Posted on 10/14/2014 3:20:44 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
Teachers in Wisconsin's public schools have learned a major lesson from the state's landmark 2011 law neutering public sector unions, with more than a third dropping out of their labor organization.
Given no choice but to join and pay dues to the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) for decades, teachers have for the last three years been able to opt out. And that is what tens of thousands have done as a result of Gov. Scott Walker’s Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill, also known as Act 10.
“Given the evidence, it shows that the union's hold is softening," Patrick Wright, vice president of legal affairs for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, told FoxNews.com
The bill essentially requires the WEAC to mount a recertification drive every year to ensure that a majority wants its representation. The Act also prevents public sector employers from automatically collecting dues and passing them along to unions. Since June 2011, teacher enrollment in the WEAC has dropped nearly a third from nearly 100,000 members, and the smaller union AFT-Wisconsin has fallen more than half from its peak membership of 16,000.
"As soon as I was given the choice, I left," Amy Rosno, a teacher with the virtual class program at the Waukesha school system, told FoxNews.com. "I never really understood the union anyway."
Rosno said she had a better understanding once she was asked to be a representative for her department and attended her first WEAC meeting.
"I realized that it was all political and not about teaching," she said.
Teachers who spoke to the nonprofit education think tank EAGnews.org said they were glad to be free of the union's grip, especially because of the perception their dues were spent on political contributions.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
That’s why any news that shows their grip weakening is quite welcome, and enough to pop a beer over!
Agreed
FTA: “Despite losing the policy battle, the union still pressures teachers to join, according to some interviewed by EAG.
“I worked with a young teacher who was thinking of leaving the union and she was actually scared to leave,” Deena Ferguson, a teacher at Fox Prairie Elementary, in Stilton, told the site, adding that WEAC often uses fear to recruit new teachers, suggesting they need protection from administrators.
“If the union is so beneficial and good, people will want to join on the principle and the merits and not be forced to join,” she said.
Rosno agreed, telling Foxnews.com that many teachers are left in a precarious position.
“There’s still a lot of fear,” she said. ‘A lot of teachers are afraid to admit that they support [Gov.] Walker. Many of them felt a lot of backlash. It still continues and they are afraid to show public support for the governor.”
People need to be made aware of the fear and intimidation that Libs and unions use. They are tyrants at heart.
I'm new in a Public employees’ union in NYS, and I couldn't agree more.
It's all about politics and Liberal ideology, and getting their guy in the governorship. Unions have no business trying to buy who their boss is going to be.
Up until May I worked as a non-union public employee, and got paid about 9% less than a union worker for the same exact job; so much for equal pay for equal work. Non-union employees haven't had a raise since 2008, while the unions have had 2. I was promoted and the new job was a union job, whether I wanted to be in or not. The pay raise was too much too pass up. I've already opted out of having any of my dues go to political donations, so once a year the union will be sending me a check for about 50$.
I'd rather not have been put in the union, but the pay scale discrepancy was too big, I couldn't afford to stay non-union.
Most “educators” aren’t very educated. Otherwise she would have been familiar with this writings and quotes.
In 1936, the National Education Association stated its position, from which they have never wavered; “We stand for socializing the individual.”
The NEA in its “Policy For American Education” stated, “The major problem of education in our times arises out of the fact that we live in a period of fundamental social change. In the new democracy [we were a Republic] education must share in the responsibility of giving purpose and direction to social change. The major function of the school is the social orientation of the individual. Education must operate according to a well-formulated social policy.”
Paul Haubner, specialist for the NEA, tells us, “The schools cannot allow parents to influence the kind of values-education their children receive in school; that is what is wrong with those who say there is a universal system of values. [Christians?] Our (humanistic) goals are incompatible with theirs. We must change their values.”
More at the link.
http://bureaucraticdaycare.blogspot.com/2011/05/quotes-of-day-national-education.html
I agree with your take on it.
Personally I think it’s wrong for a union to take funds and put it down on any politician.
The employees can support who they want privately.
They have a voice. They don’t need to union on this.
I’m surprised only a third dropped out.
In the other state worker unions (my husband works for the state) I hope the drop out rate was much higher.
We were forced to pay dues to the commies for over 20 years.
It was a happy day when we were freed from that.
That's because most of the teachers are brainwashed!
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Yes, most of the public skool teachers are total libtards.
I expected more of them to be cheapskates that would not want to pay dues.
Prior to the new law, ALL teachers had to join. Now, they've lost about 35-40% of their members. So does that mean that when less than 50% of teachers belong, they can't win a certifying election..and they can do longer bargain?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.