CA Teachers Sue for Their Dues

The counterargument from labor union advocates follows like this:

"As an employee in the public sector, you get all the benefits of the
union which negotiates on your behalf. They have every right to make you join,
and make you pay. The union represents you when you get in trouble, too, and
helps you deal with workplace issues."

Not exactly.

Ask any teacher on probationary status in any school district in
California. By virtue of the contracts which they sign, they can be terminated
for any reason during the first two years of the job, yet they still pay dues
to the union, which can do nothing to prevent their termination for any reason.

One local school board member in the South Bay chided the current feckless
state of teachers unions in California. Another teacher shared with me the
utter weakness of her own union, as she struggled with large classes and little
support. If teachers unions are the eight-hundred pound gorilla in the room,
then how come they have done so little for their members in the face of
massive budget cuts, rising class sizes, or and layoffs?

Indeed.

Unions protect unions, not teachers, nor any other members forced into their
ranks. Why should they? Because California is not a right-to-work state,
employees can be forced to join any collective bargaining unit. Such was the
response I received from one representative after one orientation, when I asked
her why I had to join.

States like Wisconsin and Michigan have governors who are not afraid to stand
up to the unions, whether with collective bargaining reforms or right-to-work
legislation. Following Walker’s legislation, seventy teachers’ unions decertified so that individual teachers could keep their money and
spend it on whatever political causes they choose. Here, Governor Brown has
accommodated teachers union. No surprise there, since he is the same governor
who enacted the collective bargaining entitlement for public sector unions,
including teachers during his first administration in the 1970s. Now that Brown
has returned to office, he has little to show for the pension reforms much
needed to curb the growing wall of debt hurting California’s credit and
financial future.

A growing, grassroots
cohort is taking the lead to end the immoral practice of coerced dues from
teachers’ unions. Represented by the Washington-based Center for Individual
Rights,

Defenders of coerced dues and "union-shop" workplace agreements
charge that teachers can easily opt out of paying dues every year. But they
have to opt out on their own every year. Teachers in the LA Times piece, as
well as in personal accounts, will share that they face great opposition to
take back their money, and in many cases they do not get a full reimbursement.

Other concerns about coerced membership and compulsory dues return to the fact
that the unions fund measures and candidates contrary to the support or the
interest of the teachers themselves. Some educators support vouchers, charters
schools, and even school choice, yet teachers' unions routinely oppose such
reforms. Furthermore, the vast majority of unions funds go to Democratic
candidates, even though 40% of teachers' union members in California are registered Republicans.

The California teachers' federal lawsuit initiated in April, 2013 will move to the 9th Circuit early this year. Perhaps with the upswing of right-to-work
legislation throughout the Midwest, particularly Wisconsin Governor Scott
Walker's unparalleled collective bargaining reforms in the Dairy State, and even the growing rage
of California residents with this state's public sector union cabal, public
sector union dominance in the Golden State may be losing its
luster at last.