stifles innovation and creativity. Unions shun competition, thwart change and monopolise control over those who are learning and teaching. Currently, liberty does not exist in public schools.
Public schools boast about embracing innovation and creativity.
Individual public school principals and teachers have the right to forego union membership, but must abide by the collective wages and conditions negotiated by a union that is affiliated with the Labor Party. Currently, individual ‘enterprise’ bargaining does not exist in public schools.
Could it be that public schools in Australia are nothing more than tools, used by the union movement and the Labor Party, to chisel out a politically driven socialist manifesto?
On the other hand, perhaps Australia’s public schools hold the trump card for innovation, creativity, competition and change. Playing that card might be as simple as introducing collective bargaining to achieve a new definition of fairness – based on merit not ‘sameness’.
Copyright © Cheryl Lacey 2018
Cheryl Lacey is an educationist and advocate of agitating change in Australian education to face global challenges facing Australia and Australians.
If you would like to learn more about the outcomes achieved by educational leaders and teams who have worked with me, contact me at cheryl@cheryllacey.com or visit www.cheryllacey.com
