Into the Labyrinth

Posted by Lindsey DePasse on Thursday, January 7th, 2016 at 5:14 pm - Permalink

California teachers in desperate struggle to keep their own money

What price, free speech?

The Supreme Court’s upcoming case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA) has brought an important violation of the First Amendment to our attention.

Together, ten representative California teachers are fighting the CTA and its coercive methods which force teachers to pay dues that are spent on political efforts they don’t agree with.

While California teachers unions claim to be vital to protecting teachers’ rights, they are also spending 35-40 percent of dues to promote their own political agenda. This agenda includes lobbying for legislation and donating to Sacramento politicians of their choice. The CTA is now the “state’s largest donor to political campaigns,” taking an annual income of $186 million from teachers’ pockets.

The unions do provide their members an opt-out to dues used for politicking; one in ten California teachers have already opted out. However, the “out” is only granted if the teachers can navigate through a labyrinth, guided by a string of paper work and rebates. Teachers must finish all paper work within a given six-week stint. Those who have been able to complete the paperwork describe it as a “burden” and argue that an opt-in would be an easier and fairer system.

Additionally, when and if teachers find their way through the labyrinth, escaping the CTA Minotaur, they still “lose.” As a consequence to teachers who have opted out, the unions deny them access to basic economic and healthcare benefits, while legally binding them to pay a smaller portion of dues to cover collective bargaining. Harlan Elrich, a California teacher wrote for the Wall Street Journal:

“So I opted out of paying the portion of union dues that is put toward political activities. The Supreme Court requires unions to provide this option, but I was surprised by how difficult this is. To opt-out you have to resign from the union and relinquish all benefits—insurance, legal representation, maternity leave. Although you are prohibited from voting on any new contract, you are still forced to pay for the unions’ collective bargaining, on the theory that the union negotiates for everyone.”

These forced dues and fees put teachers right back in the center of the labyrinth where they must choose the path of secured benefits or the path of financially supporting personally contradicting ideals.

Theseus had a string. Teachers have paperwork. Both are designed to help navigate the labyrinth. Maybe we should ask instead “why are teachers there in the first place?”