Teachers' union membership is plummeting in Alabama

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A study from the Education Intelligence Agency revealed that union membership for Alabama teachers is down 31.6 percent over the last five years, and 16 percent in the 2014-2015 school year alone.

The MacIver Institute of Wisconsin noted that the trend is reflective of what is occurring nationwide. According to MacIver, twenty-eight states reported union membership losses in 2015. More then 12,000 active members left the National Education Council last year, a 0.5 percentage drop. Since 2011, the organization’s active membership across the country has dropped by almost 10 percent.

More than 10,000 members left the Alabama Education Association (AEA) in the previous school year, yet another in a series of recent indicators signaling the group’s precipitous decline.

The first cracks in the group’s armor became evident after the 2014 election cycle. Despite spending roughly $7 million in the primaries, the AEA won zero statewide races, zero state senate races and only a handful of state house seats.

That election cycle forced the AEA “out of the [campaign] business” and the group is now spending every dollar it earns paying down its massive debt. According to campaign finance reports filed earlier in 2016, it spent $2.1 of its $2.2 million in 2015 revenue paying off loans. AEA spent a total of $12 million on races in 2014, far more than any other organization in the state.

In light of the AEA’s implosion – and now evident mass exodus – a coalition of education leaders announced in December the formation of Alabama Unites for Education (AUE), an advocacy group that appears poised to fill the void.

The announcement received scant media attention late last year, but beyond the group’s relatively vague description and the broad statements of support from education leaders, Alabama United for Education could bring on a seismic shift in Alabama politics, impacting both policy debates and electoral fights for years to come.

Conservatives had long viewed the AEA as the “Dark Side” in Alabama politics, and not only because of its liberal political leanings, but also because the state’s education system continued to rank 49th or 50th year after year, in spite of the AEA’s total control.

The traditionally white Alabama Education Association’s rise to power began when it merged with the traditionally black Alabama State Teachers Association in 1969. Paul Hubbert was named executive secretary of the newly-formed group and Joe Reed was named associate executive secretary.

For much of the next four decades, Hubbert was widely considered the most powerful political figure in the state, and he ruled with an iron fist. Hubbert was known for sitting in the gallery overlooking the Legislature and giving hand signals indicating which way he wanted lawmakers to vote on whatever bill was being considered.

But the group’s stranglehold on the state began to loosen in 2010 when Alabama voters elected Republicans to their first legislative majority in 136 years. Hubbert retired in 2011, but the organization he built continued to be a major player in state politics, at least for a period of time.

Now, with numbers plummeting and influence almost non-existent, the AEA is only a shell of its former self, and many across the State of Alabama think that change is for the better.