Friday, September 12, 2008

Teacher's union dues: Funding Democrats

As some of you may know, my wife is a Science teacher in a local Twin Cities public school district. The fact she is God-fearing, pro-life and pro-America makes her an anomaly in such a left-leaning profession.

But now she has even more insight to the additional "benefits" her union dues bring:








It's no surprise that Education Minnesota is a shill for the Democrats. But they also recommend that the union heads at all the Minnesota public schools place the above laminated placards in the mailboxes of all the teachers! I guess EM wants to make sure their propaganda "talking points" are safely transferred to their union members.

However, I must give credit where credit is due. The union head at my wife's school balked at placing such material in the teacher's personal mailboxes.

Nevertheless, this is typical of left-leaning institutions: Vote for our candidates or watch your profession suffer.


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9 comments:

R-Five said...

Is this even legal, using government facilities to campaign?

Brad Carlson said...

From what I've been told, it's merely an organization (in this case, Education Minnesota) endorsing candidates. The presumptuous part was that all teachers support Democrats and thus should receive this literature.

Anonymous said...

My wife is a teacher also and the Education MN and NEA propaganda drives her crazy. I've always told her she can withold the portion of her dues that are for political use, but she never wanted to rock the boat.

This summer I told her, "You know your dues are going to help Al Franken ?" Now she is ready to make the change to her dues. Now comes the challenge of finding out how to do that.

Brad Carlson said...

..she can withold the portion of her dues that are for political use...

My wife went "fair share" with her union dues. The only drawback is she would not get union protection/assistance if a parent, say, filed a lawsuit against her. However, she purchased liability insurance through our insurance agent, so now she has that protection. It ends up being a wash financially but at least she's not unwittingly supporting the lefty political causes.

Mr. D said...

Good post, Brad. This stuff drives me nuts, too.

My wife works for Hennepin County and had to join AFSCME, so we get regular propaganda of this sort, too. Even if she didn't join, she would have had to pay for their representation. It's really irritating, but it does mean that we always know what the union goon bosses want us to do.

Brad Carlson said...

My wife works for Hennepin County and had to join AFSCME

I worked for Anoka County on a temp basis for six weeks in Jan/Feb. My information was still in the Anoka County database so the AFSCME folks had my address. They actaully came to my house a couple of months ago trying to convince me how unionizing was a good thing. It was a moot point since I no longer worked for Anoka Cty. However, it's pretty scary that they'll just show up at someone's house.


Now she is ready to make the change to her dues. Now comes the challenge of finding out how to do that.

Steve,

Have your wife talk to her union rep to obtain the necessary paperwork. She may not be received well but it is your wife's right to go "fair share".

Leo Pusateri said...

I got a union email that invited me to an "Obama Watch."

I sent a response to them, stating, "Just because I belong to your union, don't assume that I share your prejudices. The only "watch" in which I will participate in with regard to Barack Obama is to "watch" his campaign go down in flames in November."

Anonymous said...

Way to go Leo! I had a co-worker tell me today she got a call from Education MN, telling her who they think she should vote for! Blog post in progress with details....

LeighRacin said...

I came across your blog and had to write. I am a teacher.....and this issue frustrates me. I live in America and do not appreciate anyone telling me who I should support. And I know I am not the ONLY one that feels that way. Sad that many teachers feel if they say or do anything...they will "rock the boat".

Keep blogging! We need this kind of commentary posted!