Union Trouble

In suburban St. Louis' Normandy High School, a cycle of events took place in familiar sequence.

P: Three teachers joined Local 779 of the A.F. of L. American Federation of Teachers, and another applied for membership.

P: Superintendent of Schools Fred B. Miller warned them to stay away from the union "if you have any sense."

P: Last week, after much wrangling, the applicant withdrew his application; one of the new union members was standing firm on the strength of a 17-year tenure, one temporary employe was about to be dismissed, and the fourth man, who had been at Normandy 14 years, was facing dismissal on the pretext that he too was a "temporary" employe.

Up in arms, the struggling local wrote letters to the school board, demanding a prompt hearing. But the chances were that the case would end like many another.

A.F.T., a 29-year-old organization which claims 35,000-odd members and has a sorry history of schisms and Communist infiltration, is the only nationwide teachers union (though C.I.O. has recently set up a National Teachers Division of its State, County and Municipal Workers of America). As public servants, teachers are not protected by the Wagner Act. In Covington, Ky., a Kentucky colonel who had taught a high-school class for 17 years was demoted recently to a fourth-grade job largely because of his A.F.T. activities. In Arlington Heights, Ill., 14 of a total of 28 teachers have been fired or asked to resign in the last year for the same reason.

In St. Louis, the school board put off the union demand until its regular meeting on April 18. Meantime Superintendent Miller reportedly observed that "unions for teachers and professional people are silly."

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