Structural reforms in New Zealand attempted to remove teacher unions from any policy role, and these reforms sought to remove the unions from any involvement in education policy. Ten years later, in spite of a highly charged media campaign and the active anti-unionism of the industrial legislation, teachers still have an important voice in education through their union. The unions accomplished a difficult strategy moving between various definitions of being a union and a profession, between accommodation and resistance, and between militancy and compliance. This paper focuses on the teacher unions active in the state schools sector--the New Zealand Education Institute and the Post Primary Teachers Association. Various state policy initiatives, such as the push for a professional body, the New Zealand Teacher Registration Board, and the search for a teaching code of ethics, pointed up the continuing reliance of the State on teacher involvement. This paper reports Phase One of the historical development of the unions' positions, discusses some of the interview data, and suggests the possible future conflicts that the education unions may face in their dealings with the new government. (Contains 27 references.) (DFR)