Tornillo and his crooked cronies even tried to stael money from teachers who wouldn't join the union. The entire union leadership needs to be investigated!!
Posted on Mon, Jul. 22, 2002
Teachers union wants fee from nonmembers
BY DANIEL A. GRECH
dgrech@herald.com The United Teachers of Dade wants Miami-Dade County schoolteachers and others who aren't members of the union to pay an ''administrative fee'' to help cover the cost of negotiating new contracts that would benefit all district staff.
Under the proposal, the school district would deduct hundreds of dollars a year from the paychecks of about 12,000 teachers, media specialists, counselors, teachers aides and office employees who aren't union members -- and send it to UTD coffers.
If approved by the School Board, the fee would be the first of its kind in Florida, some labor law experts say. Those experts add that it is unclear whether the fee is even allowed under the state's restrictive unionism laws.
The UTD is currently negotiating new contracts for raises and benefits. The final agreement will apply to all of the district's teachers and support staff, regardless of whether they are UTD members.
''Those who don't pay dues get a free ride,'' said Pat Tornillo, president of the 16,000-member UTD. ``The fee provides a mechanism in which all members of a bargaining unit pay their fair share of the costs of bargaining a contract.''
Dues-paying members would not have to pay the negotiating fee because it is incorporated in their dues.
`IT'S INSANE'
Word of the proposed fee has not circulated widely among nonunion teachers.
''It's insane that the UTD wants to take my money for negotiations,'' said Victoria Schoenwiesner, 30, a fourth-year teacher at Nautilus Middle School and a former UTD member who dropped out after two years. She had not heard of the plan until she was contacted Friday.
''The reason I'm no longer part of the UTD is I paid $800 a year [in dues] and had no idea what they did with the money,'' she added. ``If teachers were happy with the UTD, it would have more members.''
Earlier this year, 16,543 school employees -- 59 percent of the approximately 28,000-person bargaining unit -- had union dues taken from their paychecks. Union officials said their membership is higher because some pay dues in cash.
`FEW FOR MANY'
Annual dues for a full-time teacher are $831.20 -- a fee the union says subsidizes the cost of negotiating for nonmembers.
''The few have provided for the many,'' UTD general counsel Leslie Meek said. ``It's time for all teachers to provide their fair share.''
Tornillo presented the fee plan to district officials in June during the first round of contract negotiations, which could last for several months. It was the last of the UTD's 38 negotiating points.
''We just got the proposal and haven't begun negotiating yet,'' said district spokesman Mayco Villafaña. ``It's premature for us to make a statement one way or another.''
APPEAL
''I don't expect the Dade School Board to approve it,'' Tornillo said in a phone interview from Las Vegas, where he was attending an American Federation of Teachers conference. ``That will give us the legal option to go to court.''
Under state law, the union can appeal the district's decision to the Public Employees Relations Commission in Tallahassee, a governor-appointed, three-member board that rules on issues involving public employment and unionism in Florida.
If PERC were in turn to reject the proposal, the union could take its case to the state appellate court.
UNION PRESENCE
Many Northern states with strong union presence, such as Michigan, have labor laws that allow unions to charge a bargaining fee.
Florida, like many Southern states, is different. It is a ''right-to-work'' state, which means a person doesn't have to join a union to hold a job.
''I don't think [a negotiating fee] is legal since this is a right-to-work state,'' said Lee Cohee, a staff attorney at PERC for 25 years. ``But I don't have any knowledge of the issue ever being presented to the commission for a judgment.''
Tornillo said teacher unions in parts of the country with labor-friendly laws have imposed on nonmembers a negotiating fee -- amounting to 70 to 80 percent of regular dues -- to help pay for contract negotiations and associated expenses.
Tornillo said the UTD fee would likely be a similar percentage of dues. He added that in the states that have it, the fee has reduced membership dues for union members because negotiation costs were spread more broadly.
District officials said the union proposal may be a way to overcome recent drops in membership -- a charge the union denied.
Tornillo recognized the proposal could encourage more teachers to join the union because the added benefits of membership would not cost much more than the hefty negotiating fee.
''This increases the possibility that more teachers will join the union,'' Tornillo conceded.
''The history of these fees in other places is that a majority of people who pay 80 percent of dues will end up joining the union to get the rest of its services,'' he said.
Tornillo said the union plans on using an unusual argument to justify the fee: Because attorneys must pay dues to a bar association to practice law, the union should be able to require teachers to pay a fee.
`A CLOSED SHOP'
''The legal profession has a closed shop; you can't practice law unless you belong to the Florida Bar,'' Tornillo said. ``We're not even asking for a closed shop. We're just asking non-dues-paying members to pay a fee equivalent to what dues-paying members pay.''
The PERC's Cohee said it is a novel legal argument: ``I've never heard that one before.''
UTD officials recognize the proposal faces a tough road ahead.
''We're trying to do something a little innovative here by going around the back door,'' said Annette Katz, UTD spokeswoman. 'It's not fair that it costs us a fortune to do others' work.''