Attack on Missouri teachers’ unions is really about boosting the power of the wealthy | Opinion
As a Christian, I was disturbed by a recent guest commentary in The Star by Todd Graves promoting educational vouchers for private schools. Graves credentials himself as chairman of the Stanley M. Herzog Charitable Foundation, “whose mission is to catalyze and accelerate the development of quality Christ-centered K-12 education.” Graves also founded his law firm, whose website says it “represents businesses and individuals nationwide in commercial and white collar litigation, as well as in compliance and internal investigations.” It seems clear that he spends his workday defending businesses and corporate America — not teachers and most Missourians.
My biggest problem with Graves’ commentary is his demonization of teachers’ unions. Given all we know about the impact of poverty, racism and class on education, it blows my mind that Graves attempts to paint teachers’ unions as the problem. Today’s unions represent a little over 10% of workers, in comparison to around 30% back in the 1950s. In the past four decades, we have seen an obscene redistribution of income and wealth to the top 1% — especially to the top one-tenth of 1%. Meanwhile, a decline in working class wages attended significant increases in their productivity.
Moreover, top scholars in our country express deep concern about the negative impact of a rapacious capitalism on our democracy. Indeed, some say it is no longer voters but dark money that shapes our national and state politics. We desperately need unions to counter the greed and the maldistribution of wealth and power that corporations have led.
It’s no secret that Missouri teachers are immorally underpaid and that the schools where our children learn are critically under-resourced. As Graves demonstrates, certain politicians and corporate interests are trying to turn us against our schools and teachers to keep us from coming together to demand that we fully fund and protect a local education system that works for our children and teachers, not lobbyists, politicians and business forces.
My grandson is a diesel mechanic — I am proud to say — and makes almost twice the average teacher’s pay in Missouri at 38 years of age. His two years of community college training as a mechanic paid off. Of course, he is a member of a union.
The dominant ideology of corporate America and many of our politicians for the past four decades has been neoliberalism. This ideology has at least four major doctrines: It is committed to deregulation of the economy, tax cuts (grotesquely for the wealthfare of the rich), privatization and union-busting. In his commentary, Graves is devoted quite strongly to the last two of these doctrines, at least when it comes to teacher’s unions and charter schools.
We have seen what union-busting has done to the incomes of flesh and blood working people in this country. We have seen what corporate greed has done to democratic politics. We have witnessed the destruction of public institutions to favor privatization — even proposals to cut Social Security and Medicare, and other schemes to dissolve them altogether.
We have had enough of the attacks on workers, unions and our freedom to have a say in our workplaces, our communities and in the halls of power. We need to support the freedom of workers to come together in unions that can, in truth, give workers a voice. It will not come from corporate greed and their destruction of public institutions, but from organized efforts of the people, by the people, and for the people.