AT WAR WITH THE TEACHERS UNIONS: Part 3 - Here Are Some Sample Forms to Opt Out

AT WAR WITH THE TEACHERS UNIONS series | 11-11-05 | Doug from Upland

[doug from upland]

Part 1 - Are You Ready to Enlist and Fight the Great Battle?
Part 2 - Teachers Have the Right to Take a Religious Exemption

NOTE: this is Part 3 in a series of posts in which we will discuss concrete steps to do battle with and ultimately substantially defund teachers unions. These unions are clearly a subsidiary of the DemocRATic Party, and they are a big part of what is wrong with public education.

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Ryan Bedford of the EVERGREEN FREEDOM FOUNDATION emailed these forms as examples of what they are doing in the state of Washington.

Dear Teacher:

It's that time of year again! Don't forget to request a refund from the Washington Education Association (WEA) for the percentage of your dues it spends on politics and other activities not representing you on your job.

While the WEA provides workplace representation services many teachers value, it admits to spending approximately 25 percent of your dues dollars influencing the outcome of elections and political controversies. Some of these activities are consistent with your views. Others are not.

WEA and NEA officials admit they overcharge for "workplace representation" by about $200 per teacher each year.

If you disagree with the way the WEA spends this part of your dues, there are two options available.

1. Become an "Agency Fee Payer."
2. Become a "Religious Objector."

Agency fee payers are entitled to a refund of union dues. Apply for the refund by filing out the union resignation letter at the bottom of this e-mail. Send it to the WEA and a copy to your local union. For more information, please visit www.myrefund.com.

Alternatively, if you object to supporting union activities based on a personal religious belief, you may become a religious objector. Unions must accommodate your religious beliefs and allow you to redirect 100 percent of your dues to a charity. To learn more about this option and the controversial activities the union supports with your money, go to: www.ichoosecharity.org.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Have a great holiday season!

Sincerely,

Michael Reitz
Evergreen Freedom Foundation
P.O. Box 552 | Olympia, WA 98507
info@effwa.org

To stop receiving updates, please reply with "remove" in your subject line. If you wish to receive more frequent updates on union issues, please reply with "updates" in the subject line and your preferred e-mail address.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation's Teachers Paycheck Protection project has been underway since 1996. It was initiated at the request of teachers concerned that their union dues were being used to support political candidates and initiatives with which they did not agree. EFF's mission is to advance individual liberty, free enterprise and limited, accountable government.

Download resignation letter here:
http://www.effwa.org/pdfs/non-dated%20letter.PDF

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RESIGNATION LETTER
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Armand Tiberio
Executive Director
Washington Education Association
PO Box 9100
Federal Way, WA 98063-9100

RE: Affirmation of association resignation, and agency fee objection

Dear Mr. Tiberio:

If I am not already listed in your records as an agency fee payer, I wish to resign from the NEA, WEA, UniServ and the local education association.

I object to the use of my agency fees by the NEA, WEA, UniServ Council, and local association for nonchargeable activities (i.e. not related to collective bargaining, contract management and grievance assistance).

I wish to receive a refund of the percentage of my fee used for nonchargeable expenditures, with a full explanation of the calculation of the amounts that are chargeable and nonchargeable and of the unions' characterization of items as chargeable or nonchargeable.

Full name:

Home address:

City, State, Zip Code:

Home phone:

School district:

School phone:

Type of Position (K-12 teacher, college faculty, etc):

Amount Employed (Part, Full, Sub):

Local Association:

__________________________________
Signature & Date

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Subject: Refund from NEA or Dues to Charity?

Dear Educator,

The Washington Education Association charges an average of $760 per year for "workplace representation" and other activities. Because only the workplace representation portion is mandatory, many around the state receive a refund from the union.

Today would be ideal to send in your request for a refund. WEA and NEA officials admit they overcharge for "workplace representation" by about $200 per teacher each year. Those funds are returned to district employees who resign from union membership and request it using the letter below. Learn more at http://www.myrefund.org

Educators who have a religious objection to the union's agenda and activities may, instead, designate the full amount of their dues to charity. To learn more about this option and the controversial activities the union supports with members dues check out:

http://www.ichoosecharity.org

To receive a booklet describing the charity option, please reply with a mailing address. I welcome your questions.

_____________________________________
Jami Lund
Evergreen Freedom Foundation
PO Box 552
Olympia, WA 98507
http://www.defendteachers.org

__________
This message is sent as an informational alert for public employees regarding a time-specific issue relevant to your workplace. However, if you wish to have your name added to our "do not send" list, simply reply with "remove" in the subject line.

