This video is a few years old but it just about sums up teacher union involvement in the school system.

This is the part that gets me (begins at 1:31):

"Closing achievement gaps, reducing dropout rates, improving teacher quality...need not and must not be achieved at the expense of due process, employee rights, and collective bargaining. That's simply too high a price to pay"

Is this the dynamic we want at play in our school system?