THE UNION vs THE TEACHERS is not healthy for our students

As an active member of the WTA since 1999 (when my 2nd daughter began school and 14 years into my teaching career), the idea that "THE UNION" is a separate entity from "THE TEACHERS" has been quite puzzling and at time perturbing to me. I embrace debate that will move our profession forward to better meet the needs of our students and place them on a level playing field with their Finnish, Japanese, and Chinese counterparts. But I completely refute the notion that "The UNION," [in this case the Webster Teachers Association,(WTA) Local #06-205, Affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) as well as the AFL-CIO] serves public education little more than "protecting the bad teachers." 
The Taylor Law, with its Triburough Amendment, combined with our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA aka our Teachers' Contract) serve to protect us from capricious acts by politicians, management, and even at times, our colleagues. There is no "protecting the person" in any unsavory situation - these documents allow our union leadership  to PROTECT THE PROCESS for any teacher - "good" or "bad."
I sincerely hope that in these difficult economic times that we can agree to disagree at times and don't turn to canabalize each other out of frustration.   Additionally, we should recognize the quality if not the quantity of effort and time  the WTA Leadership engages for us, "THE TEACHERS," so that we may have the luxury to focus our efforts on  doing just that: TEACH.