ALBANY — The powerful statewide teachers union is seeking to organize libraries and private schools to bring dozens of new groups into its 700,000-member organization.
New York State United Teachers elected Melinda Person of Guilderland as their new president Saturday night after President Andy Pallotta retired. Person is hoping to expand the union significantly over the next three years.
“This is something NYSUT hasn’t done in quite a while on a big scale,” she said.
Typically, the organization adds four or five new units a year, she said. Person’s goal: 10 to 13 a year for the next three years.
NYSUT had already moved into charter schools, unionizing many of them, an effort she plans to continue. Now it is expanding into private schools, with Parker School in North Greenbush recently joining.
Private school teachers generally make far less than their public school counterparts, although they also benefit from not having to get a public school teacher’s license.
Libraries are another natural group to unionize, Person said.
Library employees haven’t cited concerns about censorship or limits on programs, though they are concerned about what they see happening along those lines in other states, she said. So far in New York, she said, interest in unions is about wages and benefits.
“People are looking for a union so they can band together with their coworkers and ask for fair wages, health insurance, parental leave,” she said.
Unions are enjoying a resurgence, Person believes. Private companies and nonprofits are seeing more organizing efforts nationwide from Starbucks to Trader Joe’s.
NYSUT is also joining a national effort that is dear to the hearts of many public school teachers: amending the federal rules requiring testing.
Currently, schools must test…
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