Lebanese Teacher Unions Turbulent Times: Their Challenges and Resistance

• In Event: Teaching and leadership for social justice in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Turkey

Proposal

Purpose
This paper examines Lebanese teacher unions’ challenges from the perspective of union leaders and union members (active and inactive). Although news about teacher unions have dominated the Lebanese media about salary scale increase, research on teacher unions in Lebanon seem to be nonexistent. One empirical study, Samaha (2006), was found that has shown a dichotomy between unionism and professionalism among Lebanese teachers, however, this study excluded the perceptions of union leaders.
Theoretical framework
Teacher unions are being accused of obstructing reform initiatives and criticized for disregarding their responsibility as professionals towards education and students and focusing solely on improving teachers’ working conditions (see, for example, Lieberman, 2000; Samaha, 2006; Boyd et al., 2000; Bascia & Osmond, 2012). This accusation overlooks the current political, social, economic context of teacher unions.
Lebanese teacher unions are also perceived to be a self-serving association (Samaha, 2006; El Amine, 1994), which is partially influenced by the image and the discourse that the media presents about teacher unions. Furthermore, politicization of teacher unions in Lebanon occurred in 2015 when Union Coordination Committee resorted to boycotting the proctoring of official exams in hopes of receiving the salary increase. However, with the political instability, political leaders hardly convened in parliament, which resulted in failure to pass the salary increase law and had teachers returning to the streets. As a result of strike, the Minister of Education issued certificates to students, jeopardizing in return students’ academic future and the quality of education. For this study that will contribute to the knowledge base on teacher unions, we used Donaldson et al. (2013) reform-industrial continuum that built on Kerchner and Koppich’s and examine the type of unionism practiced by union leaders.
Methods
This study follows an exploratory qualitative approach conducted during the years 2015-2016 and adopts a constructivist paradigm and Glaser and Strauss (1967) grounded theory research design. There were 38 participants selected including 17 union leaders from the executive committee of Public Primary Schools Teachers League and Public Secondary School Teachers League and 21 union members or teachers. Out of these, 17 participants were female and 21 were male. Data was collected through three methods: formal field interviews, focus groups interviews, and in-depth interviews. Three formal field interviews were used with two primary school union leaders and four active members. Two focus groups were conducted; one with eight primary union leaders and the other with nine inactive union members. In addition, semi-structured interviews was done with the current and former president of secondary union leaders, six primary union leaders, and eight active union members. Semi-structured interviews were first conducted and transcribed and coded. Using constant comparison method data was analyzed and when themes emerged, they were sent to participants for member check. Afterwards, focus groups and field interviews were performed for triangulation purposes.
Results
Participants agreed that teacher unions face organizational barriers such as use of ineffective union strategies, the lack of unity among union members, lack of supportive conditions needed to facilitate union work, and loyalty of union leaders and union members to political parties. For example, a secondary active union (AS5) stated, “The UCC conducted a strike and refused to correct official exams until the salary and scale increases were provided. The Minister refused to respond to the demands and issued certificates. As a result, we had some of the worst quality students.” Respondent AS1 also conveyed politicization of union when she said, “unfortunately, the executive committees in the leagues became representatives of political parties.”
As for legal barriers, they were the lack of legal recognition of union, authoritarian decisions imposed by the Minister of Education and Higher Education, and punitive decrees against unionizing in the public sector. One of primary union leaders (UP3) conveyed his concern “the first challenge is that we are not a union. We are a cultural league, established under pressure, through a decree issued by the Minister. This league is under the jurisdiction of the Minister: if he decides to eradicate it, he can.”
Participants highlighted the political barriers in union work to be manipulation of public perception about teacher unions, lack of union participation in educational policies, and influence of international development agencies on education policy. Active union members discussed how politicians are influencing the media. Primary active member AP5 conveyed, “They [governing authority] show that teachers have taken all their rights and that they have no aim but to disrupt the school so that they can sit at home and relax.” In addition, the former president discussed Paris III conference. He stated, “we are fighting a project controlling the country. This project, which was part of Paris III and is related to World Bank and International Monetary Fund, is neoliberalism, the beast that has swept all third world countries.”
Conclusion
The results of this study indicate that teacher unions in Lebanon are using an industrial-reform approach but the existing policies restrict the definition of unionism under the label of “leagues”, placing the decision-making power in the hands of the Ministry of Education. In addition, Lebanese teacher unions cannot address external challenges, such as the impact of neoliberalism if leaders do not resolve their internal challenges that result in the lack of unity among their members and the absence of future successors for their unions because of the lack of union training. Moreover, teacher unions should work on conducting educational workshops that can help their members professionally develop in their careers. Raising the professional standards of their members might help change the community’s view of teachers and win their support.
Significance
The results of this study provides union leaders with valuable information that can be used to further engage teachers who are active and reach teachers who are inactive members, and to increase their participation in teacher unions. This study adds to the existing yet limited knowledge base in Lebanon and the region on unionism and teacher unions and is beneficial for other researchers who wish to conduct similar research on teacher unions in Lebanon or the Arab region.

Authors

• Emma Ghosn, University of Toronto

• Rima Karami Akkary, American University of Beirut