I’m not saying unions are universally bad. But I am saying that American union culture’s track record is debatable at best. I have heard though that unions in Europe tend to be a lot more constructive and effective.
Regardless - how do you feel about what you’re getting in return? What’s your opinion on the quality of Seattle teachers and the schools there overall?
https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/labor-unions...
https://www.epi.org/publication/eroded-collective-bargaining...
My opinion is that the teachers should be paid more and people in the city should be taxed far higher than they are. I attended Seattle public schools K-12 myself, and the older I get (now in my late 30's with a kid of my own), virtually all problems they face can be addressed by better compensation. All the teachers I know are kind, well-meaning people who do their best despite facing an adverse situation. Teaching has gotten significantly more difficult since COVID. In Seattle in particular, high income families have tended to pull their kids out of public schools and put them in private schools, where paying upwards of $50-60K/year isn't uncommon. Because of the ways public schools are funded in the state, this essentially operates as a zero sum game.
Blockade from what? Flip the script and they're protecting their own. Someone joined a group that protected them. Seems like a good deal to an individual contributor.
But then you got cop unions, who move abusers around and shield people from consequences. But they're different because they're state power with the power to ruin lives at him. So of course they get bad raps.
Not all systems are perfect, not all unions are the same, but the philosophy of them in-general, unions are decidedly better than without for those who benefit from them. That includes the general public who knows their traffic light wasn't put up by a corner-cutting SC who doesn't care what happens to it in 3 months.
I really think the solution is to pay way more. I have a math background: I did a very prestigious postdoc at one of the best applied math institutions in the world. I love teaching. If I could get paid at least $150k/year to teach high school math in the Seattle public school systems, I would jump at the opportunity. I think a lot of other people would, too. If you create the opportunity for exemplary people with superlative backgrounds to teach and to inspire young people, it will easily burnish the reputation of the schools and create a virtuous cycle enabling their improvement.