Only the very best would hang around, however they amount of pay is needed to compensate for lack of benifits and security, it would also help pull talent from industry.The Union Pimps (my wife and I pay $130 a month in Union dues, she's a teacher) can go rot.
I am not a member of the union although I work for the union. Nor is my child who has been teaching for more than 13 years now. This explains my comment about tenure protecting poor, non-performing, incompetent teachers.
My liberal co-workers would disagree but "no child left behind" is the only time the educational bar has been raised since LBJ embraced the NEA as being positive for education. LBJ's 'Great Society' has almost destroyed real education in America.
Without really trying I can name a dozen or more teachers who refuse to send their children to public school because of its poor results. IMHO... the number one problem with union management/leadership is intellectual dishonesty; the second problem is that unions committee members are 100% democrat/want-a-be Marxist idealogs who are looking out for #1 and don't give a hoot about children. (These are not PTA enlightened individuals. Volunteer work to aid schools WITHOUT pay is a curse to them.)