When educators are given the option to join, many don’t
Wisconsin residents learned a valuable lesson in the wake of recent legislation that curbed the collective bargaining power of the state’s teachers union: many educators would prefer not to join their teachers union or pay union dues.
Legislation passed as part of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, commonly known as Act 10, makes payroll deductions for union dues illegal. The result has been a drastic decrease in union revenue, which we believe is a more accurate reflection of the union’s true support in Wisconsin.
We believe that legislation currently under consideration in Pennsylvania would have the exact same result. A package of bills introduced by House Republicans would roll back state laws that currently mandate that state and local government workers, including public school teachers, must pay union dues or fees, according to the PA Independent.
Like many states, Pennsylvania’s public workers are required to join their respective unions or pay a “fair share” fee that typically equates about 80 percent of the cost of a union membership.
Pennsylvania State Education Association President-Elect Michael Crossey told the Independent that “the purpose of assessing fair share fees for nonmembers is to cover appropriate costs and to prevent individuals from becoming free-riders who take the same benefits and services without payment.”
The only problem is that most Pennsylvania teachers never asked for the union’s services to begin with. The PSEA boasts a membership of 191,000 public school teachers, but we suspect that a large number of them don’t support their union’s penchant for strikes, or resistance to needed education reforms.
Eliminating state laws that force residents to join a union as a condition of employment would provide a better picture of the PSEA’s true support from its teacher members. If teachers really support their union, they will pay their dues.
The proposed legislation in Pennsylvania would also allow taxpayers to learn whether or not PSEA actually represents the majority of the state’s teachers. If the union’s solidarity is as solid as it claims, then PSEA bosses have little to fear from the “Right to Work” proposal.
