Our union is democratic in form but not in content. We have elections, and every member gets a ballot. Yet only about 30% of members participate or are even aware of OEA elections. Democracy requires that the majority of members be informed and actively engaged in what the union is doing. And real democracy means more than just elections. It means majority rule. It means members themselves decide how their dues are spent, and what the union strategy is going to be. Truly democratic unions ensure a frequent rotation of leadership so that those who make decisions are also workers with very recent working experience. Unions that have minority participation and leaders who stay in power for many terms become increasingly bureaucratic and less democratic.

OEA’s bureaucracy is hardly unique and is not the fault of any individual. It has been this way for decades. The question is what can we do about it. The history of the labor movement (even the recent history) shows very clearly that the few unions that were able to transition from bureaucracy to democracy did it by way of rank-and-file caucuses fighting for wide participation and leader accountability. If you want a bottom-up democratic union, it has to be built democratically from the bottom up. 

OEA and OUSD: Opposition or “Frenemies”?

Our union members should always be on the lookout for OUSD’s corruption and privatization agenda. What we shouldn’t accept is our own union collaborating with OUSD bosses at our expense. Unfortunately, it has been the practice of OEA leaders to respond to most OUSD attacks by either acquiescence or secret negotiations. 

In fact, when union activists tried to get involved, they were sidelined and denied support from the officials. The Rank & File caucus has defended teachers who were retaliated against after the strike (including a striking teacher who was physically assaulted by a Board member!), and most recently has taken up the fight to defend the Parker Occupation teachers who were retaliated against. The caucus has successfully countered the wrongful discipline and termination of MetWest teachers by their bully administrators. In these cases, the response from the leadership has been either silence or active opposition against volunteer activists. The Rank & File caucus has fought to reimburse the substitute teachers who were neglected by the district during Covid, only to be betrayed when union officials accepted the deal offered by the district (which was cheaper for them of course).

The playbook of the 2019 strike has been repeated since: secret negotiations followed by a weak tentative agreement presented to us at the last moment, leading to worsening salaries and conditions, high turnover, and overall loss of faith and interest in the union. Meanwhile, our union officials have engineered a 25% dues increase (which less than 25% of members voted in favor of) in order to expand the number of full-time salaried officials (“full release”), which further contributes to the disparity between the concerns of members and union officials. Just like our OUSD bosses’ policies reflect the fact that they don’t actually teach kids (and usually have higher salaries than us) our union officials are far removed from the job and have stable dues-based salaries that help them stay in power. 

This is especially true for the officials in our “parent” state affiliate CTA, which takes over 60% of our dues and provides very little in return. For example, even though CTA is supposed to provide us with legal representation, two of the three OEA members facing retaliation for fighting school closures this year have been denied legal support by CTA.

Our most dedicated body of union activists, the union reps, have been so disrespected by the leaders that our decision-making body, Rep Council, has been reduced to a webinar with no ability to converse with each other in order to organize and set union policy (as per our OEA Bylaws). New Business–in which reps make policy—is restricted to 15 minutes, unless “time permits” more at the end of the meeting. And union officials often fail to implement approved resolutions. This further contributes to the top-down regime of decision making in the union, in which members (the few who are even made aware of what’s going on) are expected to just receive marching orders from the leaders, but have no say in anything themselves.

True democracy is not just a matter of principle. As a well-known Labor Notes book states in its title, Democracy Is Power. We cannot win a decent contract and better learning conditions without organizing and mobilizing the rank-and-file to fight for these demands, which requires that members feel empowered and directly involved in making their union’s decisions.

What next?

OUSD has watched our union’s moves carefully, and is preparing to trounce us once again. What can our union members do to counteract OUSD’s austerity? Well, if the last 25 years of OEA history can tell us anything, it’s that when the going gets tough, the teachers get going. In fact, in the last 5 years of contract negotiations, walkouts, sickouts, and student-led shutdowns have been instrumental to the results we received in our 2019 contract, our 2021 Covid Safety contract, and the No School Closures victory of 2022. Rank and file members are already organizing to take matters into our own hands through wildcat actions. 

We know the money is there to fund our raise, if only OUSD would restructure its budget to chop from the top. And beyond pressuring the rotten OUSD management, OEA must build for citywide actions with other sectors of labor to pressure our local and state governments to tax the corporations, tax the wealthy, and reinvest in public services. The Rank and File caucus led that work when we helped start the Schools and Labor Against Privatization (SLAP) coalition in 2022, and led our union in organizing a joint 1-day strike and Port of Oakland Shutdown against school closures and privatization of the port. Now, our caucus calls on all OEA members to unite with our classified coworkers behind our bargaining team’s demands and organize sickouts, walkouts, and other direct actions to pressure OUSD to cough up the dough and keep our schools afloat!

In a society reeling with political turmoil and deepening inequality, we shouldn’t take any attacks on public education lying down. Let’s show our students what it means to struggle for better schools, and a better world today!