> But if the guy has a lawyer, spending scarce funds on the issue,
> especially in states like Coloado where no teacher has to join the
> union, would create a massive burden on the small number of dues
> paying members to shoulder. In Colorado, the rightwing Governor
> Bill Owen used an executive order to deny unions the ability to
> collect dues through payroll deductions and they have been
> scrambling to keep membership up -- they've lost fifty to seventy
> percent of union membership in the last couple of years. Which
> staff jobs and services to members should they cut now to pay for a
> lawyer for a non-member, who already apparently has a lawyer? And
> if non-members get such lawyers, why should anyone even think about
> paying dues? Why not just free ride since all services are
> apparently available?
>
> The statewide Colorado Education Association has a total of six
> lawyers on staff; a case like this would eat up a large chunk of
> their time. Should they really drop everything else they are
> doing, which may involve a lot of less media worthy cases and
> issues but which often matter a lot for the members effected?
<snip>
> Colorado is a tough state, with a rightwing Governor and a whole
> range of wedge issues being thrown specifically at the teachers
> union, including the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) and
> a new one called the 65% solution -- a lovely financial
> straightjacket on schools which is designed to pit in-class
> teachers against teaching support employees like librarians. CEA
> is also handling a range of grievances related in places like
> Jefferson County where they have formal contracts. Why are all
> those issues less important than this one?
If a union's principle is to defend only the rights and interests of its dues-paying members and not to give a damn about non-union workers, why should non-union workers -- not just teachers who aren't currently in the union but also all other workers -- defend unionized teachers when they come under attack? Unions that represent government workers like teachers can't afford to act like a narrow interest group. After all, their wages, pensions, etc. cannot be maintained and improved without the support of the public -- a large majority of whom are non-union workers and many of whom get paid less than unionized teachers -- who are taxpayers.
If the CEA were smart, it would contact student leaders who organized the walkout in Jay Bennish's support, as well as other student activists. Those are the ones who could be its allies in budget fights and the like, if the CEA weren't standing aloof.
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org>