School atmospheres get ugly when
1. the us-them mentality becomes more pronounced. Teachers suspect administrations and boards of "taking away" from their contractual rights and freedoms. This can give rise to bean counting menial things like minutes per week of supervision duties.
2. no matter which government is in power, the money is no longer available to increase pay and bank sick days or maintain small class sizes. Suddenly the government teachers may have voted for is the enemy and strike action becomes the go to strategy to provoke a return to bettering working conditions. Teacher unions make the case that if concessions are made to the government, no matter how small, the "claw backs" will be unending after that.
3. teachers don't want to go on strike, but typically vote overwhelmingly in support of strike action in order to apply pressure on the board / government and thus, according to union strategy, avoid a strike! When the strike is eventually launched, teachers feel compromised and feel confused about who to blame: the board / government or the union?
4. the public, especially the private sector, has no patience for the claims teachers are making. This creates in teachers a defensive attitude, and a need to huddle, to resort to group think, and think less for themselves.
5. although ethically, teachers who disagree with the union have a choice to stand against the majority vote, politically, are afraid to stand alone and speak out on behalf of the needs of the students.
6. teachers work to rule or because they are demoralized, do the minimum legally required, complain about any requests for additional duties. The school as a work place becomes an "in and out" place, where teachers arrive at the last minute and leave as soon as their teaching day is done.
7. students are not served. They are tolerated, taught formally, but no extra efforts are made to help them grow beyond the basic expectations of the curriculum.
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