Photo by Allison Shelley / CC BY-NC 2.0
Public education is the most unionized sector of the U. S. economy. More than four million school employees are union members. The National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest union with 3 million members, and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), with 1.8 million members, are the two largest unions representing educators. Both unions primarily represent teachers and staff at public schools, as well as college and university faculty (in addition to some non-educators, such as state employees). In addition, thousands of school employees belong to other unions.
The state of Illinois has played a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of American education unions. The Illinois Education Association (IEA) and the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) are two of the largest unions in the state. Today, “nearly all” Illinois PreK-12 public school teachers are covered by collective bargaining agreements as well as a majority of PreK-12 support staff, and over 20,000 higher education faculty and staff are covered by union contracts. My forthcoming book, Public Education and Social Reform: A History of the Illinois Education Association, describes the history of the state’s public school system and IEA’s transformation from a professional association to the state’s largest labor union. Organized in 1853 as the Illinois State Teachers’ Association (ISTA), IEA succeeded in getting the General Assembly to pass the Free School Law of 1855 that established a state-sponsored public school system. Ever since, the IEA has played a leading role in the development of Illinois’ public schools.
Organized labor never wavered in its support of public education. After the Civil War, the Knights of Labor and the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (renamed American Federation of Labor in 1886) were outspoken proponents of public schools. The Chicago Teachers’ Federation (CTF), the nation’s first education union, was organized by women elementary teachers in 1897. In 1902, the CTF joined the Chicago Federation of Labor. CTF leader Margaret Haley was an active member of the NEA and the ISTA. Beginning in 1912, the ISTA embarked on a major reorganization that enhanced its influence across the state. By 1922, over two-thirds of all Illinois K-12 teachers had joined the Association. In 1936, the Illinois State Teachers’ Association changed its name to Illinois Education Association. Though it was an all-inclusive professional organization and not a union, it worked closely with the State Federation of Labor, CTF, and other Chicago education unions on funding, tenure, pension, and other legislative issues into the 1950s.
Photo by Alejandro (Alex) Quinones / CC BY-NC 2.0
Outside Chicago, few teachers belonged to unions and none had comprehensive collective bargaining agreements prior to 1960. Although the overwhelming majority of its members were K-12 teachers, IEA was a professional organization controlled by school administrators. The IFT had only 24 local unions with fewer than 3,000 members in school districts outside Chicago. The Chicago Teachers’ Union had 11,000 members; it lobbied on behalf of its members, but it also did not have a collective bargaining agreement until the 1960s.
Tension between the IEA and the labor movement increased in the 1950s. The postwar baby boom created a huge demand for classroom teachers, many of whom came from working class families after receiving their college education under the GI Bill. Given the post-war rising standard of living of union households, a tide of teacher militancy swept through school districts across the state. IFT took the lead in collective bargaining. It engaged in 40 strikes during the 1960s forcing districts to negotiate agreements. Many teachers, especially in heavily unionized communities, organized IFT locals and challenged the IEA leadership in their school districts.
As a result of these efforts, pressure mounted on the IEA to provide local teacher associations assistance in negotiating with their school districts. In 1966, the Decatur Education Association was the IEA’s first local to strike. Finally, in 1971, teachers seized control and reorganized the IEA as a labor union committed to collective bargaining. Without a law to govern union representation, many school districts refused to bargain while others sought to limit the topics discussed in negotiations. Consequently, even though strikes were not legal and some striking teachers faced court injunctions, fines, arrests, and firings, IEA locals engaged in more than two hundred strikes from 1971 to 1983.
The restructuring of the IEA left unanswered how management, governance and staff would interact in the new organization. A power struggle developed within the IEA among the elected leadership, central office management, and hired staff. The internecine warfare led to a month-long IEA lockout of the IEASO staff union in 1977 and an IEASO strike against IEA in 1980 that lasted over two months. This turmoil resulted in the loss of numerous locals to the IFT.
Under the newly-elected leadership of President Reg Weaver, IEA resolved its internal strife and made a dramatic turnaround in the early 1980s. In 1983, IEA succeeded in getting the state to pass the Illinois Education Labor Relations Act (IELRA) – the most comprehensive education bargaining law in the nation. The law opened the door for collective bargaining. School officials could no longer assert raw power over the unions. Under the Act, all “policy matters directly affecting wages, hours, and the terms and conditions of employment as well as the impact thereon upon request by employee representatives” are mandatory subjects of bargaining. In other words, the law enables the unions’ members to actively participate in a broad range of decisions related to operation of the public schools. By the mid-1990s, 95% of the K-12 teachers had union representation. IEA membership more than doubled to over 103,000 by 2001 as K-12 teachers, support staff employees, higher education faculty, and other education employees organized unions. Although the IELRA allowed strikes, the number of walkouts has steadily declined since 1984 as collective bargaining became the norm throughout public education.
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Education affects everyone. In 2020, 1.85 million children attended Illinois PreK-12 public schools. In addition, more than 700,000 students were enrolled in its community colleges and public universities. Illinois spent over $41 billion on education accounting for 26 percent of all state revenue; it is the largest share of the state budget. Eighty-two percent of this total was derived from local property taxes. Except for Chicago, all of Illinois’ 852 PreK-12 districts have locally elected school boards. Given this massive commitment of public resources, human capital and local community involvement, it is not surprising that public education, including the unions that represent educators, has generated a great deal of political opposition.
Since the election of President Reagan, public education and its unions have been under attack by conservative business organizations, anti-union libertarians, and religious fundamentalists seeking to privatize education through vouchers, tuition tax credits, and charter schools. The growing threat to public education by the political right led to a “no raid” agreement between the IEA and IFT in 1995. Rather than competing with one another to recruit and retain members, the two unions have worked closely together to advance their common interests. Given recent political events, this alliance is more important today than ever. Anti-teachers-union attacks will intensify following the re-election of President Donald Trump. His administration plans to cut federal funding, dismantle the Department of Education, promote vouchers for religious school attendance, privatize education, ban race and equity discussions in classrooms, and undermine unionism.
While much has been written about the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and public education policy, there has not been a comprehensive history that focused on the development of a state public school system (and its unions) published in the last sixty years. Public Education and Social Reform: A History of the Illinois Education Association traces politics of public education from the earliest days of Illinois statehood to the present. The book will be available in the spring of 2025 through the University of Illinois Press.
