Posts tagged campaigning
A teacher’s disagreement with WEA shows why public workers need to know their rights
September 21, 2026 // Travis Reep, a fifth-grade teacher in Thurston County, agrees with that statement from Washington state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal. But in a recent Yes on Initiative 001 video, Reep says Reykdal’s actions — and those of the Washington Education Association, his union — do not match those words. Reep is a father of four, an elected local union representative and a WEA member. He disagrees with WEA’s opposition to I-001, an initiative that, among other provisions, would restore parents’ access to school-held medical and mental-health counseling records, require prior notification when medical services are offered, except in emergencies, and require notification when schools arrange treatment involving follow-up care beyond normal school hours.
‘Blue Power’ and the Rise of Police Union Politics
April 18, 2026 // "Everybody else can indulge in politics—every black group, every political party group, every church group," groused Carl Parsell, then president of the Detroit Police Officers Association, in 1969. "Why are police officers so different?" The question goes to the heart of Stuart Schrader's Blue Power, a new book charting how police unions accreted and cemented power in the decades following Parsell's query. It's a ripe subject for review: Police officers' savvy use of public sector unions and lobbying to largely immunize themselves from oversight is one of the greatest political coups in recent American history. In under four decades, police unions evolved from beer-drinking clubs to organized bargaining units to potent political forces at the local, state, and national levels.