Lawmakers Push to Make Teachers Unions Optional
Friday, January 27, 2012
Membership and dues in Rhode Island’s teachers unions would become optional under a piece of legislation introduced by State Senator Nicholas Kettle.
The legislation, which is sponsored by Glenford Shibley and Francis Maher, is the latest in a series of bills being introduced by lawmakers in states all over the country. On Tuesday, Indiana’s House of Representatives approved a similar bill that will make Indiana the first upper Midwest state to institute a “right to work” law.
Kettle, who is studying education at Rhode Island College, said making union membership optional would ultimately allow school districts to hire and retain teachers based on performance. His bill would put a non-binding referendum question on the state ballot as to whether union membership for teachers should be voluntary.
“Teachers in Rhode Island deserve a choice,” Kettle said. “The National Education Association (NEA) uses questionable tactics when dealing with our legislature, and this behavior undermines the very spirit of our education system, harming the reputation of many fine teachers and placing our children at the bottom of our priority list.”
Union Leaders Opposed
The bill is likely to face staunch opposition from teachers union leaders in the state. NEA government relations director Pat Crowley said the bill does little to help the middle class.
"As we see across the country State's with laws Senator Kettle wants to enact have lower standards of living and unhealthy levels of job safety protection,” Crowley said. “The irony is as some conservative politicians look to ease regulations on corporations, bills like this increase legal red tape for workers and unions. The results are always the same: more profits for the 1%, more work for the 99%."
Frank Flynn, President of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals, said Kettle’s bill is simply another attempt to weaken organized labor.
“Sen. Kettle's bill is similar to a number of bills which are being submitted nationally by right wing, anti-union, ultra conservative groups like ALEC whose only goal is to eliminate the middle class by attempting to weaken organized labor,” Flynn said. “Collective bargaining gives teachers a voice in their profession. It is interesting that he is not going after organizations like the American Bar Association which is mandatory for all attorneys.”
All About Politics
Under current state law, teachers are required to be members of the teachers union. Kettle claims the dues teachers pay are often used for political campaigns.
“The NEA has a mission to protect traditional non-performance based salaries, large unsustainable benefit packages and job security for all – even those that fail children,” Kettle said. “The current union membership practices simply do not support excellence in education.”
Lisa Blais, who heads up the Ocean State Tea Party in Action, agreed with Kettle. She said it all goes back to politics.
“Our public school teachers are mandated, by law, to pay union dues or agency fees as a condition of employment. Teacher unions may state that a reduced amount might be imposed for the cost of representing its mandated membership at the bargaining table,” Blais said. “Either way, mandated payments as a condition of employment removes the freedom of choice for our public school teachers while utilizing their money to advance the political goals of the unions; goals that many of its members may not support.”
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Comments:
Harriet Lloyd
9:20am on Friday, January 27, 2012
Why should free, hard-working Americans be forced to join unions, and why should taxpayers pay the clerical costs of extracting union dues from public workers' paychecks? Let unions collect dues directly from membership. It's the leadership of public unions that benefit most from forced unionism, not the workers. People interested in the National Right to Work movement should visit nrtw.org and note the growing number of states opting for this very sensible legislation. It is anything but 'right wing' and all about union leaders padding their own bank accounts and cushy retirement packages.
Bob Quindazzi
9:46am on Friday, January 27, 2012
Although this has almost no chance of passing, I am hopeful it starts the debate and that it can in future years.
Union leadership opposes this measure for one reason only- that it will deny them funding. All the nonsense about class politics is just so much obfuscation. I, for one, am tired of having money extorted from me every year then seeing the majority of it (illegally) used for political purposes.
Mike Govern
10:12am on Friday, January 27, 2012
Yes!! But no way this is happening is the State. Too many Union captured Pols.
David Beagle
11:28am on Friday, January 27, 2012
There is a better chance at Gordon Fox, "friending" Rush Limbaugh than there is of this bill EVER passing.
john paycheck
12:07pm on Friday, January 27, 2012
i often wonder how much of dues would be paid if union members had to write their own check to pay them rather than them being paid via payroll deduction.
Russ Hryzan
12:57pm on Friday, January 27, 2012
These union hack leaders are so full of their own BS it's not even funny. Why it's even constitutionally permissible to force someone into a contract and extort money from them as a condition of employment is just unconscionable. Unions hold intimidating public votes where union members are pressured into voting for things they don't support and voting for people they don't support (and this is very well-documented). Nobody that's playing with a full deck would actually support forced unionization with its well-known widespread abuse of workers rights (via intimidation tactics) during voting processes and forced extortion of dues as a condition of having a job. True workers rights are achieved with a Right to Work law. If the unions are truly supportive and beneficial to the employees, and they do things within reason, they should have nothing to fear from a Right to Work law.
Gary Arnold
7:35pm on Friday, January 27, 2012
Rights to work will not fly in RI for the very reason we are in deep trouble, the UNIONs are bringing us all down and the RI politicians are subs for the UNION. Get rid of the public service unions for fire, police, teachers and municiple workers and politicians.
Michael Trenn
9:17pm on Friday, January 27, 2012
Great Idea! We should discuss.
econ oneoone
11:28am on Saturday, January 28, 2012
"When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of schoolchildren." Albert Shanker, founder of the United Federation of Teachers.
I think that pretty well sums it up vis a vis teachers unions.
pearl fanch
8:07am on Monday, January 30, 2012
Oh sure, what could possibly go wrong with this idea?
I'm sure the non union teachers will get fair placement, just as the union teachers will.
Seriously?!?!?!??!