The New Militants

The U.S. teacher used to be afraid to smoke, chew, cuss or ask for a raise. Now he denounces crowded classrooms, upbraids lawmakers, and goes on strike almost as readily as a dockworker. He even demands a say in things that school boards always considered their sole province. Teacher militancy is busting out all over.

The United Federation of Teachers, bargaining agent for New York City's 43,000 teachers, is currently threatening to strike not only for more pay but also for various kinds of better schooling. The odds are 50-50 that New York's 1,000,000 pupils are about to enjoy the longest summer vacation of their lives. The Utah Education Association, representing 98% of Utah public school teachers, threatened all summer to "withhold services" unless the state legislature boosted all school spending. Last week the teachers gave in, accepting a $700 raise that had been offered all along, but they left a memorable impression of long-sustained militancy.

A.F.T. v. N.E.A. What makes these two local groups important is their significance to the parent organizations that support them. New York's unionized teachers belong to the 82,000-member American Federation of Teachers. Last year a one-day strike got them a pay raise, and a "victory" this year will make the A.F.T. look more and more like a powerhouse that gets results. Utah's teachers belong to the 858,000-member National Education Association, biggest "professional" organization in the world. In response to teacher militancy, the N.E.A. has devised the "sanction"--a teachers' boycott that supposedly is not a strike but can close schools. Utah was to be the big test: a national sanction against an entire state.

The A.F.T. is still a small, poor organization. Other unions boast lavish headquarters in Hoffa Hacienda style; the A.F.T. makes do with an ancient brownstone in Chicago, where it was born 47 years ago. It gets only $650,000 a year in dues, and its paid staff totals 25, including President Carl J. Megel, 63, a mild if tough-talking former high school science teacher and athletic coach. A.F.T. has 450 locals, including 32 at college level, but only about 50 are nerved to act like labor unions and clinch collective bargaining agreements.

Union-Made. Nonetheless, the union has doubled its membership since Megel took over in 1952. It does well in industrial areas, notably in the Midwest. It claims 50% of Detroit's classroom teachers and 75% of Chicago's, although neither city yet recognizes it as sole bargaining agent. It is strong in Milwaukee and Gary. But its prize is New York, the nation's biggest school system, where it claims 20,000 teachers and speaks for all the others. To cheer on New York, the union will hold its national convention there next week and shout for collective bargaining.

Unlike the N.E.A., the union has a good civil rights record and takes in only teachers. Nor is it wont to equate teachers with doctors or lawyers as professionals who can pick their clients and set their fees. It sees teachers as overworked employees who deserve "a single salary schedule" starting at $6,000 and rising to $14,000--still the millennium in most places. To that end, President Megel steers what he calls "a progressive, dynamic course, aimed at closer affiliation with the A.F.L.-C.I.O." As he sees it, "salary is still the unmistakable measurement of the desirability of a job, whether shoveling coal or teaching in a classroom."

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