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January 17, 2013 - Image 8

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 2013-01-17

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

metro >> on the cover

Union supporters

marched to the Capitol

in Lansing Dec. 11 to

protest right-to-work

legislation that Gov.

Rick Snyder signed into

law that day at 5 p.m.

BUILDS AMERICA

A 'Right' Or A Wrong.

Union workers decry state's new right-to-work law.

Harry Kirsbaum I Contributing Writer

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

have all who benefit from such negotiations
share in some way in the cost of obtaining
them:'
Many other critics say the law is
designed to weaken unions — as well as
the Democratic Party, which has relied on
money and support from them — by allow-
ing union members to stop paying dues, yet
reap the benefits from those who continue
to pay.
The new law makes Michigan — long a
stronghold of union influence in the indus-
trial Midwest because of the highly union-
ized auto industry — the 24th state in the
U.S. to keep unions from requiring employ-
ees to join and contribute dues. There is a
90-day period before the law goes into effect,
which puts it into April. Union contracts
remain unchanged until they expire.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics for 2011, 671,000 Michiganders
belong to a union, accounting for 17.5 per-
cent of wage and salary workers in the state.
In addition to those union members, another
32,000 workers were represented by a union
while not being union members themselves.

Teachers Weigh In
Locally, a good portion of Jewish union
members belong to teachers unions. Three
Jewish public school teachers interviewed
for this story agree the law would negatively

8 January 17 • 2013

affect public school students.
Janet Siegel of Oak Park has been a teacher
for 11 years at Beverly Elementary School in
Birmingham, 10 years in special education;
she now teaches kindergarten there.
"People forget that in the union we don't
just negotiate for our salaries and tenure,
we negotiate for manageable class size and
research-based curriculum for the children:'
said Siegel. "I think schools will be run as a
business, and you can't really run a school
like that:'
She fears that with the right-to-work law,
salaries will be lowered, insurance rates will
be higher and teachers will have to stay on
the job longer because of the lower salaries.
"It's going to water down the profession;
you're not going to have the same kinds of
people going into it for the same reasons;'
she said. "We're going to see fewer male
teachers in elementary schools because it
wont be considered a profession where you
can make money to raise a family."
She also said the law will make things dif-
ficult for the students.
"I can see the school combining kinder-
garten classes and having 30 kids in a class
so they don't have to hire another teacher;
she said. "Or in the special-ed room, it's
law now that you need a certain amount of
teachers to students. They could change all
that; it won't be any good for kids."
Siegel, a member of the Michigan
Education Association, said she will not

only continue paying dues, but also plans to
convince other teachers in the school to con-
tinue paying as well.
"For a single mom trying to put two kids
through college, it's very tempting to not pay
union dues:' she said. "But I see how having
a strong union will help not only my work-
ing conditions and my salary, [but also] the
profession itself I think our profession has
taken a beating in so many ways. It doesn't
seem like teachers have the respect from
legislators, and there's a lot of blame put on
teachers."
Meredith Summer of
Oak Park was a teacher
for 13 years, primarily
in the Southfield school
system. She was laid off in
June as a result of the edu-
cation reform laws passed
earlier in the year that did
Meredith
away with any bargaining
Summer
rights regarding seniority,
lay-offs or recall.
She has been unable to find a job since.
"Now school districts don't want to hire
you if you have a lot of experience because
they want to save money;' said Summer.
"They don't want to pay teachers with expe-
rience, so they just hire new teachers.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to teach
again unless I can get my job back in
Southfield, but there were 40 other teachers
laid off' she said.

"We're in a recession and money is
tight;' Summer said. "If you can get
away with not having to pay your union
dues and still get the benefits, a lot of
people are going to choose not to pay.
The people not paying will be freeload-
ing off of those who do. It will cause a
lot of division; it's going to cause a lot of
strife in the school district, and the union
won't have as much money to provide
resources."
Summer said she paid about $900 a
year in dues at the Southfield branch
of the Michigan Education Association
(SEA) — dues that were deducted from
her paycheck.
"Writing a check every month will hurt
more than having it deducted;' she said.
"A lot of people will also still be saying
that if the union can't protect me from
being laid off or recalled, then why am I
paying all these dues?"
Doris Schey of
Huntington Woods
taught Southfield ele-
mentary school students
for 36 years; she retired
in 2005. She also was an
active SEA building rep-
resentative and walked
picket lines a number of
Doris Schey
times.
"I became active when our union
began fighting for teacher rights — the
right for teachers to have smaller class
sizes, protection on the job, improved pay
and benefits, and input into curriculum
development:' she said.
"When the law was passed prohibiting
teachers from striking, I felt our power
was diminished. My last few years were
spent working without a contract. That
affected the morale of the teaching staff
as we saw more staff member jobs being
outsourced."
Teachers being required to pay union
dues has been under discussion since she
began her career, but Schey is convinced
it is the right thing to do.
"When a few fight for the majority,
everyone benefits:' she said. "Therefore,
even those who do nothing, do not attend
meetings or participate in actions taken
by the union still get all the hard-earned
benefits — and should pay the dues."
As the union became weaker, fewer
staff members came to meetings.
"Times have changed;' Schey said. "I
feel as passionate as ever those unions are
important, and members of the working
class should support organizations that
are working on their behalf."



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