AFT president Edward J. McElroy this month added to the barrage of e-mails, faxes and letters from AFT members, activists and leaders in response to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece attacking collective bargaining for teachers.

The Jan. 13 Journal commentary by Terry M. Moe noted that "if the teachers unions won't voluntarily give up their power, then it has to be taken away from them—through new laws that, among other things, drastically limit (or prohibit) collective bargaining in public."

In a Jan. 19 letter responding to Moe's article, McElroy said, "Teachers—and their unions—want what children need. Reasonable class sizes, safe and well-equipped schools, high standards for conduct and achievement, and well-prepared and adequately supported teachers are entirely appropriate goals for teachers unions to pursue. But in the face of these facts Terry M. Moe regurgitates several tired canards about teacher unions to bolster his view that unions act solely in their own interest and 'impede efforts to improve public schools.'

"To be sure, the American Federation of Teachers works to improve teaching conditions and improve wages for our members. But we don't stop there. AFT unions have bargained contracts that provide mentors for new or struggling teachers, professional development in the best and latest research on reading instruction, discipline provisions that create a climate for learning, and the framework to work with school district partners to redesign low-performing schools using strategies with demonstrated success. Is this blatant self-interest? Absolutely, because one cannot separate the interests of teachers from those of the students they teach.

"Mr. Moe is well-known for his support of private school vouchers and charter schools and for his antipathy for teacher unions. It seems that there are circles in which teacher union-bashing never goes out of style, facts notwithstanding. Given the AFT’s record of advances on behalf of education, he is bashing a straw man. There are indeed problems in American schools that deserve thoughtful attention devoid of the ideological slant proffered by Mr. Moe. The AFT remains committed to addressing these problems and to working to help our public schools reach universally high levels of achievement."

January 21, 2005