NYSUT takes a lead in the labor movement

The close ties between labor and public education go back to the early years of this nation. In 1820, the Workingmen's Party in New York state called for a system of free, universal public education - the door to greater opportunities for the children of working people.

Activism was no stranger to the New York State Teachers Association and the United Teachers of New York, the two organizations that merged in 1973 to form New York State United Teachers.

Long before merger, both groups had learned the value of collective action. The first major strike of teachers in the state, one of the first in the nation, was conducted in 1947 by members in Buffalo. Thirteen years later, New York City teacher-unionists in the United Federation of Teachers struck their city's public schools.

Just as their organizations had merged, NYSUT leaders believed that democratic unionism and professionalism could be woven together; that a new union of school employees could work to improve both schools and society.

NYSUT's first Representative Assembly demonstrated that unionism was to be an essential element of the new organization. The union originally planned to hold the 1973 RA in the Catskills, but workers at the hotel struck. NYSUT immediately canceled and re-scheduled the convention to Montreal.

Building muscle

The increasing strength of teachers in the labor movement was shown the following year. Al Shanker, then co-president of NYSUT, was elected a vice president of the national AFL-CIO, the first teacher to take a seat on organized labor's highest council. Shanker would go on to lead the American Federation of Teachers.

NYSUT's leaders signaled the importance of labor to public education by ensuring that all of its affiliated local unions were paid-up members of their AFL-CIO Central Labor Councils. NYSUT encouraged members to take an active role. Today, many NYSUT members have earned leadership roles in central labor councils.

"NYSUT's agenda is embraced and supported by the broader labor movement," said Paul Cole, secretary-treasurer of the state AFL-CIO, who developed and taught a one-semester course on labor studies when he was a social studies teacher in Lewiston-Porter in western New York. "The AFL-CIO strongly supports increased aid to education, improvement in collective bargaining legislation, pension improvements and protection of tenure and is an ally in opposition to vouchers and other schemes that would undermine public education."

In the 1970s, professionals who comprised the bulk of NYSUT's membership were learning trade unionism. They were negotiating contracts with their employers. They filed grievances and took them to arbitration. They went into court to assert their rights. By acting jointly, with thousands of union sisters and brothers, they were winning legislation that made their jobs and their schools better.

Teacher militancy came as a rude surprise to some people on the other side of the bargaining table. Strikes resulted on occasion. Members walked the picket lines for a day or weeks, in some cases, and paid the price in lost salary, penalties and jail.

Courage

The courage of NYSUT members won respect in the community and from members of other unions, which further strengthened NYSUT's ties to organized labor. The bonds to other workers helped when United Teachers began expanding its organizing efforts. Soon it was bringing the advantages of unionization to non-instructional school employees and to workers in the health care professions, whose precept of serving others is identical with educators.

Over the past 25 years, NYSUT members have consistently supported organized labor's efforts to make a more caring nation and a more just world. More than 10,000 members of United Teachers took part in the AFL-CIO's first Solidarity Day in Washington in 1981. NYSUT is a vital supporter of labor's legislative efforts for working people in Washington and Albany. They've marched on union picket lines. They've boycotted lettuce and strawberries with the United Farm Workers, and demonstrated with clothing workers against chiseling textile firms. They contribute to labor funds that aid those who have lost their homes to hurricanes and ice storms. They've fought for decency abroad as well; supporting Poland's Solidarity movement, opposing slave labor in China, helping bring down apartheid in South Africa.

A key part of NYSUT training is union solidarity. At the union's Labor Institute at Cornell University in 1997, a group of up-and-coming leaders in NYSUT locals joined Teamsters on a picket line in the UPS strike.

Being part of the labor movement has made NYSUT members more knowledgeable about the world, more aware of the connections that bind all working people. Conversely, the labor movement has benefited from its teacher members.

"It's a mutually beneficial relationship," said NYSUT President Tom Hobart. "NYSUT and its members make a significant contribution to the AFL-CIO at every level - state, local and national. And NYSUT members benefit tremendously from the added clout of being part of an organization that represents 2.3 million men and women in New York state and over 14 million nationally."

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