“In addition to their media activities and contributions to candidate’s campaigns, the teachers’ unions mobilize thousands of their members to knock on doors, stuff envelopes, answer phones, and all the other grassroots work that helps people get elected.” - This has never happened in Bluewater, perhaps in other jurisdictions, but I’ve never heard of it.

“Should the teachers’ unions be this powerful?”  Sounds more like the fight going on in Wisconsin.  We do have a democracy.  Which means that everyone is eligible to be involved.  The moment you put restrictions on one or two groups, you no longer have a democracy.  We’ve had this discussion before - either restrict all lobby groups, or none - but you can’t restrict only the ones you don’t like.

I’m not a great supporter of the union, nor have they always been politically astute (Bob Rae) - but they do have the right to do what they are doing.  Your solution is not to criticize the union from doing what is perfectly legal, but to go out, get your own funds and contribute to the campaigns of candidates you support.  Anything else and you sound like the Tea Party - they want to silence any person or group that they disagree with.  Yet they say that they stand for democracy.

From a person standing outside, looking in, unions have a tendency to silence all voices that are not in sync with their goals and policies. Frankly, they do more in keeping the status-quo of the structure of the education system, than to be committed to structural changes that would benefit the child, and not necessarily the building of war funds and adding new members.

Few areas, teacher substitution, special education or equity issues are just a few uses their political power to squash the voices of discontent.

On the EFTO site,  What does EFTO mean by Equity?

ETFO provides equity and women’s programs in the context of its fundamental constitutional object

to foster a climate of social justice in Ontario and continue a leadership role in such areas as anti-poverty, non-violence and equity

and in the spirit of the definition of equity adopted by the ETFO Executive:

ETFO recognizes that we live in a society characterized by individual and systemic discrimination against particular groups.  Within this context ETFO defines equity as fairness achieved through proactive measures which result in equality for all.”
http://www.etfo.ca/FAQ/Pages/default.aspx

What about the children as a group, especially when they have to wait for SE services?  Union brass love waiting lists, because it means more union members in the later grades addressing the weaknesses. And in turn, it helps to fund union headquarters to what they are accustomed to. Private jets, while the high schools do without and the teachers have to make do.

Once unions enter into political lobbying, they are no different than the private lobbying firms, positioning themselves to have favours rained down on them.

As I read earlier today, United States and Canada are not democracies, but they have been plutocracies since the 1980s.

The second usage of plutocracy is a reference to a disproportionate influence the wealthy have on political process in contemporary society: for example, according to Kevin Phillips, author and political strategist to U.S. President Richard Nixon, the United States is a plutocracy in which there is a “fusion of money and government.”[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy

Although it is wikipedia, the term is being used presently in the speeches of American scholars and writers. Democracy I would question the use of it regarding unions, since the unions appear to operate as lobbying firms, protecting their members and power base, no matter the consequences.

Wow $75 is a lot.  The NEA is much more economical.  Their fees for this are only $20!

NEA to Double Member Dues Contribution to Political War Chest.

http://www.eiaonline.com/archives/20110222.htm

Americans are not suckers like Canadians. One just has to take a look at usage fees for the Internet. Canadians pay top dollars for less services, and now they want us to pay more if one goes over their caps. Here is a funny video of Rick Mercer, called Usage-Based Billing: A Part of our “Gouge-Based Heritage”
http://openmedia.ca/mercer

As I surf the teachers’ union sites, not a whisper on usage-based billing. One would think that heavy users such as unions, or as the telecommunications guys like to call them, hogs, would be very concern about usage billing, since it would not only stopped the flow of traffic to their sites, but as well as keeping the students off important sites that have been assigned for homework. One would think, it would be a top priority, along with other unions to stopped the predatory pricing of our telecommunication guys, especially teachers’ unions. Unless there plan is to go back to the old-fashioned way of communicating, by using paper and postal mail, if the telecommunications guys get their way.

Instead, the teachers’ unions are more concern with backing certain politicians, and a number of other issues, including body image.
http://www.etfo.ca/issuesineducation/pages/default.aspx