If you wish to join thousands of other district employees who receive more frequent updates, reply with "updates" in the subject line.

__________
letter to resign and request a refund
__________

Armand Tiberio
Executive Director
Washington Education Association
PO Box 9100
Federal Way, WA 98063-9100

RE: Affirmation of association resignation, and agency fee objection and challenge.

Dear Mr. Tiberio:

If I am not already listed in your records as an agency fee payer, I wish to resign from the NEA, WEA, UniServ and the local education association.

I object to the use of my agency fees by the NEA, WEA, UniServ Council, and local association for nonchargeable activities (i.e. not related to collective bargaining, contract management and grievance assistance).

I wish to receive a refund of the percentage of my fee used for nonchargeable expenditures, with a full explanation of the calculation of the amounts that are chargeable and nonchargeable and of the unions' characterization of items as chargeable or nonchargeable.

I also request a review by an impartial decisionmaker of the WEA's calculation of the chargeable percentage and therefore challenge the refund amount.

Full name:

Home address:

City, State, Zip Code:

Home phone:

School district:

School phone:

Type of Position (K-12 teacher, college faculty, etc):

Amount Employed (Part, Full, Sub):

Local Association:

__________________________________
Signature & Date

[Digger]

You want your union money back??? ROTFLMAO!!!

[Aquinasfan]

Choose a Christian charity. The unions will love that.

[doug from upland]

LANDMARK FORCES CALIFORNIA TEACHERS UNION TO REFUND POLITICAL FUNDS TO TEACHERS
Landmark Legal Foundation ^ | 10/27/05 | Landmark Legal Foundation


Posted on 10/27/2005 9:16:32 AM PDT by wcdukenfield


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

Eric Christensen

October 27, 2005

703-554-6100

703-554-6119 (fax)

eric@landmarklegal.org

www.landmarklegal.org



(LEESBURG, VA)…Landmark Legal Foundation won a significant victory recently when it forced the California Teachers Union (CTA) to offer full refunds to nonunion, fee paying teachers for a special $60 per teacher assessment that the union is using to fund a $50 million campaign to defeat ballot initiatives in the November 5 special election.


Landmark filed a complaint on September 14 with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) documenting how the union’s special assessment would be used to retire a $50 million debt amassed for the sole purpose of financing a campaign to defeat initiatives 75, 76 and others on the November ballot. Under state law, teachers who are not members of the union, but who are required to pay a fee for collective bargaining representation, are allowed to seek a refund of any part of their fee used for political purposes. After Landmark filed its complaint, the CTA notified nonmember teachers that the full $60 surcharge will be refunded to all fee payers who request it by November 15, 2005.


“Non-CTA teachers who had no say in deciding the union’s positions on these ballot initiatives shouldn’t be made to pay for the union’s campaign against them,” said Mark R. Levin, Landmark’s president. “Calling this assessment ‘debt retirement’ for a debt that is being used exclusively for political activity wouldn’t pass the smell test, and the union leadership knew it. They made the refund offer because they simply had no choice. Otherwise, it would have been a case of confiscation without representation.”


Earlier complaints by Landmark against the National Education Association (NEA) for its unreported use of tax exempt member and fee payer dues for political purposes resulted in an ongoing full-field audit by the Internal Revenue Service and an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor. Landmark is a public interest law firm founded in 1976 with offices in Kansas City, MO and Leesburg, VA.

[doug from upland]

Perhaps choosing the Boy Scouts would be nice.

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Professor Prevails, Union Capitulates
PACIFIC JUSTICE INSTITUTE
23 April, 2003
San Luis Obispo, CA - After a year of battling, the Cuesta College Federation of Teachers finally agreed to allow one of its professors to have all of his union dues diverted to a charity of his choice. Despite making repeated requests, Professor Paul Bauer had previously been denied the right to divert his mandatory "fair share" union fees to a charity that did not conflict with his religious convictions. The choice of charities to which the union had restricted this instructor were the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance, and a local scholarship fund that was clearly geared toward furthering labor union interests.


Acting on behalf of the instructor, the Pacific Justice Institute made several written formal demands to the union that it either provide a list of acceptable charities, or allow the instructor to independently select his own desired charities. In order to prevent a lawsuit against them, the union finally capitulated. "I am relieved this is finally over," said Professor Bauer. "I did not want to go to trial, but would have if it had been necessary. I am extremely grateful to Pacific Justice Institute and their Affiliate Attorney Richard Kahdeman for their valuable representation."


