Teachers’ unions often have skewed incentives that don’t match the desires of working teachers, because the primary goal of the union is to perpetuate itself, over and above any benefits to teachers themselves.
I have negotiated teacher union contracts, from the non-teacher side - the easiest way to get the union to agree to layoffs was to offer a slight bump in pay to the most senior teachers - i.e. the ones most connected with the union - worked every time. The senior/older teachers were always more than happy to lay off the younger/newer staff, as long as they got even a slight bump in their own pay - i.e. I don't care if class sizes go up, and we have to layoff 10 of the most recent hires - as long as I get a 4% raise instead of 3%.
There is nothing about teachers unions priorities that align in anyway with students & parents priorities.
There is nothing about teachers unions priorities that align in anyway with students & parents priorities.