The union times., 1947-11-01

BUT THEY'RE GROWING
 Less than 10 per cent of the na- tion's public school teachers belong to free trade unions. After 30 years. the American Federation of Teachers has organized only 5O,OOO of the nations 900, ,OOO teachers.
 STANDARD OBJECTION
 Resistance to further unionization of teachers is mounting, provoked, no doubt, by the AZ of L's recent success in starting 86 new locals in years time. Professional organizations like the National Education Association and its affiliates now make no bones about their hostility to teachers unions.
 Probing into the source of this resistance against unions, l discovered the standard objection voiced by teach CTS is still the naive notion that fits not professional" for teachers to belong to union. As one teacher expressed it, T am a school teacher, a profes- sional person like doctor or lawyer; I'm not bod carrier or a bartender"
 Teachers, experimenting the un- ion drive are now going through that dreadful period of unioniza- ton when whispered rumOrs are spread around the schools that ssthe superintendent has said it is- n't smart to join the union'." Here's hoping that these teachers will not be too disturbed by this growing pain of organization which has worried every organizer setting up local contrary to the wishes of management.
 Of course, this good woman who earns much less in a year than the bod carriers or bartenders-not to mention doctors and lawyers-over- looked the fact that musicians, actors, civil engineers, and air line pilots have not deemed 1t beneath their dignity to join the free trade union movement.
 PROFESSIONAL INTEGRITY
 As a matter of fact, membership in a free trade union is a teachers guarantee of professional integrity. Why? A teacher without economic security, or one whose financial wei fare is dependent upon the more or less arbitrary decisions of school board or superintendent, may be tempted to sell her professional soul rather than risk the loss of her bread and butter.
 The real difficulty lies in the char acter of the typical public school teach CT. As a group, these teachers are rugged individualists, with little social vision and less social consciousness They prefer to bargain for wages as individuals or, at best, in groups repre- senting the teachers of a single com nunity or possibly State. Massachu- sets, Illinois, or California teachers generally have little interest in the financial difficulties of their co-work- CTS in Alabama or Mississippi, except possibly to urge that taxpayers pro- vide federal aid or some other source of revenue.
 On the other hand, teacher with her financial interests protect ed by a bona fide union, whose ex. perieiced independent local agent is a professional trouble shooter in wage and tenure matters, may al- ways act professionally without fear of financial reprisals for her con- duct.
 NO CONCEPT OF BARGAINING
 Apparently, they don't even under stand the idea of nationwide bar gaining agency for teachers in which the well-to-do members help the poor CT members to secure decent wages. And they would be mortified at the suggestion that union set up an in dustry-wide wage-scale applicable to teachers in every section of the nation. doubt whether they would be con- vinced that this is a practical remedy for the gross inequalities of pay for