AWF Opposes NCLB Draft

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October 26, 2007

Dear Representative:

On behalf of the average working American and the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), I wish to express grave concern about a provision of the Miller-McKeon No Child Left Behind (NCLB) draft that specifically mandates union involvement in state-based teacher pay discussions.

Specifically, in this draft, a local education agency’s decision to design a performance pay plan must be “developed on a collaborative basis with the local teacher organizations” (Section 2111-Premium Pay).

We strongly oppose this language as this amounts to command-and-control legislation that skews the labor market in favor of the unions and against the average non-unionized teacher. There are literally hundreds of thousands of teachers in the United States that do not wish to become, and are not part of any organized teachers union for various reasons and should not be forced to comply with their “collaborative” efforts.

Additionally, many teachers and educators in this country are becoming increasingly aware of federal infringement on local and state education policy. Federal legislation that forces states and localities to “collaborate” with unions when deciding rules and provisions for non-union teachers, directly infringes on the rights of free choice and personal freedom. It is gravely unjust to mandate one group have sole bargaining and negotiating rights with the state, over another group that chooses to not be represented by a union.

Further, by forcing the states to “collaborate” with an entity that roughly 70 percent of the country chooses to not be a part of, is expressively forbidden under the separation of powers granted in the United States Constitution. The 10th Amendment clearly states:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved for the States respectively, or to the people.

Nowhere in the Constitution does it grant authority to the federal government to establish the existence of forced union collaboration in each state. Representative, it is imperative that you do not trample on the document that our nation’s principles of freedom were founded upon and strike this language post-haste from the NCLB draft.

With the recent onset of blatantly anti-worker legislation that this Congress has already put forth, from the budget cuts at the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) to anti-competitive sourcing measures, the 110th Congress is quickly being perceived as egregiously anti-worker and pro-Big Labor.

I urge you to reconsider the current course this draft is taking. One of the greatest professions in history is, under the current draft, being subjected to rules and regulations decided by a group of which many do not belong, and which many actively oppose. Pay-for-performance discussions should be stripped of all degrees of preferential treatment or bias language. By forcing this “collaboration”, the House is encouraging this type of discrimination. 

Therefore, on behalf of the Alliance for Worker Freedom and the average rank-and-file working educator, I urge you to strike this blatantly anti-worker freedom language from the No Child Left Behind draft. 

Sincerely,

Brian M Johnson,
Director of Policy

cc: All Members of the U.S. House of Representatives