Posted on 02/25/2005 5:00:17 AM PST by NVD
Fellow Freepers, The school district where I teach has just adopted a 'fair share" provision which makes it mandetory to give dues to our local collective barganing agent. I understand that under the Abood ruling, I must pay the "fair share" but I don't want a penny to go to the NEA or PSEA (Pennsylvania). The total cost come to about 78% of union dues. I am not sure if I have "a leg to stand on". I understand that under the Abood case, I can have my dues sent to a non-profit organization but it must be a bona fide religious case. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
ping
Why not? I hope you have Tenure. If you don't you really just have to look out for yourself and your own job security.
You should work thru your state reps and legislature to make PA a "Right-to-work" state like FL, so that you don't have to join a union at all in order to work.........
Ask for a financial statement from the bargaining agent to see where the money goes.
http://www.effwa.org/opeds/2003_07_03.php
You forgot to mention what it is that you "may not have a leg to stand on"...
Are you quoting a state law? or a federal law? Here, in California, I am facing a similar decision soon. But I am trying to find an attorney group for help.
Good point....That way, I can trace where my 78% is going (although the law states that the "right to work" $ cannot go to political causes)
Abood v. Detroit Board of Ed. was a federal case.
"leg to stand on" was a mere colloquialism .
Interesting...and supposedly the remedy is to go find an organization that you agree with and send your portion to that org.
It's a logistics nightmare, IMO, much akin to the United Way Myth that says you can direct your donation to a particular group.
Here, in California, it must be an "approved" destination (non-religious).
If that is the union's decision, I will fight it. For instance, the Salvation Army may be designated as "not acceptable", although their main public benefit is non-religious.
There are serveral ways you can aproach this. One as you mentioned, is to give the dues to your Church, which isn't a bad thing if you have a good church. Or you can donate to a good charity, which are hard to find.
Another thing you can do, which takes alot of work and dedication, is to gather like minded people such as yourself, and infiltrate the union, take the positions of president, etc. and determine the direction the union is going, as well as where the dues get spent. It's a difficult battle, as a local, to recover the dues which are sent to the "national" part of the organization, but it can be done. As a local, you have the right to control your treasury, and only send a min of those dues to national, where as we know they use them to pad the pockets of Liberals, and other stupid groups like greenpeace.
Having control of your local, and depending on it's size, you can re-direct dues to useful things, like a dental plan or discounts on health insurance, retirement funds, etc. instead of sticks and construction paper for picket signs.
Here, in California, it must be an "approved" destination (non-religious).
If that is the union's decision, I will fight it. For instance, the Salvation Army may be designated as "not acceptable", although their main public benefit is non-religious.
The law is the same......the local association and the non-member select the "non-religious" organization. If I choose to move in this direction, I will be sure to make sure that the charity is of my choosing :)
One as you mentioned, is to give the dues to your Church
I wish I could do this but I believe that under the Abood ruling, I cannot send my $ to charity that is religious.
infiltrate the union, take the positions of president, etc. and determine the direction the union is going, as well as where the dues get spent
This point is well taken, and may be my next course of action. Thanks
I forgot that "religion" is somehow not considered a good thing now in that organization (something else that should be fought)
Infiltration of the local union is not as hard as you think it is, My wife has done this very thing herself, for the same reasons, regain control of the treasury. Attend a few union meetings, you will be suprized how few people show up for them, often it's just the treasurer and the exucutive who show up for them, thus making all the decisions in their own little "democracy" When elections come up, all it takes is about 25 people and you can relect yourselves, throw the other bums out. Then, you can work on the dues, find where everything is going, cancel donations etc. and lock them down into useful things like insurance plans etc. things which are actualy useful to the members, and what those collective funds are supposed to be used for besides running the local office. You'll also discover who's been stealing uion funds, as was the case in my wifes adventure, causing the corrupt national to come down issue threats. In the end, they lost, we won and disbanded the entire local, forming an independant association instead. Victory.
Decertifying your local from being your agent is fighting words to union thugs, but there are ways to do it that are less troublesome. having your ducks lined up before you start is very important. Also knowing what kind of help you can get from the state labor board, what your rights are etc. is a good thing to know before you bring union goons from their national office chairs running to stomp out the fires you start. And they will come! It's a great feeling to bring down a corrupt union though, worth the struggle. It also opens your eyes as to just how these unions are like a mafia which doesn't like being cut off from their "protection money". Often you will find that they have "management" in their pocket too, as is most likely the case in the education system.
Anways, good luck, I hope you persue this most noble cause, but be very careful who you talk to. The less people know what you are up to the better. Only trust those you know without doubt you can trust. Start by finding out what the state labor board says about pulling the plug on your local representation, and either form your own association, or find one willing to take you on (often that could be worse than what you got)
How about donating to the Salvation Army.
The Boy Scouts of America can always use more money, and for the purposes of this it's probably an education organization, not a religious one.
EXCELLENT choice..
all he has to do is make sure it gets there and I have no idea how you do dat.
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