Good salaries, benefits, protections on the job, policies that help kids, a voice for working people.

Regardless of profession or vocation, that’s what working families want. And that’s what PSEA delivers, along with legal protections and member benefits.

The facts back that up.

Consider:

• The average starting teacher salary in Pennsylvania is more than double the state’s legally mandated minimum starting teacher salary.
• The average PSEA member makes $15,000 more than colleagues in states with low union membership, and the average ESP member makes $5,000 more than colleagues in states with low union membership.
• Members get legal representation at no cost for certification, licensure, discrimination, or retirement issues.
• Through the PSEA Member Benefits and Member Benefits Access programs, members have the opportunity to save more money than they pay in dues.

“I love it when people ask, ‘why join a union?’’’ said PSEA President Dolores McCracken. “Well, do you want family sustaining salaries and benefits? Do you want a working environment where you are professionally respected and protected? Do you want a better standard of living for you and your family? These are the things unions stand for and fight for. Doesn’t that sound like you?’’

None of this would happen without a strong collective voice. That’s right, a strong collective voice.

PSEA’s great strength is in our numbers – 181,000 men and women of diverse backgrounds with common purposes speaking with a collective voice at the bargaining table, and in Harrisburg for good education policies.

That voice roared 50 years ago when 20,000 educators from across the state descended on the steps of the state Capitol to win collective bargaining rights.

This year, that voice has echoed in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Colorado, and Arizona, where educators are effectively standing up against low salaries, attacks on their pensions, large class sizes, and inadequate school funding.

“The bottom line is this,” McCracken said. “The more members we have, the more power we have. The facts bear that out.’’

But facts don’t matter to anti-union forces backed by well-heeled political ideologues who simply don’t like collective bargaining rights and organized labor (see story on Janus v. AFSCME on Page 9).

They’ve made attacking unions their top priority.

Why?

Because they think that weakening unions will improve their own financial bottom lines – and help to pave the way for bad policies like tuition vouchers and outsourcing.

Well, as the saying goes, “everybody is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.’’

“PSEA is only as strong as the members who belong,’’ McCracken said. “Membership is what provides our strength. And I am so proud and privileged to represent the 181,000 members who’ve chosen to join.”