Teachers Contract Contains Questionable Forced Unionization Clause
Plymouth-Canton union wants teachers fired if they don't join union, which is illegal under state's RTW law
Despite signing a contract nearly six months after the state's right-to-work law became effective, the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools has language in its teachers union contract that says teachers have to be fired if they don't join the union.
Michigan's right-to-work law became effective March 28, 2013. Any contracts signed after that date cannot require that employees pay dues or fees or belong to a union as a condition of employment.
The Plymouth-Canton union contract was "sealed" Sept. 12, 2013. The district's teachers are members of the Plymouth-Canton Education Association, a division of the Michigan Education Association.
Plymouth-Canton is one of several school districts that may be violating state law involving right-to-work.
Patrick Wright, vice president of legal affairs for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said the Plymouth-Canton union contract is a violation of state law, according to the documents the district provided online.
"When you rewrite the contract and it takes effect after right to work, right-to-work kicks in," Wright said.
Gary Collins, the attorney whose firm represents Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, said in a letter the contract was not in violation of the right-to-work law. Collins said the school board ratified the contract March 12, 2013, before right-to-work became effective. Collins said there were numerous concessions that were agreed to in the contract that took effect on March 14, 2013, and that is when he said both parties ratified the contract.
He did not immediately respond to a question asking to explain the the significance of the contract being "sealed" on Sept. 12, 2013.
School Board President Judy Mardigian, School Board Vice President Adrienne Davis and School Board Treasurer Mark Horvath also didn't respond to a request for comment.
Kimberley Crouch is the secretary of the school board. Sheila Paton, Mike Maloney and John Barrett serve as trustees on the school board.
In an email, Superintendent Michael Meissen said the contract was effective Aug. 16, 2012, and ratified by the board March 12, 2013.
"I appreciate your inquiry and assure you that the CBA fully complies with the law," Meissen said.
School district officials also did not respond as to why the contract online states the deal was sealed Sept. 12, 2013.
(Editor's note: Plymouth-Canton school district officials attempted to respond before deadline but their email was sent to a wrong address. Their response was resent after the story was published online. The comments from Superintendent Meissen have been added above. The story has subsequently been changed again to add comments from an attorney representing the district. The headline on the story also has been changed to reflect new information that has been received since the original posting.)
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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Lawmakers Misrepresent Detroit Pension Bill
Legislation does not cap potential taxpayer contributions
Some Michigan legislators appear to not understand the effect of Detroit pension legislation passed by the House last week as a condition of giving the city $194.8 million in state dollars — and as a result are misrepresenting what the bill does.
For example, on Facebook House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, stated: "We did not mandate that they go to a DC (Defined Contribution retirement system); we said, however, that the employer (taxpayer) cannot contribute more than 7 percent."
However, the legislation the House passed gives the city two options, neither of which caps employer contributions at 7 percent. The first option is continuing a "hybrid" plan that is part of a proposed Detroit bankruptcy settlement. Nothing in that plan limits potential taxpayer contributions to 7 percent, and it would leave intact the city's ability to generate new unfunded liabilities (although the risks may be mitigated by funding assumptions more conservative than in the current system).
Alternatively, Detroit could adopt a pension system in which the city "does not contribute more than 7 percent of the employee's base pay to an appropriate retirement account." Once again, however, this would not prohibit the city from generating new unfunded liabilities, and any future underfunding catch up cost payments would not be limited to 7 percent. In fact they would be unrestricted because these payments would go into the retirement system as a whole rather than to "an appropriate retirement account."
Defenders of the House package argue that it imposes supervision by a state oversight panel, and one of the conditions for ending this is the city adopting those 7 percent "caps." Yet this provision just reiterates the language that does not actually cap payments at 7 percent.
While it is in place, state oversight may help the city avoid generating unfunded liabilities, and other provisions in the bills limiting "benefit spiking" schemes and the notorious "13th check" can also help.
However, the essential cause of unfunded liabilities in the Detroit pension system is not addressed by the legislation — promising benefits and not paying for them. The state oversight commission is given little control over this.
Initially, some House Republicans spoke about trying to fix this essential problem. The original House pension bill would have guaranteed that underfunding eventually would be eliminated. The reforms the House passed do not.
If the Legislature wants to accomplish what Speaker Bolger says this legislation does, there is still an opportunity to do so as it advances through the process.
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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