Posts tagged public school
FBI, IRS search Duval teachers union offices; financial wrongdoing suspected
September 8, 2023 // Several federal agents including the FBI and IRS are working on an investigation into the Duval Teachers United in Jacksonville's San Marco community. They had been at the teachers union facility at 1601 Atlantic Blvd. since Wednesday morning and left late in the afternoon taking with them computer equipment and loads of additional materials, as witnessed by The Florida Times-Union. The Times-Union has learned it involves potential misappropriation of funds, and prominent defense attorney Hank Coxe also was spotted at the scene. Several agents were seen coming out with loaded-up boxes and bags and placing them into vehicles.
NEA, IEA SPEND LITTLE ON REPRESENTING TEACHERS, BUT PRIORITIZE POLITICS
July 26, 2023 // Illinois teachers concerned about how NEA and IEA spend their hard-earned money have options. They can stop paying dues by opting out of union membership yet maintain all of the raises and other benefits their employers provide. Other professional organizations can provide liability insurance and job protection coverage, often at a fraction of the price of union membership. Less than 8% of NEA and IEA’s combined spending was on representing teachers in 2022 NEA and IEA spent a combined $659 million in 2022, according to the unions’ LM-2s, which are reporting documents the unions filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. $2.5 million to For our Future Action Fund, which claims to “build progressive power” $500,000 to Building Back Together, the organization “advanc[ing] the policy agenda of the Biden-Harris Administration” $450,000 to Strategic Victory Fund, which seeks to build “the infrastructure needed to build long-term progressive agendas and issue advocacy in states” $395,000 to Chicago-based Midwest Academy, a training organization that claims “empowering progressive organizers is our mission” $300,000 to America Votes, the “coordination hub of the progressive community” $270,000 to Democracy Alliance, an organization seeking to “advance progressive policy reforms” $225,000 to State Innovation Exchange, which equips legislators to “move bold, progressive public policy” $150,000 to Progressive Caucus Action Fund, which publishes a “progressive playbook”
Judges block Tennessee law banning teacher group from deducting member dues from paychecks
July 3, 2023 // The group’s lawsuit contends that combining the two changes into one bill violates a single-subject requirement for legislation under the Tennessee Constitution. The challenge calls for a judge to leave the pay raise in place, but block the deductions ban. The association says the ban will cost the group money and diminish its own revenues, which come entirely from member dues.
Michigan House bill lets government schools deduct union dues from paychecks
May 11, 2023 // Steve Delie, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center, offered written testimony to the House Labor Committee, opposing the bill. “The Mackinac Center opposes this bill on the simple grounds that public monies should not be used to assist private organizations,” Delie testified. “School funding should be devoted to improving the education of Michigan students, ensuring they have the skills resources and instruction to prepare them for success in the future,” Delie added. “Diverting this funding to exclusively benefit unions offers no such benefit.”
And Now the Union Would Like a Word in Private-Under Janus, government workers don’t have to join or pay. But behind closed doors it’s hard to say no
September 13, 2022 // Four years after Janus, plenty of government employers haven’t explained to workers that union membership is not a condition of employment. Some employee handbooks still say workers must pay the union to keep their jobs. And many—if not most—public employees don’t know that a contract negotiated by the union applies to them whether they pay dues or not. Government-worker unions enjoy outsize influence over government. Governors, mayors, county executives and school superintendents facing demands for private access to their employees must remember how the unions wound up with the privileges that make them so powerful.
Opinion: Connecticut teachers have choices; unions would do well to respect them
August 16, 2022 // CEA leaders disparaged those who would suggest leaving the union. In emails this spring, they scolded teachers for even thinking of attending our online sessions. And of late, the CEA has resorted to having its lawyers make phone calls to teachers who’ve mailed in escape letters. Ironically, for some teachers this is the most attention the union has ever paid to them.