When Governor Rick Snyder (R) and Republicans in Michigan’s state legislature implemented reforms to the state’s broken public school system last year, the Michigan Education Association (MEA) cried foul. The tone of MEA “leaders” trying to bolster their Middle Class credentials should sound familiar to anyone from Wisconsin or Ohio:

[MEA President Iris] Salters joined about 1,000 union members protesting at the state Capitol on Tuesday, saying the bill is “again a way to say to labor, you don’t count. It’s a way to say to employees, get back. I believe it’s just like being in the slave days.”

Why such desperate race-baiting against reforms that would modestly limit public union power? MEA bosses, following the example of higher-ups at the National Education Association, extract a tidy living from their members’ pockets.

Michigan occupational averages are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. MEA staff and officer pay comes from the Department of Labor. While the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers estimate average annual wages in Michigan at $43,280, average pay for MEA staff and officers is $96,373.

Crazy, isn’t it, how angry public unions get about reforms that would threaten their monopoly? MEA bosses must truly care about their underpaid, unappreciated members!

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Labor unions are very powerful in Michigan, and the Michigan Education Association may be the strongest of them all.

That explains why the number of charter schools in Michigan has remained capped at a frustrating 150 for nearly two decades.

But that finally changed last week, when Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill that will increase the cap to 300 charter schools in 2012, 500 in 2014 and eliminate limits altogether starting in 2015. That means school choice is on the march in Michigan, and traditional public schools will face increased pressure to measure up or lose thousands of students and millions of dollars of state funding.

The new law is a major defeat for the MEA and many public school organizations, who bitterly opposed the idea of increased competition.

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It’s so reassuring to have the intellectual elites in our nation’s teachers unions, like Sandy Hughes of Tennessee, looking out for us rubes.

Hughes, a local union president, is pitching the idea that school board membership be limited to people who “have worked in the education field,” because the issues at hand are “so complex” and too complicated for average citizens.

In other words, all will be well if taxpayers just get out of the way and let the wise and wonderful union folks run our schools, no questions asked. All we have to do is keep paying the taxes, then mind our own business.

This is a perfect example of the snobbery and arrogance that is so pervasive in the public education establishment.

A stay-at-home mom that wants to be on the board?  Sorry.  Business owners who know how to control labor costs and balance budgets? They don’t have the right skill set, according to Hughes. Public education is too “complex” for them.

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The local Republican Party made the unusual move of endorsing 4 of the 15 school board candidates who were on the ballot this year in Michigan’s Plymouth-Canton school district, according to the Detroit Free Press. What’s even more amazing is that the local teachers union found something wrong with that.

Teachers unions are infamous for trying to hire their own bosses by closely vetting and endorsing school board candidates in just about every district in the nation. Their strategy is to elect a majority of union-friendly board members who will give them their way at the bargaining table, and hire administrators who will let them call the shots at work.

While that certainly sounds like a conflict of interest, union participation in school board elections is clearly protected by the First Amendment.

But Ken Fistler, president of the Plymouth-Canton teachers union, had the gall to suggest that First Amendment rights shouldn’t apply to the local Republicans. He said the party’s endorsement of certain candidates “takes away the ability from anyone who isn’t affiliated with a party to run.” Ha! Local unions not only pick their favorite school board candidates, but provide funding and manpower to assist their campaigns.

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The Michigan Education Association announced this week that a public poll it funded reveals that Michigan residents agree with the union’s take on pending education reforms.

The EPIC/MRA survey results also show that respondents don’t think too much of Gov. Rick Snyder, state Republican lawmakers or their education agenda.

The MEA must think Michiganders are either really stupid or really gullible. Perhaps worse, the media fell for the ruse.

Michigan media fell for the poll equivalent of a whoopie cushion

Consider the lead in to a question posed to those surveyed by the union earlier this month:

“Opponents of legislation to allow local public school districts to outsource teaching services say teachers hired by private companies will not have the experience of those who work for local public school districts, nor the commitment or loyalty to the district or students. Also, they will probably be paid much less and have inferior health insurance and other benefits. That will only force longtime teachers to leave the profession or seek employment elsewhere, with private companies keeping the leftover profits. Knowing this, do you favor or oppose legislation to allow local public school districts to outsource instructional teaching services? [IF FAVOR/OPPOSE, ASK] Would that be strongly or somewhat?”

It’s no wonder the majority answered in opposition. Public opinion surveys with such leading questions are known as push-polls, and are designed to solicit specific responses. College freshman learn that in Political Science 101.

What baffles us is why any self-respecting journalist would buy into this ridiculously tainted survey. Unfortunately, several did.

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One Michigan teacher has discovered that being a Michigan Education Association member is like staying at the Hotel California: You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

Andrew Buikema, a music teacher with Grant Public Schools for the past nine years, is tired of being forced to belong to a union that he says doesn’t “stand up for kids” and “always seem(s) to put adults first.”

Buikema expressed his displeasure in a recent email to MEA Secretary-Treasurer Peggy McLellan.

In her response, McLellan wrote, “You’re right that MEA stands up for adults; that’s because it’s the adults who are under attack, not the kids.”

Nice slogan, but leader admits otherwise.

McLellan goes on to argue “that MEA does stand up for our members, but it’s because our members’ working conditions are the kids’ learning conditions.”

