Antonucci - Oklahoma Teachers Want to Impeach NEA Union Officer and Change to AFT - A WTF Moment

Larry Cagle, one of the co-founders of Oklahoma Teachers United, issued an additional threat. He told KTUL in Tulsa that if his group can’t impeach the OEA officers, he’ll urge OEA members to drop their membership and reorganize under the auspices of the American Federation of Teachers. “If we can’t get rid of the leadership at OEA, then we will just rebuild the state through AFT,” he said.... EIA

Mike Antonucci has another interesting piece on how teacher activists with the leading independent force in Oklahoma, Oklahoma Teachers United , want to impeach their NEA union leaders. The funniest line was the one in the preface from one of the OAU leaders, Larry Cagle, who is using the threat of joining with Randi as a cudgel. Good luck with that path.

Effort Underway to Impeach Oklahoma Union Officers

The emergence of teacher groups organized mostly outside of the union structure is one of the most surprising aspects of this year’s protests. Connected through Facebook, these groups have either supplemented or supplanted formal union leadership of the walkouts.

For the most part their dealings with the unions have been cordial, but in Oklahoma the united front that existed during the strike has given way to open revolt.

Oklahoma Teachers United has turned its grassroots organizing skills toward an effort to impeach Oklahoma Education Association president Alicia Priest and vice president Katherine Bishop, primarily for incompetence in running the walkout and selling it out by ending it without achieving anything substantial.

“No strategy was developed or communicated to measure progress during the OEA walkout,” reads the list of charges posted on Facebook.

The timing isn’t great, since Priest and Bishop were reelected to their posts while the walkout was going on.

Larry Cagle, one of the co-founders of Oklahoma Teachers United, issued an additional threat. He told KTUL in Tulsa that if his group can’t impeach the OEA officers, he’ll urge OEA members to drop their membership and reorganize under the auspices of the American Federation of Teachers.

“If we can’t get rid of the leadership at OEA, then we will just rebuild the state through AFT,” he said.

They are not being subtle about it. One recent post reads: “DROP YOUR UNION MEMBERSHIP NOW!!!!! Make the unions take note that our membership dues is not their country club dues. They either change and adapt with the times or they die!!!!!”

They’re serious, but exclamation points don’t automatically transform into accomplishments. Oklahoma Teachers United may find the formal union governance system a more formidable opponent than the state legislature ever was.