Hundreds of educators in Tennessee have dropped union memberships since state lawmakers stripped the organizations of collective bargaining rights earlier this year.
Membership in the Metro Nashville Education Association is down by about 500, The Tennessean newspaper reported. Nearby Sumner County reported about the same number of educators there had dropped union memberships since October 2010. In May, the Tennessee legislature passed the Professional Educators Collaborative Conferencing Act, which effectively wipes out the right of teachers’ unions to bargain with school boards over contracts and left them to handle professional development and grievances.
