Brian Cohen
  • Making the Grade Blog
  • About Me
  • Tutoring
  • Press
  • Resources to Share

In the wake of the Janus decision

6/28/2018

0 Comments

 
As you are probably aware the Supreme Court filed their latest decisions this past week, including the landmark case, Janus vs. AFSCME. As expected (but very unfortunately) the conservative-majority court voted in favor of Mark Janus and against Union interests. For those unaware of what this court means, here is some backstory:

In a 1977 Supreme Court case, Abood vs. Detroit Board of Education, there was a similar issue being argued: should employees who benefit from collective bargaining be forced to pay full Union dues or not? These employees argued that since they don't agree with the Union they should retain the moneys being forfeited to pay for their benefits. They also argued that their dues were being used for political ends. In the end, the Court ruled in favor of the Union, saying that the dues themselves were not inherently political in nature, and these employees still benefited from the collective bargaining. This was the introduction of "agency fees" being paid by individuals who work alongside public sector Union members but were not members themselves. 

Fast forward to 2018 in New York City. The UFT has a collective bargaining unit of approximately 200,000 employees, with only 2,000 of them being "agency fee payers." That means around 1% of the people who benefit from Union negotiation don't pay the same rate. The total cost of being either a Union member or agency fee payer is currently around $1,400, so there is a lot of money being funneled into the UFT coffers with which they can properly protect our membership from the forces that be.

Enter: the Janus case. In a 5-4 decision on very political grounds, the Supreme Court sided with Mark Janus. Everyone is now wondering what is going to happen to public sector unions across the country as 22 states had rules following the 1977 Abood decision. Some view this as a potential rallying cry to get behind and really start connecting membership to union leadership again. I'm sure groups like the Movement of Rank-and-file Educators Caucus in NYC is hoping its grass-roots efforts will have a positive affect on union membership (and I think they are right). 

The most influential aspect of this case to me, however, is something I read in this EdWeek article. In it, the author points out "The justices also ruled that unions cannot deduct fees from employees' paychecks without their express consent." What this exactly means for places like New York City, I'm not sure. It could simply mean that any new pedagogical employee is not automatically joined into the UFT as it is now. Or, worse, it means that any current member is automatically kicked out and has to opt back in. In the latter case, much of the time spent next year by Chapter Leaders and District Representatives will be spent trying to ensure everyone signs up. That could take a lot of time and money away from other, more long-term impacting things like the current contract negotiations happening between the City, the Department of Education, and the UFT.

I hope this situation can be turned into a rallying cry in general in politics to ensure we have more progressive candidates put into office (like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) and to get our Union to be more connected to its membership.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I am a math teacher in the New York Department of Education. I infuse technology and real-world problems into my curriculum in order to prepare my students for the future. I would love for people across the country to recognize we teachers can't do it alone. If you don't believe me, come visit my classroom!

    Picture

    Contact Me

    Picture

    Email Updates

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Archives

    March 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.