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1) NEA State Affiliates Wrestle with
Dues Levels. Spring is here, and so are the latest
proposals to raise member dues among NEA state affiliates. There also seems
to be much more willingness to alter the dues structure than there has been
in the past.
There is a $60 increase on the way in
California (see the
March 17 EIA Communiqué) and Ohio is looking at a $15 increase.
The Ohio union has experienced only a small decline in total membership, but
the ratio of part-time employees to full-time has meant a decrease in dues
revenues.
Some other states planning double-digit
increases include Wyoming ($13), Iowa ($12), and Nebraska ($12). Nebraska
also has a proposal to increase the contribution to its PAC from $8 to $10.
Kansas wants an $8 hike, New Mexico $7,
Missouri $6, Utah and Texas $3 each.
Education Minnesota is planning on a $6
increase, and wants to place a $20 per member assessment into a paid media
campaign.
Finally, Arizona has a $4 increase on
the table, but also proposes a change in its dues structure that would
gradually raise teacher dues to 1 percent of the average beginning teacher's
salary. Education support employees would also see their dues gradually
rise, with the amount ultimately pegged to 50 percent of a teacher's dues.
2) NEA-Funded Study to Examine Why
Students Attend Charters. NEA and the Arizona
Education Association (AEA) are contributing a combined $45,000 to their
affiliate in Tucson "to analyze why many parents are taking their children
out of district schools to place them in one of over 50 charter schools in
the area."
"The traditional public school system
must change how it does business to compete with charter schools," said
Tucson Education Association (TEA) President Paul Karlowicz in an interview
with the state union's quarterly organ, AEA Advocate. The union plans
to work collaboratively with the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) on
the project. What prompted this joint venture? "The loss of over 8,000
students and $40 million in state funding to charter schools is something
that both TUSD and TEA must address together," said Karlowicz.
3) Wisconsin Union Spending More
Than Candidates on Election. Tomorrow voters in
Wisconsin will decide on a candidate to fill the office of state
superintendent of public instruction: incumbent Democrat Elizabeth Burmaster
or Republican challenger Gregg Underheim. Between them, the two candidates
have raised $313,466.
But an examination of campaign finance
records by the Associated Press reveals the Wisconsin Education Association
Council (WEAC) has spent almost $358,000 on the race, most of it independent
expenditures in support of Burmaster.
The cost of buying indulgences has
really risen in the last 500 years.
4) Here We Go Again: UTLA Election
Challenged. Recent teacher union elections in
Baltimore, Chicago, DC and Miami were all challenged by the losers, claiming
the winners had received some unfair advantage. It appeared last month's
election in Los Angeles would end that string. The most noteworthy result of
that election was the ouster of United Teachers Los Angeles incumbent
president John Perez by challenger A.J. Duffy. That result appears to be
uncontested.
However, incumbents in the next three
executive positions – AFT vice president, elementary vice president, and
treasurer – also lost, and they evidently are challenging the results. For
once, EIA won't bore you with the details, which involve the use of mailing
labels, committee registration, and endorsements (yawn), but we must assume
these union jobs are very appealing, considering the lengths to which people
will go to hang on to them.
5) NLRB Sanctions Maryland NEA
Affiliate. The National Labor Relations Board
issued a cease-and-desist order to the Maryland State Education Association
(MSTA) for "threatening or coercing employees" who were exercising their
rights.
The case stemmed from a complaint made
by Edward Fortney and Jeffrey Dean, two independent contractors whom MSTA
hired in 2002 to help recruit education support employees for the union (see
the
March 22, 2004 EIA Communiqué). The two men had numerous disputes
with MSTA over their hours, their assignments, whether they were in fact
MSTA employees for tax purposes (the IRS ruled they were), and their
eligibility to join the staff union (MSTA said they could not). Both men
have since resigned their positions.
At one point, an MSTA manager told
Fortney and Dean they needed to stop writing letters to MSTA officials about
their problems and start following directives. The NLRB administrative judge
ruled Fortney and Dean "had a protected right to concertedly seek a
modification to their work assignments" and that the union had no right to
try to stop them.
MSTA must post a notice in its
headquarters building in Annapolis stating that "the National Labor
Relations Board has found that we violated Federal labor law," and "WE WILL
NOT threaten or coerce you from engaging in concerted protected activities
for your mutual aid or protection by telling you that we are tired of such
activities and that such activities will have to stop."
No word on whether the union will also
have to write it 100 times on the blackboard.
6) Cruel Irony in Kansas.
Wayne Kruse, former president of the Lawrence (Kansas) Education
Association, was indicted on charges of forgery and theft last month. Kruse
allegedly diverted $97,000 in dues money for his own use -- money that was
supposed to be forwarded to Kansas NEA (see the
March 14 EIA Communiqué).
The Lawrence school board fired Kruse
from his teaching position after the criminal charges were filed. Kruse,
citing his union-negotiated contract protections, challenged the firing.
Last week, Kruse offered to resign if the district would continue to pay him
through June 2005. The school board approved the deal, saying it would be
easier and cheaper to do so than to continue the administrative and legal
process.
Can you believe this? The only reason
the board fired Kruse is because he stole money from the union. But
he is able to extort three more months of pay from the taxpayers of Lawrence
because the contract protects him. That is enough money to give a dozen
deserving Lawrence teachers a four-figure bonus – if the contract permitted
it.
7) Thou Shalt Not Regulate.
The Oregon Education Association (OEA) is supporting a bill that would,
among other provisions, increase government regulation of employment
practices at private and parochial schools. The Oregon Catholic Conference
opposes the bill as an unnecessary intrusion.
"We believe every child ought to have a
highly qualified teacher," said OEA President Kris Kain. But when a reporter
for the Catholic Sentinel asked if there were a specific concern or
problem that made the bill necessary, "Kain said she did not know much about
the Catholic school system."
Why let knowledge get in the way when
you've got a stable of legislators ready to do your bidding?
8) Correction.
In the school spending table published last week, EIA incorrectly named
Denver as the largest school district in Colorado. Jefferson County is the
largest district. The corrected rankings are posted in the
March 28 communiqué in the EIA Archives.
9) Quote of
the Week.
"We might rank in the top half in some areas, but we're not
in the top of the top half." – Nancy Henderson, president of the Jefferson
County Education Association (Colorado), expressing distress over teacher
salaries in her district. (March 31 Canyon Courier) |
