Teacher Politics: The Influence of Unions: 26 (Contributions to the Study of Education)

In a landmark contribution to the education literature Berube examines the political activities of the two teachers unions--the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers AFL-CIO (AFT) during the last three decades. The first scholarly study of its kind Teacher Politics argues that teachers unions have become the most powerful political constituency in the nation. Through effective lobbying arms seeking favored legislation and political machines supporting local state and national candidates with manpower and money this force of 2.5 million teachers is changing American educational politics. As Berube convincingly demonstrates teacher unions have been reasonably effective in their political and legislative endeavors and through their enormous resources have become the chief representatives of education in American politics.