Reblogged from Eclectablog

For the past several decades, teachers have been able to “opt-out” of their membership in the Michigan Education Association (MEA), the teachers union that bargains collectively on their behalf for good wages, benefits, and working conditions and that is there for them when they are being treated unfairly. During the month of August, teachers that don’t see the benefit of their membership in the MEA were free to leave.

For the past couple of years, the corporate-funded, anti-union group the Mackinac Center has made it their mission in life to get as many teachers to leave the MEA as possible in order to leave them without the funds they need to operate. The goal is clear: without membership dues, the voice of teachers in negotiations, in the media, and, most importantly, in Lansing where laws affecting them are passed, is silenced. Read more>>