An English teacher in the Reading Community
Schools in Hillsdale County is unhappily paying $200 more to the Michigan
Education Association and National Education Association than she expected to
this year.
“I am definitely interested in getting the word out so this doesn’t happen to others. It’s an expensive lesson.”
Corrie Caldwell has not been a member of
either association for more than a year. She elected not to join the unions in
2006-2007 and instead filed paperwork to become a "fee-payer," someone who works
in a bargaining unit represented by the MEA but who chooses not to join the
union. Rather than union dues, fee-payers typically pay a reduced amount to
cover certain services the union provides, such as collective bargaining and
grievance procedures.
Caldwell said she filled out paperwork in
December 2007 to renew her fee-payer status for 2007-2008, and mailed it through
her school district, but the items missed the Jan. 3, 2008, postmark deadline.
Her mailing was postmarked Jan. 4, Caldwell said, and she was told by the MEA
that exceptions are not allowed.
Missing the deadline means that Caldwell now
is paying about $620 to the MEA and $150 to the NEA in 2007-2008. Her reduced
service fees would have been about $491 and $80, respectively.
"I am definitely interested in getting the
word out so this doesn’t happen to others," Caldwell told Michigan Education
Report. "It’s an expensive lesson."
According to association bylaws, the MEA
membership year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31. Teachers or other school district
employees who want to terminate their membership must do so during the month of
August for the following year, by submitting a signed letter of request to the
association.
The union then provides what is called a
Hudson Packet (named for a relevant court case), explaining how the service fee
is calculated and an "election form" on which the employee affirms that he or
she has chosen not to join the association. Employees also are allowed to
challenge the amount of the fee and take the matter to a hearing. The employee
must return the election form by a given deadline each year.
In general, unions may charge nonmembers a
service fee proportional to the amount the union spends on services directly
related to employment, such as collective bargaining, contract enforcement and
grievance procedures. They may not charge fee-payers a share of the money spent
on such things as new member recruitment, charitable donations, lobbying or
ideological activities.
The MEA calculated that about 79 percent of
its expenses were "chargeable" in 2006-2007. The NEA calculated that 54 percent
of its expenditures were chargeable that year.
"I dislike what the MEA stands for, especially
their huge salaries, and see little purpose in their representation," Caldwell
said. A graduate of Hillsdale College, she currently is working on a master’s
degree at Spring Arbor University.
There were 734 fee-payers in the MEA in
2006-2007, according to documents filed by the association with the U.S.
Department of Labor, up from 685 the previous year.
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Lorie Shane is the managing editor of the Michigan
Education Report, the Mackinac Center’s education policy journal. Permission to
reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that Michigan Education
Report is properly cited.