9. ORGANIZING AROUND QUALITY: THE STRUGGLE TO ORGANIZE MIND WORKERS

Abstract

Teacher unions’ departures from industrial organizing are documented in a series of case studies and collections on reform-minded locals’ practices and contracts (see Johnson & Kardos, 2001; Kerchner & Koppich, 1993). Recently, investigators have collected data on union locals that belong to the Teacher Union Reform Network (TURN), a group of NEA and AFT locals. For example, William Harju (2003), retired executive director of the San Diego Teachers Association, visited most of the TURN locals (working from a document collection schedule and case study format similar to the one in Kerchner & Koppich, 1993). Kerchner and Koppich, in recent unpublished work, visited Minneapolis, Columbus, and Rochester and made additional inquiries by telephone interview.¹ TURN locals by no means represent the totality of union reform, and no encyclopedia of union reforms in the United States exists, but TURN locals are certainly among those with the longest experience and most extensive reforms.

Citation

Taylor Kerchner, C. and Koppich, J. (2004), "9. ORGANIZING AROUND QUALITY: THE STRUGGLE TO ORGANIZE MIND WORKERS", Henderson, R.D., Urban, W. and Wolman, P. (Ed.) Teacher Unions and Education Policy: Retrenchment of Reform? (Advances in Education in Diverse Communities, Vol. 3), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 187-221. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-358X(04)03009-8