"Under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the unions not only have a legal obligation to refrain from discriminating on the basis of religion, they must reasonably accommodate the religious practices and beliefs of the employees they purportedly represent," said Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute. "Compliance with Title VII does not end with the union grudgingly agreeing to divert a religious objector's fees to charity. The whole purpose of accommodation would be defeated if an employee could be made to support an organization or fund that profoundly offends his religious convictions."


The Pacific Justice Institute is a non-profit 501(c)(3) legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties.


PACIFIC JUSTICE INSTITUTE
P.O. Box 4366 • Citrus Heights • CA • 95611
Phone:(916) 857-6900 • Fax:(916) 857-6902
info@pacificjustice.org

[wintertime]

Doug,

The only real solution for parents is to remove their children from government schools. Immediately! Why? Because there is no possible way the the government schools can be reformed to your liking within the educational lifetime of any K-12 school child alive today.

Then the next action that needs to be taken is to educate the public on the IMPOSSIBILITY of any government school being entirely respectful to all the varied moral,cultural, political, and religious or nonreligious beliefs in any community. The government school WILL be establishing and upholding the worldview of some and trashing the most closely held political, cultural, and religious beliefs of others.

Just as a government imposed state religion is a violation of freedom of conscience, so are state schools.

We must begin the process of privatizing universal K-12 education.

We must have complete separation of SCHOOL and state.

The following is an excellent essay on the unconstitutionality of government schools:


http://www.newswithviews.com/Stuter/stuter9.htm

[Aquinasfan]

The choice of charities to which the union had restricted this instructor were the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance, and a local scholarship fund that was clearly geared toward furthering labor union interests.

They really are the scum of the earth.

[doug from upland]

They can't all be removed immediately, but the solution is vouchers and choice, and we are in general agreement.

We are on the same side. I appreciated this post much more than the other one in which you attacked the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. They are doing incredible work.

[doug from upland]

The union ultimately backed down. Unfortunately, the money went to the United Way. I hope a teacher has the guts to designate the Boy Scouts.

[wintertime]

jeremiah,

I simple can not abide by the Everygreen's stand on trying to "reform" government schooling. Why? So that they can impose their agenda on others?

Remember, if government schools are powerful enough to impose an Evergreen agenda on other people's children, then government schools are powerful enough to impose the NEA agenda on all of us.

Solution: Get rid of the power. Get rid of the government schools.

I will look into their other positions, maybe they have stands on other issues that I can support.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Salvation Army. Or the Boy Scouts.

[doug from upland]

If you are going to attack my friends at Evergreen, I would appreciate you staying off these threads. It is not helpful to this effort. Thanks.

[doug from upland]

PJI Supports Teachers’ Conscientious Objections to Latest Union Fee Increase

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City: Sacramento, CA –
Many California teachers are expressing their opposition to recent actions taken by their union to raise fees for political purposes.

The California Teachers’ Association recently decided to levy an additional $6 per month fee on teachers statewide for the alleged purpose of fighting Gov. Schwarzenegger’s education proposals. Pacific Justice Institute has been contacted by numerous teachers who have voiced their concerns over the CTA’s latest effort to flex its political muscle at the expense of teachers.

Some teachers have been told—erroneously—that they cannot opt out of this new assessment. However, federal law is clear that no employee can be forced to support political or ideological causes with which he or she disagrees. Unionized employees have the right to become religious or political objectors, either diverting their full dues to charity, or receiving a refund for the portion of their dues which would otherwise be spent for political causes. In this way, employees can ensure that their funds are not used for purposes which contradict their beliefs.

Similarly, Pacific Justice Institute has also been contacted by teachers and other employees who have been told they must belong to a particular religious group, or get a statement from their religious leader, before they can opt out of union dues. The U. S. Supreme Court has clearly stated that making such distinctions based on which religious group one belongs to is unconstitutional. PJI urges anyone who wishes to opt out of their union dues, including those who may have been stonewalled in their efforts to opt out, to contact us immediately.

“It’s sad that so many teachers who give themselves to our nation’s youth are being distracted from their mission by having to fight their own unions,” stated Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute. “Our attorneys and staff are working hard to counteract the rampant misinformation regarding employees' rights.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The Pacific Justice Institute is a non-profit 501(c)(3) legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties.

P.O. Box 276600 Sacramento, CA 95827-6600
Phone: (916) 857-6900 Fax (916) 857-6902 Internet: www.pacificjustice.org