|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | print | pdf
Representative democracy
NYSUT's mission statement says: "Through a representative democratic structure, New York State United Teachers improves the professional, economic and personal lives of our members and their families, strengthens the institutions in which they work, and furthers the cause of social justice" through the union movement.
Hobart attributes a great deal of NYSUT's strength to the union's structure which, as a representative democracy, promotes consensus among the wide variety of local unions and constituency groups.
Each year, the union has a policy-making convention called the Representative Assembly. Local unions elect delegates who vote through open ballots so members know where delegates stand.
That representative democracy means elected officers serve the organization based on direction received from the delegate body from year to year.
Don Benker, president of the Kenmore Teachers Association in western New York, said the structure was developed after observing pitfalls with other unions.
"When Tom ran as president for NYSTA, it was radical for teachers to have more say in their union than administrators, and for the elected leaders to have more power than the staff," Benker said.
Jim Wood was on the NYSUT Board and teaching in Rome in 1974 when Hobart asked him to come to work at NYSUT. He subsequently became assistant to the president and, in 1988, executive director of Field and Legal Services. "What developed," Wood said, "was a balance between staffers who were grounded in the union structure and politics, as well as staffers who are grounded in technical skills the union needs."
|
