Pro-life teachers angered by march

The Washington Times ^ | Today | George Archibald

[jcb8199]

Thousands of pro-life teachers and school staff required to belong to the National Education Association across the country are offended by the union's co-sponsorship of a pro-choice march in Washington this Sunday. The NEA headquarters on 16th Street NW near the White House will act as a hospitality center for the March for Freedom of Choice while the union's nearby state affiliates in New Jersey and elsewhere are organizing buses to bring demonstrators for the event.

The march is being organized by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union, National Organization for Women, NARAL Pro-Choice America and other liberal and feminist groups. Abortion "is a political issue and not an educational issue," said NEA member Connie Bancroft, a middle-school teacher for handicapped children in Mahoning County, Ohio, who opposes NEA's sponsorship of the march.

[jcb8199]

Ugh.

[Annie03]

A stunning example of the problem with unions. One must pay dues, and the leadership does what they please (such as political campaign contributions and endorsements). Ugh

[Chewbacca]

Are the dues automatically stolen out of their paychecks, or do they give it willingly?

If it is automatically deducted and they don't want to be a member, isn't it theft?

[Psalm 73]

I believe the march is on Sunday (25th).
Apparently there is a pretty good-sized counter-protest being organized for an eight-block stretch of the route.
I'm thinking of going down (I'm in CT) for the day if I can hook-up with some people either up here or down there.
Anyone know of any additional info?

[Migraine]

NEA members receive liability, health and life insurance, which is why most school personnel stay with the union despite objections to its pro-choice stance

That doesn't pass the smell test. There are any number of ways to get that insurance at even lower rates. Thank God I am in a state where NEA is optional. I have now exercised that option 26 years in a row.

[Sunshine Sister]

I'm pleased to see some of these teachers starting to stand up for their rights.

[Steve_Seattle]

The other problem here is unions, as unions, involving themselves in issues which have nothing to do with the purpose of the union.

[fullchroma]

It makes sense that the NEA promote abortion -- more abortions, smaller class sizes.

[Brian Allen]

Pro-life teachers angered by march


By George Archibald
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


Thousands of pro-life teachers and school staff required to belong to the National Education Association across the country are offended by the union's co-sponsorship of a pro-choice march in Washington this Sunday.


The NEA headquarters on 16th Street NW near the White House will act as a hospitality center for the March for Freedom of Choice while the union's nearby state affiliates in New Jersey and elsewhere are organizing buses to bring demonstrators for the event.

The march is being organized by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union, National Organization for Women, NARAL Pro-Choice America and other liberal and feminist groups.

Abortion "is a political issue and not an educational issue," said NEA member Connie Bancroft, a middle-school teacher for handicapped children in Mahoning County, Ohio, who opposes NEA's sponsorship of the march.


Miss Bancroft is executive director of Teachers Saving Children, a national group of 3,300 pro-life educators that seeks "a commitment to establishing respect for all human life from conception to natural death, especially among professional educators' organizations," she said.


"We're supposed to be for children, and they say it's OK to eliminate our very clientele. That's hard to understand."


The problem, say pro-life members of the 2.7-million-member teachers union, is that they are forced to be dues-paying NEA members because of collective-bargaining agreements in their school districts.


Meanwhile, the NEA takes positions on issues contrary to some members' religious beliefs, which are protected by the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act.


"Every organization ? association, political party and church ? has significant numbers of members who do not agree with every policy item," NEA spokesman Michael Pons said. "That is the greatness of an open, democratic organization such as ours."


Pro-life NEA members said another major objection is that the union's top management tilts toward abortion, as shown by NEA chief lobbyist Randall J. Moody's dual role serving on the Planned Parenthood Action Fund Federal Political Action Committee, for which he was an original board member and treasurer for three years.


Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion-referral agency runs a Multi-Billion Dollar per year chain of abortoirs and harvests and sells aborted body parts. Mr. Moody was a member of the organization's board of directors from 1995 to 2002 and is still co-chairman of Planned Parenthood Republicans for Abortion Industry Billions. The pro-life NEA members say Mr. Moody's roles with Planned Parenthood are a conflict of interest.


Planned Parenthood said on its Web site the forthcoming march is "the largest pro-choice demonstration in the nation's history." An "interdenominational" prayer breakfast on the Mall to precede the march is "a direct challenge to the religious right and its claims to speak for communities of faith," the organization said in a statement.



Mr. Pons did not respond to questions about Mr. Moody's dual role with NEA and Planned Parenthood, but said the union is "one of hundreds of sponsors" of Sunday's march.


"NEA is providing water, juice, a place to rest and access to our restroom facilities for our members on that day," he said. "I haven't costed out the water, but that is our only financial commitment."


The NEA does the same for its members any time they are in Washington, he said.


"Any association member is welcome to our building any time," he said.


