By Malia Zimmerman | Hawaii Reporter
TOP OF THE LIST: Hawaii has the strongest teachers’ union in the nation.
HONOLULU — Hawaii ranks No. 1 for the strength of its monopoly teacher union, the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now‘s most recent report examines the power and influence of teachers’ unions in each state by reviewing their resources, membership, political involvement and collective bargaining power.
“Hawaii’s teacher union enjoys substantial financial resources, a large, unified membership, and a favorable policy climate. It is actively involved in state politics, and — despite its local reputation for only moderate influence — it is the strongest state union in the nation,” the report said.
“Hawaii’s teacher union has been a major player in state politics in the past ten years. Its donations accounted for 1.5 percent of total contributions received by candidates for state office (9th); those contributions equaled 15.4 percent of all contributions from the ten highest-giving sectors in the state (7th). In addition, a full 20.2 percent of Hawaii’s delegates to the Democratic and Republican national conventions were teacher union members (9th).”
Other states with powerful teachers’ union include California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
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