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Show UTAH LABOR NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY. UTAH, MAY 24, 1935 SENATE PASSES WAGNER LABOR DISPUTES BILL UNION SCHOOL TEACHERS Are Members of the (Continued from Page 1) trade unions and carry on effective trade union work, the bill lists the more outrageous devices as unfair labor practices, and declares them illegal. The bill makes it unlawful for employers to; American Federation of Teachers Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor 1. UNITED, WE SHALL STAND Dr. John Dewey in Interfere writh, restrain, or coerce employes in the exercise of their right to join labor organiza- - tions and bargain collectively through representatives of their The Social Frontier' own choosing. Are Teachers Adequately Organized? Dominate or interfere with At first view it may seem absurd to say that teachers are not the2. formation or administration of adequately organized. In large places, especially, many teachers prob- any labor organization or contribThere are asso- ute financial support to it. (This ably feel that, if anything, they are ciations by grades, associations by subjects, and general organizations, provision is designed to outlaw the city, state, and national. If there is inadequacy, it is not in number company-dominate- d union.) and variety. But organizations exist for a purpose, not as ends in or discourage 3. Encourage themselves. If adequate organization is lacking, it is on the side o membership in any labor organizaaims and functioning for these aims. tion by discrimination in hiring Some existing associations serve to bring teachers together, to ge employes or in employment terms. them acquainted with one another, and to cultivate a professions 4. Discriminate against emspirit. Indeed, all associations serve this end to some extent. The ployes for filing charges or giving purpose is good and no one will say it nay. Other associations exist testimony under the Wagner-Con-ner- y for stimulation and direction of their members in the subject-matte- r Act. of the studies they teach and to improve by exchange of ideas their 5. Refuse to bargain collectivemethods of instruction. No one questions this value in so far as such ly with representatives of their organizations accomplish it, and are reasonably free from perfunctory employes chosen in accordance with and conventional oratory and from exploitation by those seeking pub- the provisions of the bill, which licity and prominence. At critical times, teachers organizations have prescribes majority rule in elecbodies for pro- tions. operated successfully to bring pressure on tection of salaries and tenure of position. The campaign for equal The prompt enactment of the bill was demand- pay for equal work on the part of women teachers in some states is Wagner-Conner- y a notable instance. In a few cases, teachers organizations have exposed unequal, scandalous methods of tax assessment and collection, in contemporary life, and has creand their work has effected reforms by which the public school sys- ated a reaction toward the old typo tem received increased revenue. of education with the three Rs as Yet organizations for these purposes do not cover the entire its staple goods, has roots in the ground. I should be the last to question the value of associations for isolation of the teaching profesprofessional improvement, for raising the economic status of teachers sion. Teachers can learn something with respect to wages and security of tenure, and for protection from politicians who would use the schools to procure jobs for their friends. about the defects and requirements But such ends as these do not exhaust the function of organization of existing types of organization by teachers. They hardly touch the place of the teacher in relation to by the study of economic and socisociety. Organizations of teachers to secure their own immediate ological literature and by reading economic ends have proved indispensable. But their campaigns when such newspapers and periodicals as state the facts honestly. But carried on in isolation from other groups of workers, whether employees or workers in shops, factories, and offices, have a the understanding thus gained is tendency to produce a reaction that is unfavorable to the cause of cold and at arms length compared education. Anyone who has read the letters published in newspapers with the understanding and symduring the present depression regarding the efforts of organized pathy that would spring from diteachers to prevent salary cuts, know how true this is. Of course rect and vital contact with the there were some who defended the teachers claims. There were more troubles and aspirations of the who attacked the teachers for seeking special favors at the expense mass of the population, the productive workers. The economic litof other workers and of the taxpayer. I do not mention this fact for the purpose of endorsing these at- eracy of teachers and administratacks. I call attention to it because it indicates the isolation of teach- tors would be immensely furthered ers as a body. Speaking generally, that is for the country as a whole, by an alliance with the great ' teachers are not adequately organized for protection of their economic masses of workers. Secondly, an open alliance of status. This statement is particularly true of rural districts and small towns. But where teachers organize for economic protection, they tachers with workers would greatsuffer from the imputation of selfishness as long as they stand aloof ly strengthen the educational as from other organizations of workers and this quite apart from the well a3 the economic position of the teaching body. It is a historic efficacy of their efforts as isolated organizations. I refer to the economic phase of teachers organization not as fact that the movement for free public education had one of its thing by itself but as an illustration of the general point of the re- most influential sources in the delation of teachers to society and to social organization. There is one Lamands of the workers of the coun-r- y of American Federation organiztion of teachers affiliated with the who were engaged in pursuits all with locals of American Federation Teachers, bor, namely, the When over the country. But upon the whole, teachers have preferred to re- regarded as difschool in has a not been in if have effect class. a as system themselves made, special They gard has drawn it and its ficulties, always purposely, a division between themselves as intellectual laborers others who labor with their hands. At times, indeed, one hears de- strongest support from this source. liberate defense of this position. I propose to discuss what is in- The reason is obvious. The well-to-d- o class can afford to pay for privolved in this position, not only with respect to other workers, but in relation to the social function of the teaching profession and to vate schooling; some of its influthe conditions under which teachers can genuinely perform their edu- ential members are interested in jublic schools only when their tax cative function. nils come in. The mass of the Isolation of Teachers or a United Front of all Workers? must depend upon the setworkers and created of isolation the perpetuated by teachers, First, schools or nothing. The lat-;has jublic and other intellectual workers between division a workers, ting up is of fact the sufficiently evidenced reflected itself in the administrative and instructional setup litacademic and (Continued on page 6) schools. It has been a strong force in maintaining of the that come from Teachers part usually erary community which is' more favored economically; there is danger of Compliments to Labor aloofness in this very fact. The mass of the pupils in the public school system comes from the less system which serves both ends by SKID'S HAT SHOP favored class. One cause for the means of the same curriculum and SMALL BUT SMART persistence of a system of educa- methods. The fact that the depres250 South Main Street tion that was originated to serve a sion has lopped off the studies and Lake City, Utah Salt small class is found in the fact courses that are connected most that educators as a body have not with the needs of the young been in close contact with the needs closely of the greater part of the population. Vocational and industrial education has had a great growth. But even here, the tendency has been to separate vocational or industrial from cultural education, when the obvious need is to organize a over-organize- 5 ed by the recent special conference of representatives of national and international unions, state federa tions of labor and city central bodies convened in Washington by William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, to mobilize the united strength of organized workers in support of fed- eral labor legislation of paramount importance to working men and women throughout the nation. 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