Thursday, March 8, 2012

ACT NOW to stop attacks on dues deduction!

Urge the Governor to veto HB 4929, HB 4246
It didn't take long for Republican legislators to respond to yesterday's launch of the Protect Our Jobs campaign.
Just one day later, both the House and Senate passed HB 4929 restricting payroll deduction of union dues for school employees and then voted on an unconstitutional maneuver to avoid an immediate effect vote on banning graduate student research assistants from unionizing.
It's been said that an ineffective administration is the best organizing tool--it also applies to legislators whose only goal is to break unions and destroy the middle class instead of creating jobs. Legislative activity today is a prime example of why all MEA members need to be involved in the Protect Our Jobs campaign.
It was a busy day of union busting in Lansing. Just this morning the Senate Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee reported out an amended version of HB 4929. By this afternoon, the full Senate had taken up the bill, throwing out one of the amendments that would have allowed school employees to continue with automatic payroll deduction if their union paid school districts for the cost of doing so. Amendments did pass that require public posting of audits of union representation costs and provide $100,000 to cover the cost of data collection (that appropriation prevents the bill from being eligible for a voter referendum).

Posted on 03/07/12 at 4:38pm
Wednesday, March 7, 2012 – The following statement can be attributed to MEA President Steven Cook:
“Today the Michigan Legislature continued its assault on collective bargaining rights, passing legislation to prohibit school employees from paying their union dues through payroll deduction. This is a practice that has been used for years and is outlined in local collective bargaining agreements.  It is yet another case where lawmakers are restricting the rights of school employees and interfering in local control.
Posted on 03/07/12 at 4:46pm
Today, MEA members Jeff Bean and Karen Kuciel joined with other workers to mark the launch of the Protect Our Jobs campaign, with the goal of amending Michigan’s constitution to protect collective bargaining rights and strengthen the middle class.
Posted on 03/06/12 at 4:57pm
The latest legislative news provides reasons for supporting the Protect Our Jobs campaign to amend the state constitution and protect our collective bargaining rights.
Posted on 03/05/12 at 3:32pm
The Student Success Act (H.R. 3989) and Encouraging and Innovation and Effective Teachers Act (H.R. 3990) were approved along party lines last week during a House Education and Workforce Committee meeting. NEA opposed the bills because they give too much power to the states and undermine the federal role in ensuring equity for all students. 

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