Commentary: Leaving Michigan Education Association To Form Local Union A Good Choice
Roscommon teachers leave MEA, saves tens of thousands of dollars, cuts dues in half and starts scholarship fund
By Jim Perialas
(Editor’s note: This commentary is an edited version of an Op-Ed that appeared in The Detroit News on March 7, 2013.)
With the recently passed legislation allowing Michigan employees to choose whether or not to join or pay money to a union, teachers are at a crossroads.
While a lot of my colleagues in the profession feel disenfranchised by the state's largest union, the Michigan Education Association, they are worried about striking out on their own. Most feel they have only two options: Stay with the group in the union; or leave the union individually.
But there is another choice.
Last year, Roscommon became the first teachers union in decades to decertify from the MEA and recertify as a local union — the Roscommon Teachers Association.
Forming a "local-only" union, away from the MEA/NEA, allowed Roscommon teachers to immediately cut our annual union dues from just under $1,000 per member to $600. With those dues, we purchase liability and litigation insurance privately and have hired our own attorney to replace the uniserv (grievance advice) functions of the MEA. Our union negotiates our contract with the district, which we have been doing on our own for years.
Why did we do this? Because the MEA is a bureaucratic behemoth with poor customer service.
The union paid its president over $280,000 in 2010 and $270,000 last year. In 2011-2012, while the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers were shedding members, both unions gave their national presidents raises: AFT President Randi Weingarten had her salary increase to $407,323 from $342,552, while NEA President Dennis Van Roekel's salary jumped to $362,644 from $298,387.
But education employees don't have to put up with it. Competition drives innovation and change. Moving to a local union has allowed Roscommon to cut our dues nearly in half while banking over $25,000 this year alone. Some of that money will be kept in a contingency fund and some will go to provide local scholarships for our graduating seniors.
The most attractive characteristic of the local-only union option is customer loyalty. We provide a value proposition for our members. I would guess that our local will lose a small percentage of our members as a result of the right-to-work law, but nowhere near what the MEA will lose in the various locals statewide.
Teachers have a difficult choice going forward. Some will choose to simply walk away from the union. Others will choose to continue to deal the best they can with the current system. But all should know they have the option of taking control of their own union by forming a local-only bargaining unit.
It's your choice. It's your union.
Jim Perialas is the President of the Roscommon Teachers Association.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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March 8, 2013, MichiganVotes.org Weekly Roll Call
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 94, Prohibit Michigan National Guard executing federal “indefinite detention”: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate
To prohibit members of the Michigan National Guard or other state and local government employees from participating in the investigation, prosecution, or detention of any person under a recent federal law giving the current or a future President the power to order the indefinite detention of persons arrested on U.S. soil, without charge or trial (“Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Year 2012”).
Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
Senate Bill 123, Expand local convention facility authorities: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate
To allow the Grand Rapids and Kent County convention facility authorities to borrow and spend more to build or buy a second facility, including a "market," or a sports facility (which could mean an arena or stadium). The bill would also eliminate the 12 year term limits on members of these entities' boards.
Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
Senate Bill 78, Restrict setting aside state land for “biological diversity”: Passed 26 to 11 in the Senate
To prohibit the Department of Natural Resources from designating an area of state land specifically for the purpose of achieving “biological diversity;" no longer require the DNR to manage forests in a manner that promotes "restoration;" and remove from statute a legislative "finding" that most losses of biological diversity result from human activity.
Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
Senate Bill 48, "Grandfather" bear cub petting zoos; ban new ones: Passed 56 to 52 in the House
To exempt current operations that permit the public to come into contact with bear cubs less than 36 weeks old and 90 pounds, but ban new ones. Reportedly the bill was introduced after Oswald's Bear Ranch in Newberry was ordered to halt this activity.
Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
Noteworthy Committee Hearings and Action
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced to the full body a package of bills (Senate Bills 35 to 39) that would add criminal penalties and other sanctions (including wage garnishment) for failing to pay fines imposed by “administrative hearing bureaus” that some cities are allowed to create to enforce "blight violations."
The House Commerce Committee heard testimony on a bill that would preempt local governments from adopting ordinances or policies that require private sector employers to provide paid or unpaid employee leave that is not required under state or federal law (House Bill 4249).
The House Education Committee held a hearing a bill on House Bill 4369, which would to codify in statute the powers and structure of a state “education achievement authority” (already created by means of an administrative “interlocal agreement”), which is an office in the Department of Education tasked with managing, overseeing or contracting-out the operations of public schools deemed to have failed academically.
SOURCE: MichiganVotes.org, a free, non-partisan website created by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, providing concise, non-partisan, plain-English descriptions of every bill and vote in the Michigan House and Senate. Please visit https://www.michiganvotes.org.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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