Leading Change Within a Teachers Union in a Non-Fair Share World

Abstract

On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court ended 40 years of legal precedent in the Janus v. AFSCME case, ruling that fair share fees that are collected by unions violate individual’s First Amendment rights. For the Illinois Education Association, the fifth largest state affiliate of the National Education Association, this meant the instant cessation of revenue from nearly 5,000 fair share fee payers. This ruling had further implications in the potential loss of members as well, who could now receive many of the benefits of collective bargaining without subsidizing that activity. A change of tactics would be necessary to recruit and retain members to the organization. This capstone compares my leadership with two similar projects focused on supporting new educators within the organization in this time of change. A personal and organizational push towards social justice unionism helped to drive this work, as well as research-based best practices on new teacher support. I utilize Mark Moore’s Strategic Triangle as a framework to contrast the speed with which work progressed between these two projects. This analysis yields recommendations including my future approach to driving change through distributed leadership, ideas for the Illinois Education Association to be more nimble in this changing landscape utilizing the framework of Deliberately Developmental Organizations, as well as suggestions on how the merger of the two largest teachers unions in the country could be a powerhouse for positive educational reform in the sector.