Detroit area clergy denounce push to end teacher union requirement

[Bozita]

Last Updated: October 12. 2011 4:27PM
Detroit area clergy denounce push to end teacher union requirement
Serena Maria Daniels/ The Detroit News


Detroit — About a dozen religious leaders united Wednesday to denounce proposed legislation that would remove the state law that requires teachers to join a union — a push by GOP lawmakers that critics say is a means to weaken the power of organized labor in labor-heavy Michigan.

Leading the group of clergy men and women in a small news conference on the front steps of Sacred Heart Catholic Church was the Rev. John Pitts Jr., president of Interfaith Worker Justice — Metro Detroit, who said Senate Bill 729, introduced last week by Republican senators Arlan Meekhof, Phil Pavlov and Randy Richardville, was an attack against public workers.

"Thank God for collective bargaining, thank God for unions, thank God for higher wages, thank God for health care," Pitts said in leading a chant among a small gathering of supporters.

In cash-strapped Michigan, teachers across the state have gone without raises and are paying more for health care benefits, said Meekhof, creating the need to make union membership optional instead of forcing them to pay dues.

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"Why are we trying to undermine the security of the jobs of the very people we most depend on? Is this justice? Is this the way to advance our society to a more viable form?" she said. "We are taught to look carefully at every issue before rendering a decision to ensure its justice, not favoring the rich or the poor. The matter before us, however, is not one of favoring rich or poor, Republican or Democrat, but really looking at what we are doing to the principles of democracy."

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http://detnews.com/article/20111012/METRO/110120442/Detroit-area-clergy-denounce-push-to-end-teacher-union-requirement#ixzz1adL1WwaJ

[msongs]

1. teachers who do not join the union should get NO union negotiated raises or benefits at all nt

[milwaukeelib33]

2. Here in Wisconsin

Educators that choose not to join the union still have to pay what's called a fair share payment. Since they gain from the union bargaining for them, I think that's a very reasonable payment for services rendered.