Voice: November 2018

Don’t tell the leaders of the Central Bucks ESP that a key U.S. Supreme Court ruling this summer sounded the death knell for public sector unions.

There are now 91 more ESP members than there were last year at this time in the Central Bucks School District, Bucks County.

“We got fired up,’’ said Deneen Dry, Central Bucks ESP president. “We met with our building reps, we got enrollment cards out, we kept talking up the union with non-members, we got involved in community activities, we talked about the importance of the union and having each other’s backs.’’

Central Bucks is one of the more striking success stories, but, overall, PSEA locals have been holding their own in attracting new members and retaining existing ones since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that public sector unions could no longer charge non-members for the benefits and representation they receive under collective bargaining agreements.

Net membership in PSEA has decreased only slightly compared to the deep losses union opponents had hoped for.

The Janus ruling was disappointing but not unexpected, and PSEA started working long before the decision was handed down in June both to comply with the ruling, and to persuade non-members of the importance of PSEA membership.

“Some saw this as the end of unions, but we weren’t about to let the anti-union front groups who financed this case silence the voices of working families,’’ said PSEA Treasurer Jeff Ney. “We knew we had a great story to tell about union membership. We’ve really gone to work on that front, and it’s paying dividends.’’

Ney praised leaders in local associations such as Central Bucks ESP for doing the one-on-one work needed to attract new members.

Dry echoed the importance of the one-on-one approach. In addition to the conversations she and other officers had with non-members, she said she dedicated a weekend to personally send an email to all non-members touting the benefits of membership and attaching an enrollment form.

Anticipating a negative ruling last spring, Dry said the local also took advantage of NEA’s Early Enrollment Period that allows new members who enroll by June 30 to receive NEA Member Benefits and up to $1 million in educator employment liability coverage without having to pay dues until Sept. 1. She said 36 of the 91 new members signed up through early enrollment.

Dry praised PSEA for getting ahead of the Janus ruling with training and other resources to attract new members.

“The support from PSEA has been amazing,’’ Dry said. “It has helped us to do what we’ve been able to do.’’