Halt the union dues opt out requirement
Friday, August 29, 2008Written by: Uncle Charley
You can come down from your Obama high now, back to the dull, breathable troposphere, to mull over something important right before Labor Day weekend …
An interesting op-ed appeared this week from the far distant shores of tiny Rhode Island that rings just as true from Colorado’s mile-high elevation. Association of American Educators president Gary Beckner writes:
According to recent research by the National Institute for Labor Relations, nearly 1.3 million teachers, or 43 percent of all public-school teachers in America, are forced to pay union dues and must do so even if they disagree with their union, its principles, or its political agenda. Refusal to pay can and will result in termination of employment.
Colorado is not as bad as many states in this regard, but there still are five school districts with negotiated policies requiring all non-union member teachers to opt out of paying the full equivalent of union dues each year (a “dues equivalency” that comes with none of the perceived benefits of membership):
- Colorado Springs 11 (though in the past few years they have honored previous revocation requests)
- Pueblo 60
- Pueblo 70
- Alamosa
- South Conejos [Antonito]
As listed here, District 11 teachers have to opt out by September 16, teachers in both Pueblo school districts have until Friday the 13th (scary!), Alamosa teachers only have between September 10-20, and the deadline in South Conejos is September 17. Miss the deadline, and forfeit upwards of $700 over the course of the school year.
Each year, hundreds of teachers (and hundreds of classified employees) have to go through the ritual of filling out a form that basically says: “Yes, I’m really sure I don’t want to have the full amount of union dues deducted from my paycheck. Thank you very much.” So much for voluntarism and freedom of choice. What if you had to fill out a form each year to prevent payment to a cable company, medical clinic, or food delivery service you didn’t use? There would be a little outrage, I think.
Except the problem is that union dues equivalency includes money spent on politics, and the non-union teachers who happen to miss the deadline for unfortunate (or other) circumstances don’t know that. As Beckner points out, even union members might not be happy about the political spending:
According to an NEA survey by Michigan-based Star Research in 2005, 50 percent of NEA members considered themselves politically “conservative” or “tend conservative.” Only 40 percent described themselves as “liberal” or “leaned liberal.”
Why the disconnect between members’ political views and NEA spending? Two words: forced dues. Teachers cannot withdraw their financial support to hold the union accountable.
While many educators support their local union, they may desire to opt out of their state and national unions. Unfortunately, the NEA imposes a unified dues structure that does not permit supporting the local union without also funding the state union and the NEA.
All of Colorado can do better than to require its hard-working educators to say no year after year to membership in any group, especially to one as politically active as the NEA.
August 29th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
As long as teachers are forced to pay dues, our unions will continue to push an agenda that benefits the union and not always the members. Your point is well taken but likely not to be heeded as most members are not really aware of what their unions are doing. Even if they are, they feel hopeless to fight back against the very organization that is supposed to represent them.
Meanwhile, they keep increasing our dues and using it to push political agendas that most often conflict with my values. I am powerless to stop them and my dues are extorted from me without my consent.
Meanwhile, they market all kinds of “savings” programs at us to try and squeeze more money out of every dime we spend. The unions used to stand for something and speak for us, the national ones seldom do now and locally if you are lucky they aren’t totally inept when you actually do need to call on them to defend you against unfair action.
It’s time we all stood united AGAINST the unions who are supposed to stand for us.