Unions are Full of Sinners
But So are State Legislatures
Everyone is talking about unions.
I found an essay purporting to present a Christian view of unions. The author, a prominent representative of Reconstructionism (the belief which seeks to put the US under Old Testament law, including stoning adulterers, unruly children, etc), presented several objections to unions but offered little scriptural undergirding for his arguments—he cited a couple verses but never allowed that they might not apply to the issue of organized labor. His arguments, with little editing, could have been presented on any conservative talk show.
He begins by pointing out that only 25% of the American workforce belongs to unions. While that may be true, it is not necessarily an argument against unions. Some workers may have never needed to organize. At the same time, we might ask what percentage of the non-union workers are doing as well as they might if they had unions.
My interest in this question came as I kept hearing teachers demonized during the discussions about unions in Wisconsin and Ohio. The attacks on teachers were vicious. Accusations of laziness and elitism were hurled at them. It was claimed they were paid incredible salaries for doing jobs that “produced nothing,” to quote a national talk show host. One radio host even allowed one caller to describe how New York teachers lounge in the Hamptons during the summer before returning to their cushy jobs.
Yet maybe we should consider the broader picture.
Teachers in Texas, for example, are 34th in the nation on the salary scale. (Find the stats online.) Texas teachers, especially the younger ones, are completely subject to the whims of their principals. (Talk to Texas teachers, as I did.) Many teachers are expected to remain at school long after the children have left; twelve-hour days are common. Would you be surprised to learn that Texas teachers have no union?
No wonder that nationwide nearly 50% of new teachers leave the profession during the first five years. According to a 2006 report, reasons for leaving teaching include working conditions and low salary. Indeed, most of today’s teachers are better educated than yesterday’s teachers. Yet they are paid less than other professionals with comparable education.
Of course, teachers do end their day at 3:35. No doubt they head for the mall, the spa, or home, giving the school no thought until the next day. Honestly, I found one website that seemed to suggest just such a scenario. It said teachers worked about 38.5 hours a week. Another site suggested teachers worked about 25 hours a week plus preparation. Apparently such teachers spend some of the day just sitting in the lounge. (Could they be watching the glee club teacher trade barbs with the cheerleading coach?). Elsewhere online, a couple teachers responded differently to the question: How many hours do teachers work per week? One gave 60 hours, the other 80.
Of course, teachers do have summers off. Well, at least some do. Younger teachers often must continue their education, working on additional certification or advanced degree requirements. Others take on extra jobs to make ends meet. Some teachers teach summer school or monitor students during summer service projects. Needless to say, some teachers relax during the summer. Of course, if you’re working fifty to sixty hours per week for nine months, maybe you need a break.
Of course, being a teacher has its perks. There’s no denying that. But something must account for that 50% in five years exit.
Maybe it has something to do with the suspicion they aren’t really appreciated. Americans seem willing to pay people what they are perceived to be worth. The lowest-paid outfielder in the major league gets more than the best teacher. Parade recently published its annual salary survey. What does it reveal about American values?
The only teacher on the list gets $48,601 per year. But, picture this—a tattoo artist in New Orleans gets $40k and he no one cares if his clients leave knowing how to spell, as long as he knows. Though you won’t be able to read what she says about you, an obituary writer in Pennsylvania gets $75k. An Air Force Captain gets $103k, which I actually don’t mind. Whether you want those bills in your mailbox or not, a postal clerk in Oregon receives $58.5k. Even though her job is more hands-on than teaching, a massage therapist in Bismarck gets $43k. An exterminator in Missouri gets $66k per year and I won’t bug you with a joke about that one. Hold your breath: A glassblower in Vermont gets almost $60k. Finally, an astrologer in Arizona gets just over $177k. Now, who would have seen that coming?
It’s hard to avoid the idea that Americans don’t value teachers very highly. Maybe that’s as big a problem as the unions. Maybe that’s why the unions were necessary.
Are unions faultless in our nation’s economic woes? Of course, not. Some unions have been greedy. (Auto workers come to mind?) There need to be some changes. But how?
I’m not sure but I don’t think the best changes come from the wild finger-pointing that has been going on in the past few weeks. Most teachers I’ve talked to said they would have been open to compromises. Unfortunately, the “crush the unions” mentality of state leaders made this unlikely.
But, all in all, this is not my focus. I’m most concerned by the Christian writers and radio hosts who seem just as bent as any conservative political icon on demonizing unions and, along with them, teachers. It’s funny, especially when you consider what a Columbia University study found: “the average teacher is a married, 43-year-old white woman who is religious.”
Now, I know “religious” doesn’t mean “Christian” but it’s surely reasonable to conclude that many of the teachers being attacked by those on Christian radio share the same worldview as their attackers. Surely, it is possible to suggest correctives without doing so unChristianly.
Years ago, Dr. Claude Howe was my major advisor at New Orleans Seminary. He was all business when he taught. If he talked about the Saints in his church history seminars, you may be sure he wasn’t talking about football players. So you can imagine how surprised my fellow students and I were when he began a seminar by talking about labor unions.
He said, “Greed made the unions necessary, now greed is controlling the unions.” He went on to say that there is often a pendulum swing to such movements. Correctives are needed from time to time. The greed of the bosses made the unions necessary, now the greed of the unions has created the mindset that seeks to destroy the unions.
The Christian view of unions might begin with altruism—giving in to unions is the generous thing to do. The Christian view of unions might begin with a quest for equity—workers should be paid fairly. Instead, I’d suggest the Christian view of unions begin with the doctrine of original sin—all of us are sinners. As a consequence, there is danger when one group gets too much power.
If the union gains too much power, the economy suffers. If the bosses get too much power, the workers suffer. Reasonable people should be able to find a balance.
Of course, the writer whose website I visited wasn’t looking for balance. He argued that the whole idea of unions was wrong, that workers should be able to compete for their jobs without having to belong to a union. And employers should be able to hire whoever would be willing to pay what they wanted to pay. In a perfect world, that might be okay. But this isn’t a perfect world.
In the scenario he sets up, no job would be secure. A teacher who agrees to teach for $50,000 a year could be displaced by the teacher who agrees to teach for $45,000. Of course, the teacher who agreed to teach for $50,000 could jump ship if another school offered $60,000. This is why even in non-union states individual teachers sign yearly contracts—a scheme that protects both themselves and their employers. It’s a tacit recognition that we’re all sinners.
I’m sorry that some of my fellow ministers have used their radio voices to condemn all teachers, coming close to suggesting they are Marxist and unchristian if they belong to unions. Perhaps they should be thanking them for being the only Christians willing to get close to the noisy, lewd, smelly, profane, and sometimes very angry young people who would never walk into their churches.
Maybe they’re silent because they hope the go-for-the-jugular, union-busting, take-no-prisoners, shoot-from-the-hip governor will invite them to his prayer breakfast.
