Public education relies on public money to exist. Public money, usually in the form of taxes, is controlled by elected and appointed politicians. To influence decisions and the spending of public money for public education, public education faculty and professional staff participate in politics through their unions.
Legislative battles now going on in Trenton and Washington will determine key aspects of our work environment. Many of the improvements in our environment are not negotiated at the bargaining table, but instead, require legislation. We must convince legislators to support legislation that would give us a voice on boards of trustees, provide equitable pay for adjunct and part-time faculty and obtain more accountability from our institutions.
We must be able to lobby effectively if we are to succeed in getting the laws we need enacted. Having a friend in the Governor's chair is helpful when it comes to negotiating our terms and conditions of employment. It's impossible to succeed in lobbying without political action. The brilliance or rightness of our arguments rarely persuades politicians. They want to know what we can do for them (or perhaps for their opponents). Those are the hard facts of political life. COPE funds give us political clout.
