On Forced Unionization and the NEA

I've been having a discussion with the wife of a teacher in the comments section of one of my blog posts about compulsory unionization. She believes that teachers should be forced to pay union dues because they receive the benefits of collective bargaining. But I'll let her speak for herself:

Actually yes I agree with still taking some level of Union dues out (in the Union that I used to belong to you could have Full-Share Union dues taken out and get voting rights or Fair-Share (50% of the Full-Share) dues taken out and give up voting rights). My reason for agreeing with still taking at least some level of dues out is because they still get the benefits provided by the contract? It would be unethical to have a contract for a group of teachers in the Union and a second for teachers not in the Union. Again, JMHO

I have to vigorously disagree with forcing people to join unions, especially the teachers' unions which lobby for things I cannot in good conscience support. Belonging to the NEA would force me to cooperate with things that are so evil, I would rather live on oatmeal.

I'll give just one current example. Here's what Diane Schneider, representing the NEA, recently said at the U.N.

“Oral sex, masturbation, and orgasms need to be taught in education,” Diane Schneider told the audience at a panel on combating homophobia and transphobia.  Schneider, representing the National Education Association (NEA), the largest teachers union in the US, advocated for more “inclusive” sex education in US schools, with curricula based on liberal hetero and homosexual expression.  She claimed that the idea of sex education remains an oxymoron if it is abstinence-based, or if students are still able to opt-out.  

Comprehensive sex education is “the only way to combat heterosexism and gender conformity,” Schneider proclaimed, “and we must make these issues a part of every middle and high-school student’s agenda.”  “Gender identity expression and sexual orientation are a spectrum,” she explained, and said that those opposed to homosexuality “are stuck in a binary box that religion and family create.” Read more here.

Wow! This makes it absolutely clear that "sex education" is all about brainwashing the kids. No choice, no opt-out. Not only must we have forced union participation but we must force students (and make their parents go along) to be indoctrinated in the NEA's version of morality which is anything goes sex and everything that goes with it including abortion. And who are the enemies in the NEA's world view? "Religion and family."

 And I'm supposed to pay union dues to support this diabolical agenda? Hell no!

There is an ethical option for teachers fed up with the NEA, and I hope many will take a look at it. The American Association of Educators is a non-union professional group for teachers that provides things like liability insurance without forcing members to support immoral lobbying. Here's a little about them from a LifeSiteNews story:

Gary Beckner, AAE's Executive Director, said many teachers are unaware of the legal options available to keep their dues from supporting the NEA's liberal politics.

"The Supreme Court has said that even though teachers may be a part of a collectively bargained contract in a district, and have to pay them dues for that representation ... that's all they have to pay for legally," Beckner told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) this week. "They do not have to pay for any part of the dues that union collects that goes to anything other than representation."  See more here....

The AAE says their primary concern is the children and the teachers, unlike the NEA who make no bones about the fact they are a powerful lobby first. In 2009, the AAE picked up numerous members fleeing the union after the NEA convention where Bob Chanin, their top lawyer for 41 years, attacked those who disagree with NEA policies saying, "Why are these conservative and right-wing bastards picking on NEA and its affiliates?  I will tell you why: it is the price we pay for success.  NEA and its affiliates have been singled out because they are the most effective unions in the U.S." He went on to say the NEA is effective "not because of our creative ideas, it is not because of the merit of our positions, it is not because we care about children, and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power." And they use that power to advance an agenda so evil those enabling it are in line for the proverbial millstone.

Christian teachers need to reconsider their membership in the NEA. The teachers' union is the best argument out there for right-to-work laws.