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Your articles on the Washington Teachers’ Union (“Membership Has Its Privileges,” 1/24; Loose Lips, 1/10, 1/24) are great, but they don’t go far enough. Your paper and brethren around the country need to look at the role of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). It does not deserve a free ride simply for blowing the whistle, at long last, on its D.C. affiliate. Why didn’t it catch the problems long ago? And how is it handling its responsibilities in other localities? Not to mention, How are the individual unions handling their funds in said localities? Where unions are concerned, I suspect this is a much bigger scandal than just the one in Washington.
It’s like shooting fish in a barrel, this story and all of its epilogues (including those that may reflect on Mayor Williams’ peculiar associations). There is so much to report on. In any case, I believe you’ve only scratched the surface of mismanagement of union dues and ties to local pols. Washington teachers ought to consider suing the AFT as well as their own union. Where are lawyers when you really need them?
Foxhall