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Education

Maryland Democrat to Introduce Bill Forcing Non-Members of Teachers Union to Pay Dues

Jan. 14, 2013 10:52am Erica Ritz

Maryland Teachers Union Wants Non Union Members to Fair Share Dues About 68% of Members

Decorah Elementary first grade teacher Kristen Krezinski adjusts the letter “G” sign above her white board as she puts together her new classroom on Aug. 29, 2012. (AP File Photo)

As right-to-work legislation makes significant victories across the country, allowing employees to decide whether or not they want to join a union, the Maryland teachers union appears to be taking the opposite approach.

According to the Washington Examiner, the union is actively planning to make even non-union teachers pay dues in the near future.

The Washington Examiner explains:

Del. Sheila Hixson, D-Montgomery County, will introduce a bill on behalf of the Maryland State Education Association to require nonunion educators to pay a so-called fair share fee to unions equivalent to about 68 percent of the local dues.

Under Maryland law, local teachers unions are required to negotiate contracts that cover all educators, whether or not they are members of the union. They also must represent nonunion educators in grievances.

Association spokesman Adam Mendelson said the bill wouldn’t force people to join the union, just require them to help pay for the union benefits they receive.

“All school employees benefit from those services, but there’s not a companion or complementary law for fair share that requires all employees to contribute to those benefits they enjoy,” Mendelson said. [Emphasis added]

Maryland state employees have been subject to “fair share” fees since 2009, according to the Maryland Reporter, but teachers aren’t covered by the law.

A number of counties have already targeted teachers with the fees, though, and since the union already covers about 80% of Maryland teachers, the move appears to be an effort to grab the relatively small number of educators who are still not paying dues.

Mendelson assured that those who already pay “fair share” fees, also referred to as “agency fees,” will not have to pay twice with the new legislation. In total, according to the Maryland reporter, the fees average between $400-$500 per year for each teacher.

But Sen. David Brinkley, a Republican who represents Frederick and Carroll counties, says the change will mean that unions do not have to earn their paychecks the way every other business does. Not only that, he argues, but it is essentially a “tax” on teachers.

“My argument is every professional organization worth its salt earns its dues and earns membership, and the union leadership is imposing a tax on people who want to teach and padding their own pockets,” he stated, according to the Washington Examiner.

(H/T: WeaselZippers)

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Comments (78)

drrgb
Posted on January 15, 2013 at 3:46pm
Governor Davis put this in in California years ago forcing employees to pay extortion in return for their government jobs. You can guess that the unions did everything in their power to get rid of non-union workers even though they were forced to pay union dues.

Unions claim to be for “worker rights” yet the most fundamental worker right is the right to work.

These laws should be challenged in the Supreme Court but after the Obamacare decision, I’m not sure there are any constitutional rights anymore.

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DebateMe
Posted on January 15, 2013 at 12:39pm
So if you’re not in the union but you are forced to pay union dues (whether in part or fully it really doesn’t matter) then what is the difference then? Sounds like a money grab if you ask me. We are seeing this kind of thing at the national level with our country so it isn’t any surprise to see this kind of thing mimiced at other levels.

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G-WHIZ
Posted on January 15, 2013 at 11:14am
All nonUNION TEACHERS SHOULD MOOVE OUTOF STATE and take their TAXDOLLARS with them!!

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calebjim
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 8:52pm
Unon leaders need to wake up and realize that their organizations are about to fold. The labor unions are the real problem with the contry.

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whater39
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 7:15pm
This is the exact opposite of the state the introduced “Right To Work”.
I guess a eb&flow of unions. Power to the People….. aka- Middle class

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GuruMeditation
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 6:58pm
Hmm. That just doesn’t sound right.

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bumfuzeled
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 6:51pm
It didn’t even occur to the dimocrat to offer the option of opting out of arbitration and contract negotiation to the poor teacher who chose not to be in the union. Just pay the “tax” More money will surely solve the problem. stupid is as dimocrats do.

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TheBigKahuna
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 5:02pm
Let’s pass a law for for everyone to start paying dues to the NRA who were’t members.
And the liberal howling begins.

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sandtown
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 4:40pm
My wife has the same predicament here in New Jersey. As a teacher’s assistant, she was forced to join the union and pay union dues to support candidates she votes against. Totally criminal.

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perry1980
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 2:39pm
I believe that is Taxation without representation.

