Six Reasons Teachers Unions Are Good for Kids

alternet.org — Once upon a time, labor unions enjoyed a fair amount of political legitimacy among both the public and political elites. Yet over the last three decades, the power of unions has decreased steadily -- especially as a result of the hostility to business regulation that characterized Reagan-era politics of the 1980s, and the anti-communist Cold War propaganda of the time that made the general public more suspicious than ever of labor activism. But if unions as a whole have taken a reputational hit over the last 30 years, teachers unions in particular have found themselves especially demonized. Yet by a number of important measures, there is no doubt that teachers unions continue to play a vital role in the health and well-being of our schools, the teachers who work in them and the children they serve. Here are six reasons teachers unions continue to be good for America’s kids.

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