Voice: March 2017
Organizing is always a top priority but the likely loss of fair share fees charged to non-members is adding greater urgency.
The bad news is that after dodging the loss of fair share last year when the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on a California case, President Donald Trump's nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court likely gives anti-union forces their five-vote majority.
Gorsuch, a federal appeals court judge, is cast in the same ideological mold as the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who was expected to cast the fifth vote to strike down fair share but passed away prior to the high court's ruling. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Gorsuch likely will provide that vote.
The good news is PSEA's organizing drives launched in the face of losing fair share are going great.
PSEA and other NEA state affiliates knew that last year's 4-4 vote in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association - a group of non-union teachers in California backed by well-heeled, anti-union forces challenged fair share fees - was likely only a short reprieve.
Other cases challenging fair share fees were in the pipeline, and new ones have been added, including one by four non-union teachers in Pennsylvania acting under the auspices of The Fairness Center, an anti-union, non-profit organization that offers free legal services, and the National Right to Work Foundation, another anti-union group.
Under federal and state laws, non-union members can be required - as they are in many PSEA locals - to pay a fee for their "fair share" of the benefits and representation they receive under collective bargaining contracts. The fees are lower than members' dues.
PSEA Vice President Dolores McCracken noted that unions can be sued for breach of duty if they don't provide collective bargaining and contract representation and enforcement services to non-members. The Association has 6,300 teachers and support professionals who are covered by contracts and are not members of the union.
"It's called fair share because common sense tells you it's basic fairness to be able to collect fees for services," McCracken said. "But this isn't about common sense or fairness. It's about well-financed, anti-union forces trying to impose their ideology."
PSEA launched a major organizing campaign targeted at new hires and non-members last fall, and it has netted nearly 9,100 new members. That effort is continuing.
"Local leaders and individual members have done a great job in helping to recruit and persuade prospective members about the many professional and personal benefits of PSEA," McCracken said. "The key is getting them to listen. We have a great story to tell."
