George Parker, president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, is a mellow former gospel singer who turned to teaching after his turn at becoming an R&B star ran its course. Nathan Saunders, the union’s general vice president, is an eager, ambitious young man who wants to be seen as the polished but hard-core representative of workers’ rights.
By title, Saunders is Parker’s assistant, but for more than a year the underling has been throwing brickbats at the boss. This week their skirmishes started to draw blood.
The battlefield is the no man’s land between the union and the school system over a new contract. The old one expired two years ago. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Parker — backed by national union boss Randi Weingarten — have been locked in bargaining talks for more than a year.
The first shot in the recent scuffle came from Candi Peterson, a teacher turned blogger. Peterson is in league with Saunders. She believes Parker is selling the teachers out to Rhee. A disgruntled member of the union’s negotiating team had leaked portions of a draft contract to her. The language is far from complete, but it did spell out many ways for the school system to get rid of teachers it determines to be less than effective.
Parker blew. “This breach of confidence is an egregious violation of trust of the other union members of the WTU negotiations team,” he wrote in an open letter, “as well as each member of our union.”
Negotiations had been “maliciously undermined,” and “the revelations of portions of the mediated draft proposal is both irresponsible and detrimental to the entire process.”
Saunders fired back. “Scapegoating Peterson is Parker’s condemnation of a union member for his ineptness and disgraceful governance,” he wrote, and “his own ineffectiveness and poor leadership skills make him desperate and dangerous to all teachers, not just Candi Peterson.”
The broadside came in a letter to rank-and-file members of Local 6 of the American Federation of Teachers. Saunders blamed Parker for standing by while thousands of teachers were fired and dozens of schools were closed.
Who wins this war?
Not the teachers and their union. The lasting impression of WTU remains former president Barbara Bullock’s confession for fleecing the union’s coffers for $5 million, so she could buy furs and shoes. If teachers unions score low in popularity polls in general, in D.C. they are lower than low.
Not Weingarten, whose political fortunes may be tied to the outcome of these negotiations. If she cannot corral the fractious D.C. union, she could come off as a weak leader.
The winner would be Rhee, who gets to implement her work and pay rules with or without a contract.
I say this as a fan of fine teachers who taught my kids in D.C. They are the true losers as Saunders and Parker do their death dance.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected]