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Rayblue
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 2:03pm
Employees of the State of Texas were systematically bullied and shamed into joining the TPEA to support lobbyists who did absolutely nothing and usually let things get worse by ignoring the issues. And once joined it was like a terrible imposition for the organization to remove you when requested. They used the same argument as this article states. Which didn’t stand when no improvements or even the status quo was provided the employees.

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Moliminous
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 1:59pm
It’s time for the Separation of School and State. It’s Constitutional. There is absolutely NO reference to schooling in the entirety of the US Constitution. The states only acquiesced to union control to advantage their control over citizens through bully tactics. The current movement to make things “fair” only benefits the elites in control, never “the children.”

Instead of requiring non-union members to pony up their “fair share”, eliminate the union members from the roster. Eliminate the unions. Unions are only a 19th century phenomenon which, like the very schools they monopolize, are only a recent blip in the long history of education over time. Their time has come and gone.

How about we publish the names and addresses of all union-payers?

In the mean time, we all need to work toward the Separation of School and State. This is the only real answer “for the children.”

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PASSIONFORCHRIST
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 1:47pm
The districts can fix this teacher crap! When their contract expires FIRE THEM ALL! Then hire back as non union. People don’t realize “WE THE PEOPLE” can shut these commie schools down, TAKE YOUR CHILDREN OUT OF THEM!!! I DID, AND THEIR SMARTER FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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MNYukon
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 1:46pm
Wonder how much money is being transferred under the table from the Union bosses that he wants everyone to belong to a union. He will be very wealthy in no time at all.

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ezalbeht666
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 1:30pm
Want to know a dirty little secret about teachers they don’t pay into security security(public schools) they have their own system that pays about 10 times more a month when they retire. Before you call BS both my parents were teachers for 40+ years. A lot of teachers double dip by getting part-time jobs from time to time so they have enough points at 62 collect SS as-well.

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tothepoint
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 1:17pm
More Democrats micro-managing their domain, forcing people to do things against their better judgment and against their will.

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toledofan
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 1:06pm
Amazing and actually pretty pathetic, I mean, when does the nonsense end? I’m more than for sure that being a union memeber doesn’t mean you’re a good teacher the same as being a good pipefitter doesn’t mean you have to be a union member. The hypocracy of the entire argument is that once the craftsmen, in all the manufacturing industries, that joined the unions in the 20′s and 30′s were all of a sudden more qualified after they joined is absurd. Just like today, if soemone on his own learns how to wire a house and he follows all the rules, why can’t he wire someone elses house, is he less qualified?

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Joel Knows
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 12:44pm
When I was teaching in a Midwestern state I thought it was robbery by the union. If I didn’t join the union I was told it would cost me 30% more to pay for the collective bargaining that the union did on the behalf of all the teachers. Only I never saw where they did anything on my behalf in what they said they were doing.
Unions for public employees is such a rip-off for everyone that if this goes through it will ruin the state in the long run, and not benefit anyone except the Union Bosses. Public sector unions only have one goal, and that is to raise money for the unions and the power they try to wield. The rank-in-file members pay for the people on top who reap all the benefits. Unions in general seem like blood suckers, leaches, and parasites on humanity to me.

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BasketFullOfPuppies
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 12:12pm
Can’t get people to buy what you’re selling?

No problem! Just legislate that you need it, and are benefitting from it, already.

When did elected officials decide that we elected them to live our lives for us?

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coyote1hell
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 12:11pm
This is like paying Exxon $100.00 a month so the will keep gas at my station….wow..libs are f’th-up

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MangoT21
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 12:01pm
Well, everyone benefits from those who conceal and carry…so they should all have to pay for the firearms, and the ammunition, and the licensing, and the training…etc etc etc…

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zapparules
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 12:00pm
So if the Right got its way we would be ‘forced’ to have armed guards at our children’s schools (metal detectors, etc.).
Who is to pay for that?
Let’s say tuition or taxes raise so as to cover the cost. Are not all parents then incurring the cost to pay for that supposed benefit of armed protection?
So how is that much different than the benefits non-union teachers (or other workers) get from the efforts of unions?

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term limits for congress
Posted on January 14, 2013 at 11:56am
Publish the names/addresses of the union leaders so we can appreicate the lifestyle they have.

Private sector union membership is shrinking. Public sector union membership it being forced to grow. Our taxes working against us.

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