A Different Kind of Union

Spring Hill, Tenn.

As a tram pulls four cartloads of visitors from the National Education Association through the three cavernous plants of the Saturn car company here, what interests them most isn't the team of robot arms synchronized to spot-weld car chassis, the modern foundry that turns foam shapes into engine parts, or the fact that an auto maker markets a line of apparel at its own gift shop.

It is the auto workers themselves, who so often smile and wave as the tram rolls by. Describing the tensionless environment as almost "surreal," one NEA visitor asks if the car makers were told to look friendly during such visits. "When you tour the plant, it's almost like everyone is in nirvana," NEA President Bob Chase says later.

Maybe it's not quite nirvana, but it symbolizes the kind of environment Chase wants his union to promote. Since taking the reins last fall, he's been promoting a "new unionism" based on the idea that teachers should work as co-managers in their schools, with greater authority and a greater stake in their schools' success. The Saturn Corp. pulled this off through a partnership between the United Auto Workers Local 1853 and Saturn management that gives union members a say at every level of decisionmaking. Chase wants to see firsthand what such a collaboration has...