Attacks on unions
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Attacks on unions

PSEA members come together through their union to speak out for kids and to negotiate the salaries, benefits, and protections on the job that they deserve.

Groups funded by anti-public education billionaires like Betsy DeVos and the Koch Brothers are trying to undermine the solidarity of PSEA members to weaken PSEA and our local associations. They want to make it harder for PSEA members to get the salaries, benefits, and job protections they deserve, and the resources their students need to succeed.

Why? Because these groups are dedicated to privatizing public education and expanding state and national private school voucher programs that will earn substantial profit for their companies. They see PSEA and other public-sector unions as impediments standing in the way of their profit and political agenda.

The strategy

Deep pocketed donors

There is a network of billionaire-funded organizations that work to oppose unions, workers, and public education in favor of the privatization of our schools. It is called the State Policy Network, and it is funded by several of the nation’s wealthiest families, including Betsy DeVos and her family. 

Fight it out in court

Organizations affiliated with the State Policy Network represented the plaintiff in Janus v. AFSCME, a politically motivated case intended to silence the voices of working people who speak up through their unions for better schools and good jobs. The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on June 27, 2018, a divided court ruled that public-sector unions like PSEA can no longer collect fair share fees from non-members for services that unions provide to them.

Fish for public employees’ personal info

Now, another organization affiliated with the State Policy Network – the Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy – is fishing for the personal information of public-sector union members and contacting them to urge them to drop their union membership. They are using email and social media accounts linked to a website called “MyPayMySay.”

Misleading mailers and social media ads

Free to Teach, a front group for the anti-union and anti-public education Commonwealth Foundation, sends mailers and directs social media ads to public school educators urging them to quit their union. This is part of a broader campaign to divide PSEA members in order to make it harder for them to bargain for fair contracts and working conditions.

     

The Commonwealth Foundation has a long record of spreading misinformation about public schools and school funding and attacking the state's pension system. Their goal is to turn Pennsylvania's public schools over to for-profit corporations. The group may tell educators that it's looking out for them, but it's really looking out for its secret, billionaire funders.

Deeper pockets, deeper profits

The Mackinac Center received $560,000 from four foundations connected to the DeVos family.

DeVos Foundation,
Daniel and Pamela
 		 $85,000 2001-2010
DeVos Foundation,
Dick and Betsy
 		 $175,000 1995-2010
DeVos Foundation,
Douglas and Maria
 		 $120,000 2001-2010
DeVos Foundation,
Richard and Helen
 		 $180,000 1998-2011

Source: SourceWatch

They don’t have your best interests in mind

The money invested in organizations like the Mackinac Center offer a good return on investment for the DeVos family and other wealthy donors. These organizations advocate for privatizing public education and expanding state and national voucher programs. And now the Mackinac Center is working hard to weaken PSEA and our local associations to make it harder to get the funding, salaries, benefits, and working conditions our members deserve. Then, they will be free to push through their profit and political agenda.

A closer look at the State Policy Network

The State Policy Network is a web of organizations that push an extreme anti-worker and anti-union agenda across the nation. It is funded by the DeVos family, the Koch Brothers, the Bradley Foundation, and the Sarah Scaife foundations — connected to some of the wealthiest families in the nation, according to PA Spotlight.

The network includes 156 member organizations in 49 states, including Pennsylvania. The graphic to the right, developed by PA Spotlight, outlines the Pennsylvania-based organizations that are part of the State Policy Network.

A strong union benefits you

For educators and support professionals, belonging to PSEA benefits you.

  • Average Pennsylvania teacher salaries are $15,000 PER YEAR higher than states with weaker bargaining laws and low membership.
  • For education support professionals, Pennsylvania salaries are more than $5,000 PER YEAR higher.
  • Over the course of a 35-year career, teachers make $500,000 more, and support professionals make $185,000 more!
  • Having a strong state and local association means we can speak out for kids so that our students get a great education.
  • Having a strong state and local association means we can effectively negotiate salaries, benefits, and protections on the job.

What do our local association and PSEA do together?

We fight for the salaries and benefits we need to support our families.

We protect members who need it most so we all can have the peace of mind to do our jobs.

We. That's the key word. Our association is only as strong as the members who belong. We all need to belong in order to effectively negotiate our salaries, benefits, and protections on the job. Membership is strength.

Don't take it from us. Hear PSEA members in their own words.

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