Urban Teachers Unions Face Their Future - The Dilemmas Of Organizational Maturity

Urban teachers unions, as mature institutions, face three dilemmas. First, they struggle to maintain their ranks through an active role in the preparation/recruitment of new teachers while raising standards (limiting supply) and thus raising demand and salaries. Second, unions seek to become a more powerful national voice for teachers (by attempting to merge the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Assocation while serving the local district needs of their membership. And finally, and most complexly, unions strive to preserve large, monopolistic public education while being aware of the need to reform, restructure, and even privatize schools to drive improvement.