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| Forced Union Teachers “Held Hostage” |
| posted by: Alix | March 18, 2011, 03:22 PM |
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Since the labor battle broke in Wisconsin we have been hearing from teachers across the country in forced union states who take issue with paying forced dues. Teachers who don’t see value in a one-size-fits-all system to teachers who do not want to support certain union-funded political causes have all been speaking out. Recently a teacher in the compulsory union state of California penned an op-ed that has resonated with the thousands of other teachers who do not want to support the union in their state. Mark Prather is an elementary school teacher in the Corona-Norco Unified School District and is forced to support the California Teachers Association and the local Corona-Norco Teachers Association as a condition of employment. He, like many others, does not see value in union membership and takes offense to their stances on certain political issues that conflict with his personal beliefs. He writes, “The teachers union spends millions of dollars of its members' dues each year on issues like these that have nothing to do with teaching children. They employ an army of full-time political operatives, and the top union leaders make huge salaries.” Mr. Prather correctly illustrates where the unions spend money and as a result, in forced union states, teachers are forced to pay upwards of $1,000 a year for union membership to support partisan politics and hundreds of employees. Not only does Mr. Prather take issue with where the union spends their money but the unprofessional tactics encouraged by the NEA and their Wisconsin affiliate. “I don't feel solidarity with the mobs that occupied the beautiful, historic capital building in Madison, Wisconsin, and did more than $6 million in damage to it. I don't admire those teachers who abandoned their students, calling in ‘sick’ using bogus doctor's excuses, stated Prather.” The fact is there are thousands of teachers like Mr. Prather. Teachers are just like everyday Americans with diverse political and professional ideals. Many do not see value in a labor union and are seeking alternatives that provide professional benefits without the stigmas involved in labor unions. With legislation in the many state houses across the country seeking to end forced unionism, one day we hope all teachers will able to decide for themselves who to associate themselves and where to spend their hard earned dollars. Click here to read Mr. Prather’s editorial. Do you feel “held hostage” by having to support a union in your state? Comment below.
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Comments (1)
Adjunct Instructor; SDCCD written by Southside Hawk, March 19, 2011
Way to go, Mark and thank you. I am also in California and being held hostage by AFT. We face incredible budget cuts which I strongly suspect will eliminate my position, but rest assured my union local with it's automatic confiscation of my/the taxpayers $ is not interested in that, unless they can then tax me and you even more! Two months ago I wrote our local's treasurer requesting as per their instructions that the portion of my dues that goes to elect corruptocrats like Brown and Obama be paid into a charity. Never heard back from her. Well, no wonder; she was too busy drafting a email to all us hostages asking us to put up the 14 AWOL Democrat WI senators in our houses -a sunny vacation for what I believe were whining cowards. Our local was planning to transport them out here. The rest of the time, our president is writing emails telling up to tell our students in class time to call those baaaaad republican state senators to vote for getting the tax package on the ballot in June. "It is legal" he writes. Yeah, well its not ethical. But then these union bosses truely believe in "the end justifying the means".
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