I recently started a job as a union organizer for the first time. I was telling a friend in Germany about it, and she told me some interesting stuff about the differences between there and the US. I’m working with my state’s public education union, and apparently schools there are not unionized because teachers are happy with the good pay and benefits they get from the government…but that creates a two class system where support staff (those who would be classified staff in the US) don’t have those benefits and protections, but teachers generally don’t care because (for now) they are in such a good position, so a union is impossible. According to this one person, anyway, of course I know her experiences are not universal.

I was just wondering if anyone who knows about unions in multiple countries, in general or, even better, specifically in education, could comment on the differences? So interesting and I’d love to know more!