Posts tagged Massachusetts Teachers Association
Commentary: There will be strikes this school year, and union-endorsed candidates won’t care
September 17, 2024 // Pringle has pledged to pour resources into campaigns “from the school board level all the way up to the presidency.” The NEA’s campaign war chest is formidable. Politico reported in 2020 that the NEA ran “a massive member campaign for [President Joe] Biden with digital organizing, phone banking, texting, virtual rallies and car caravans.” During its last reported fiscal year, the NEA spent $50.1 million on political campaigns and lobbying and directed a considerable portion of the $126.3 million allocated to “contributions, gifts, and grants” to political causes. Normally, Pringle keeps a low profile — her latest raucous rant aside. In contrast, AFT President Randi Weingarten revels in the spotlight and regularly reveals her political agenda.
Half of Massachusetts residents support legalizing teachers’ strikes
April 22, 2024 // Massachusetts state leaders have said they have no appetite for changing Massachusetts law to make it legal for public teachers to go on strike, but public opinion is more on the union side. In a new CommonWealth Beacon/GBH News poll, 50% of state residents favored legalizing teachers’ strikes, while 34% said strikes should remain illegal, and 16% said they were unsure or did not answer (toplines, crosstabs). The survey, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group, comes on the heels of strikes in five Massachusetts school districts over the last two years. It is illegal for public sector employees to strike in the state, but that hasn’t stopped a wave of walkouts signaling a more militant posture on the part of teachers’ unions. The longest – and most recent – strike closed schools in Newton for two weeks in late January and early February.
NEA Spends $4.M in Dues to Pass “Fair Share,” Amendment in Massachusetts
February 20, 2024 // Teachers may be surprised to learn that while the NEA has a state chapter in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), dues used to fund this ballot question were collected from NEA members across the country. This is due to the structure of NEA and its affiliates. Known as “unified dues,” members of a local union are also simultaneously members of their state and national-level unions, and the dues they pay each month are divided between all three unions. With dues climbing precipitously each year, an estimated 84.4% of dues collected at the local level in Massachusetts are funneled directly to the MTA and NEA, according to a new report from the Pioneer Institute. Given that the NEA spent less than 7% of its operational budget on local representational activities nationwide, this vast centralization of wealth has allowed the NEA to significantly influence policies and politics in key states like Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Teachers Illegal Strike Wave Rolls On
January 17, 2024 // Public school workers can’t legally strike in Massachusetts—but Andover’s is just one of a series of school unions that have struck over the last four years, defying the ban, and in some cases paying heavy fines as a result. The Massachusetts Teachers Association is pushing for legislation that would legalize public sector strikes after six months of bargaining.
The Largest Teachers Union Embezzlements of All Time
February 8, 2023 // Denise Inez Owens was the treasurer of the Worcester County Teachers Association when she stole more than $433,000 of state and national dues money to feed her gambling addiction. The Maryland State Education Association discovered the theft in March 2009, but did not report it to authorities. Instead the union persuaded Owens to sign a confession and agree to a restitution plan. Owens then resigned her union position and returned to work as a middle school teacher without notifying the school district or union members of her crime. A newspaper discovered the incident three years later when the state union filed an insurance claim for its losses, and stated the theft was “not reported because of potential impact on membership and loss of members.”
Wage activists thankful minimum wage has finally hit $15, but say it’s not enough
January 5, 2023 // “Inflation is putting real pressure on workers, and the minimum wage needs to keep up with their costs,” she said in the release. Lynch doesn’t believe another minimum wage increase would solve the problem, but said moving closer to a living wage would help. Tying minimum wage to inflation or indexing it could help workers keep up with rising costs, she added.
Right to strike among teachers union priorities
December 14, 2022 // Despite state law, educators in Malden, Brookline and Haverhill went on strike this year. In Malden, workers were asking for a contract that included higher pay, smaller class sizes and safer school environments, according to WCVB. “We had to take an illegal action because that illegal action is what was right,” she said. “The right to strike is a human right and the continued prohibition on the right to strike is a continued prohibition on every single blessed public sector worker’s right to free speech, we shouldn’t have less rights than any other worker in the Commonwealth.”
Teachers Unions Spent $22 Million Backing Massachusetts ‘Millionaire’s Tax’
November 14, 2022 // "The MTA has coughed up $13.3 million for the so-called Fair Share Amendment, while its national counterpart, NEA, has doled out $7.2 million," the Globe reports. "Which begs the question: What do the teachers want?" The constitutional amendment is an attempt to undermine the state's flat income tax system. Chris LaBella,
Classes canceled in 2 Massachusetts cities amid teachers strike
October 17, 2022 // Malden’s Superintendent says while this may be intended to send a message to school district leaders, in her opinion, it’s the students and families who are suffering the consequences. A union negotiator in Malden told Boston 25 that the district has not given teachers a date for their next negotiation session. Wood called the strikes a “coordinated effort” by the Massachusetts Teachers Association.