Teachers Victorious In Their Quest To Get Out of Union

Two Michigan teachers who filed unfair labor practice complaints against the Michigan Education Association have won their freedom from the union.

The MEA is no longer contesting complaints from Coopersville kindergarten teacher Miriam Chanski and hall of fame wrestling coach William "Ray" Arthur, said Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, which represents the teachers.

Last year, Chanski and Arthur, as well as a group of other teachers from across the state, asked the Mackinac Center to help them get out of their union. The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed complaints on their behalf with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, and the MEA recently gave up its fight against Chanski and Arthur. The cases involving the remaining teachers are still being considered by MERC.

more images … "I am very happy with the outcome and the work that the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation and Patrick Wright did in bringing the proper attention to my case and in following through," Arthur said. "I'm grateful for his help and looking forward to getting the word out to other members who need help along the same lines."

At a hearing last week involving a group of Saginaw teachers who say they also have been bullied and intimidated by the union, Michigan Education Association Executive Director Gretchen Dziadosz said 8,000 of its 112,000 members are not paying dues. In November, Doug Pratt, the MEA's spokesman at the time, testified in front of the Senate Compliance and Accountability Committee and said that about 1,500 members had opted out of the union and no longer were paying dues.

"This is a step in the right direction, but with 8,000 people in jeopardy, clearly more work needs to be done," Wright said.

During the MERC hearing, the MEA presented a dues collection policy that said it will send a collection agency after teachers who have not paid their dues for 90 days or more. Dues and agency fees vary, but on average teachers pay between $900 and $1,000 to the MEA, the National Education Association and their local union.

Michigan's right-to-work law no longer allows unions to get employees fired for not paying dues or fees.

Chanski said she had notified the union of her intent to leave, but the request was ignored because the union said it did not fall within its one-month window in which teachers must resign. The MEA only allows teachers to leave in August and it does not actively inform its members of their right to leave. Chanski said her credit was threatened when she refused to pay dues.

Arthur, who is a gym teacher in Petoskey, said he also was never informed of the August window and threatened with having his credit ruined. He estimated he has paid the MEA more than $30,000 in dues over the course of his 34-year teaching career.

The MEA has agreed to return $303 Arthur said he paid in dues while his case was ongoing, Wright said.

"When right-to-work was passed, my local union and the MEA sent membership all sorts of info on how to make payments for dues. However, not one single iota of information was included about how to opt out of the union," Arthur said. "...It's buried in the bylaws of the union website if you happen to click the right tab."

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation also is representing Susan Bank, a Novi teacher who wants out of the union and says her credit also was threatened. Her case was filed in Oakland County Circuit Court last week.

When I became a born again Christian, I dropped out of my union as I worked in a Right to Work state. As the thugs started on me and my family, I had a couple of friends stand up for me( They basically said it's a free country, let him be), and we had a civil discussion amongst my work crew. They asked why, so I told them. I said they give money to anti-God, baby killers, that want to take my gun and burn my flag. I added they support sodomites and want me to give up eating meat. I gave them quotes from congressmen that praised communists and dictators and I showed them quotes from people they supported that hated America and burned our flag. I asked who liked to hunt,....everyone raised their hand, so I asked how many wanted to give up their guns and proved to them that they supported the people that wanted to outlaw hunting and their guns. I showed them that the people they give money to get murderers off and then kill baby's. I reminded them of who took prayer out of school, who sues to get religious monuments removed, and who wants God removed from the money. I asked who supported the military and who spat on them? There were a couple of blacks in there so I reminded them of who was in the school house door and who sent troops to integrate schools. We discussed who made up the KKK and why it was started. A short history of Woodrow Wilson had to be included and segregation was also included.

To make a long story short, we argued for about an hour, but it got quieter and quieter as the time went on. During that time, it seemed that even if you weren't that religious, the people the union supported were completely anti American, anti Constitution, anti God, anti,.....well anti Texan.

Well, out of 15-16 crew members, only 3 or so stayed in the union after that. As the year ground on, the other crews started to quit also. The union sent a representative down to check out what was going on and were greeted with disdain from the whole garage. They wanted the remaining members to harass and ridicule the quitters, but that was quickly taken care of.

After a year or so, I estimate probably 60% or so had dropped out. A few re joined from family pressure and I believe none of the blacks quit at all. IMO, if every state was Right to Work, the union would dissolve over night.

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