Judy Bruns, a junior high school language-arts teacher from Coldwater, Ohio, said the NEA's support for abortion and other positions against members' religious beliefs has caused many school teachers and support staff across the country to assert their right under the Civil Rights Act for a "religious-based accommodation" freeing them of their obligation to pay NEA dues.


The law directs the NEA to provide a "reasonable accommodation" to exempt members with a religious objection from paying the union's national $134 annual dues payment.


State NEA affiliates charge union members additional dues, ranging from $230 in Oklahoma to $569 in Michigan.


NEA members receive liability, health and life insurance, which is why most school personnel stay with the union despite objections to its pro-choice stance and positions on many noneducation issues, said Sissy Jochmann, a second-grade teacher in the Pittsburgh area and chairman of the Conservative Educators Caucus, which has members in 10 states.


Mrs. Bruns, a board member of Teachers Saving Children, called the NEA's support for the pro-choice march "senseless."


"If the NEA is truly for 'choice,' we hope our union will be consistent and extend its hospitality and support to teachers who choose to participate in the annual Jan. 22 March for Life in Washington," she said.


The NEA does not sponsor the March for Life and it does not offer the pro-life march corporate support.


For many years, NEA-elected state delegates to the union's annual Representative Assembly have rejected pleas of pro-life teachers to be neutral on abortion, instead adopting an official position in supporting abortion, even for teenagers, in the name of "reproductive freedom."


Delegates at the NEA's 2003 convention in July in New Orleans rejected a proposal to drop stated opposition to a ban on partial-birth abortion.


Mrs. Jochmann said the NEA "should simply get out of the abortion issue altogether."


"Our union needs to stick to education," she said.


She said abortion "is harmful emotionally, physically and spiritually to women."


"We believe women deserve better. We invite our union to support abstinence and the value of chastity, rather than partner with [the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States] against abstinence education," she said.

[Alberta's Child]

Abortion "is a political issue and not an educational issue," said NEA member Connie Bancroft . . .

No big deal. The National Education Association is a political organization, not an educational one.

[Annie03]

"If it is automatically deducted and they don't want to be a member, isn't it theft?"

In many states and businesses, you must be in the union in order to work. No union membership, no job. Then dues are deducted from your check. For example, I worked in a grocery store chain in high school. Union membership was automatic. Construction jobs in that state were union job or no job. More like extortion?

[sauropod]

The DC Chapter will be attending the event www.dcchapter.com.

[Lockbox]

Now let me get this right, the teachers, who job is to teach children belong to a union who supports groups which want fewer children?

What's next UAW supports mass- transit?

[Blood of Tyrants]

The Supreme court has ruled that in states that require membership in unions, you may be required to pay ONLY the portion of dues that are directly related to union activities such as costs invoked in negotioations and members MUST be allowed to divert monies that are spent at the unions' discretion to other charitable organizations.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

An "interdenominational" prayer breakfast on the Mall to precede the march is "a direct challenge to the religious right and its claims to speak for communities of faith," the organization said in a statement.

The Church of Al-Qaeda???

What kind of prayer do you offer up to kill kids???

[Annie03]

I wasn't aware of that, happy to hear it.

[Blood of Tyrants]

A lot of union members aren't aware of it either because the union will outright lie to them about it.

[vanmorrison]

It's even worse. The teachers represented by the NEA are woefully ignorant in many other subjects, as well, yet they purport to be qualified to "instruct" in virtually all areas of endeavor. I have always said that the reason there are so many Democrat assholes in this country is the result of compulsory education. How can a communist-sympathizer-socialist-union-member (i.e.teacher), who's never worked a real day job, who's never met a payroll, and who's only interest is padding their union-negotiated paychecks, pretend to represent and educate their students about the history, organization, and structure of a democratic republic based on free-market capitalism. Teachers are fundamentally hostile to the communities they so dismally fail to serve!

[CharlieOK1]

[Nightbird]

It's true that in the late 1980s the Supreme Court ruled in Beck vs. CWA (Harry Beck is a true American hero) that union members are entitled to refunds of monies spent on non-union activities.

The problem is this ruling isn't enforced well and is easy to get around.

First of all, most members are unaware of this right.

Secondly, the union will oftentimes only give you a small window of time to opt out. They'll put a small item about it in the newsletter and if you don't file the proper paperwork in the next two weeks you're locked in with full payments for the next year.

Thirdly, the union will often lie and/or be evasive when asked about the actual percentage of money spent on politics.

Fourthly, those who ask for a refund better brace themselves. I was forced into a union as a politically aware 18-year-old working at a Safeway warehouse in Maryland. I requested documentation of how the money was spent and a refund on all the money I knew was going to support Paul Sarbanes, Barbara Mikulski, Parris Spendening, etc. All these closed shops have worthless goons they can send out to make trouble and if they get arrested it's no big deal. I had my car keyed and tires slashed. Bunch of pathetic parasites.

I quit the job and went to college.