Posts tagged Paycheck Protection
Op-ed Lawmakers: Protecting teachers’ paychecks is an Oklahoma priority
May 9, 2023 // Teachers across the country seem to be awakening to the gulf between their own values and the political bent of the unions. The National Education Association, which is one of the nation’s largest teachers union, ended 2022 with a net loss of 40,107 members, marking its lowest membership level since 2006. But educators shouldn’t be left to resist union overreach on their own. They need their state leaders to hold unions accountable and to protect teachers’ rights. Oklahoma leaders already have begun tackling this important issue. In 2021, we authored legislation, now reintroduced as Senate Bill 99, which would help protect teachers’ First Amendment rights to decide whether to pay union dues. Gov. Kevin Stitt followed in 2022 with an executive order calling for action on teacher notification, which would guarantee teachers a written notice to confirm that joining and paying a union is optional. State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters also has been a vocal proponent of teacher paycheck protection. Now the issue is front and center once again, not just in Oklahoma but across the country. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a legislative proposal earlier this year to protect teachers’ constitutional freedoms, reduce union overreach and get Florida taxpayers out of the business of collecting union dues. Meanwhile, state leaders in Indiana also are prioritizing the needs of their teachers, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has introduced similar legislation.
Tennessee House Reinstates Critical Paycheck Protection Measure Previously Stripped from House Bill 329, Protecting Teachers’ Hard-Earned Money
April 19, 2023 // The Tennessee Education Association has bylaws that permit them to apply an “assessment” on teachers’ dues for salary increases granted by the state, effectively skimming teachers’ paychecks when they get raises above the cost of living. Because Tennessee has deducted union dues from teachers’ paychecks automatically, unions could in some cases access teachers’ pay increases before they do. Additionally, state resources are used to collect dues, not all of which stay in the Volunteer State or are fully reinvested in teachers and classrooms. Instead, portions of these dues are exported out of state to the National Education Association, which can use these dollars for purposes that can be at odds with Tennessee teachers’ values. We agree with the Tennessee legislature and Governor Lee in believing that this is fundamentally wrong. Not only should the state of Tennessee no longer act as the bills collector for a union to export dues for political purposes outside of the state, but Tennessee should also ensure that teachers have the opportunity to access their hard-earned salary increases first.
Tennessee House Committee Abandons Critical Protections for Teacher Salary Increase
April 12, 2023 // Taxpayers should not be the bills collector for union dues. Unions should collect their own dues and teachers should have the transparency of knowing how much they are paying. Union dues should not simply be another obscure deduction on their paycheck. Worse, teachers’ largest salary increase in Tennessee history could be skimmed by the union. The Tennessee Education Association’s bylaws allow the unions to implement artificial rate hikes for union dues when teachers get raises beyond standard cost of living increases. The unions then use that money to support causes that do not represent Tennessee values. The House Finance, Ways and Means Committee’s failure to safeguard Governor Bill Lee’s vision to get Tennessee teachers and taxpayers out of the business of financing union dues collection is disappointing.
DeSantis stands up for teachers
February 10, 2023 // The governor’s proposal, dubbed a Teacher’s Bill of Rights, draws clear boundary lines between the interests of teachers and the interests of teachers unions. The proposal restores the rights of taxpayers and teachers, who don’t always support union politics. For example, DeSantis’s proposal would end the practice of union dues being deducted directly from teachers’ paychecks — a process undertaken at taxpayers’ expense. And the governor’s proposal would prohibit union officials from doing union work while on the clock for their taxpayer-funded job. Known as “release time,” the paid workday hours that public employees spend doing union work can add up. In Miami-Dade County alone, public employees spent 132,433 on-the-clock hours doing union work between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2019, according to a James Madison Institute report. Those hours cost taxpayers more than $4 million. The governor has also taken aim at so-called “zombie unions,” which lack adequate documented support from the teachers they claim to represent.
Florida labor reforms have not strengthened unions
January 5, 2023 // In other words, Florida’s largest teachers union is down more than 9,000 members since 2019, or 6.3%. The labor reforms Florida is pursuing are good for teachers and other workers. Nobody should be forced to be represented by a political organization they oppose — so the Workplace Democracy Act, requiring unions to be recertified regularly, makes sense. And taxpayers should not be funding the withholding of money for political organizations — so Paycheck Protection to put an end to that is sound policy.
The Battle for Worker Freedom in the States: Grading State Public Sector Labor Laws
September 30, 2022 // In the four years following the Janus v. AFSCME U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the nation’s four largest government unions—AFSCME, SEIU, NEA, and AFT—have lost almost 219,000 union members. The Janus decision to end forced unionism for government workers accelerated a long-term decline in membership. In response, government unions are conducting aggressive campaigns to unionize new workers with recent successes in Virginia and Colorado.
Why Pennsylvania Needs Wisconsin-Style Government Union Reform
February 24, 2022 // Government union executives use this power to trap government employees in unions, deny them alternative representation, and lobby against fiscal and educational reforms needed to make Pennsylvania more prosperous.
Florida lawmakers must embrace pro-worker reforms | Opinion
February 10, 2022 // Government employees perform a public service for the people of our state. They’re not obligated to serve unions, too. By embracing the commonsense pro-worker reforms in Paycheck Protection, lawmakers would measurably improve the lives of state employees while making Florida an even better place to live, work and raise a family.
MOONEY: Free Speech Suit against Teacher’s Union Could Boost Labor Reform
January 25, 2022 // “Pennsylvania should not have unconstitutional laws on its books. Nor should we use taxpayer-funded payroll systems to collect campaign cash. Correcting these problems will empower public employees and help ensure fairness in government. It’s encouraging to see House lawmakers moving to protect employees’ private data and shine the light of transparency on deals that cost taxpayers millions of dollars.”
Paycheck protection needed to prevent government payroll from funding partisan political activism
January 19, 2022 // But a proposed “paycheck protection” bill would end this practice by prohibiting school districts, and other public employers, from automatically deducting contributions to political action committees out of employee wages.