A copy of the email exchange can be found on PublicSchoolSpending.com.

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There’s a reason labor unions are chided for acting like bullies and thugs.

Just ask Michigan State Rep. Marty Knollenberg, who recently had dozens of unionists picketing outside his business due to education reform legislation currently under consideration in the state legislature.

Knollenberg is supportive of school reforms, so the teachers union has decided that his  business and his customers should be targets for intimidation and thuggery.

This certainly isn’t unique.  Wisconsin unions took similar action against business owners who refused to condemn Gov. Scott Walker’s reform efforts.

How would the unions feel if tea party members protested outside the homes of public employees and their union bosses? They don’t, because they understand that all Americans have the freedom to believe what they want to believe without having to fear for their safety or livelihoods.

The brash antics of unions may intimidate politicians, but they do nothing to win over the public.

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Respect is earned, not demanded, unless of course you’re Al Capone.  That apparently is a difficult concept for the Michigan Education Association to grasp.

Last week, Michigan teachers appeared at a state board of education meeting to vent their anger at a series of proposed education reforms.  Like several other states, Michigan legislators are debating a host of sweeping reforms to get Michigan public schools on a better financial and academic footing.

A Grand Rapids high school teacher told the state board, “I feel like I’m the gum on the bottom of everyone’s shoe,” according to the Grand Rapids Press.

Perhaps he would gain a little more sympathy if two days prior, his union, the MEA, didn’t have a dunk tank on its lawn with a Gov. Rick Snyder look-alike.  See the exclusive video provided to EAGtv here.

It is hard to respect an organization that stages such a tacky display.  If the union wants to be taken seriously, it should engage in a serious debate.  Instead, it’s resorting to childish antics that do nothing to elevate the debate.

During the entire legislative session, that has been the modus operandi for the union.  It’s staged protest after protest, to the point that the largest newspapers in the state aren’t even covering them anymore.  And perhaps even worse for the union, is for all its bluster, it’s failed to stop a single piece of reform legislation.

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In many states, teachers and other public sector employees have no choice but to pay a union in order to have their job.  While they don’t have to be a member per se, they still have to pay a fee for the union to bargain on their behalf.

They’re captives of a system that is stacked in favor of special interest groups, like the Ohio Education Association.

OEA officials will do everything in their power to regain the collective bargaining privileges they exploited for decades at the expense of taxpayers and the state.  Part of their strategy is to unilaterally assess active members $54 (support staff $25) to generate $5 million for a referendum campaign, regardless of individual teachers’ political beliefs or their position on collective bargaining.

OEA officials told the Dispatch that the decision was made by “an overwhelming majority” of an estimated 1,000 delegates who attended the union’s Spring Representative Assembly, but they refused to disclose the vote. So the public will just have to take their word for it.

It’s the same dirty pool in Michigan, where Michigan Education Association executives recently conducted a statewide membership vote to gauge support for “job actions,” including a possible strike, to protest pending education reforms.  But MEA officials refuse to release the vote totals to the public or their members. If they go out on strike, who can say if the teachers really voted in favor of the action?

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Several months ago, Education Action Group published a scathing exposé on the Wisconsin Education Association Council-affiliated WEA Trust, a union-contrived insurance entity that is forced upon the majority of Wisconsin schools during collective bargaining negotiations.

It is difficult to determine the extent to which the union benefits from this cozy arrangement, but judging by a similar set-up in Michigan, the union is likely doing very nicely.

In Michigan, the state’s largest teachers union (the Michigan Education Association) owns MESSA, a health insurance company used by the vast majority of public schools in the state.

MESSA has a reputation for being the Cadillac of insurance plans – and for good reason.

When one district successfully switched away from MESSA, it saved big bucks and teachers only lost coverage for “massages, sex-change operations and a treatment for Christian Science practitioners.”

Let that marinate for a moment.

According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, taxpayers were paying for massages and sex-change operations for teachers.  Isn’t that grand?

As MESSA, which gives millions of dollars a year to the teachers union, continues to jack up rates each year, school districts have wisely capped how much they will pay for employee health insurance, allowing districts to control costs. If the union still demands its brand, the teachers end up paying the difference.

Well, the union’s chickens are coming home to roost.

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We continue to hear from teachers unions and the rest of the education establishment that if public schools aren’t up to par, it’s because they’re “underfunded.”

That’s natural response from the adults – 80% of every education dollar goes to benefit them, so of course they would be fighting for more spending.

As we’ve seen in Madison, Trenton, Columbus and Lansing, the unions are making good use of their First Amendment rights “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

But the unions have no right to conscript students to help fight their battles.

In Wisconsin, the union was exposed for busing kids to the Capitol protest without having the faintest idea of why they were there.  One student interviewed on camera couldn’t even name the governor – he called him “some guy.”  How’s that for government-school civics?

Now, the geniuses of Michigan Big Education aren’t even hiding their idea to use kids for their protests.  As a “revenue enhancement” is to a “tax increase,” Grand Rapids teachers union president Paul Helder is calling for a day off from school so kids can take “educational civics field trips to Lansing to teach our students about the importance of having a voice in government.”  You must listen to the audio clip to fully appreciate his arrogance and gasbaggery.

The union’s idea of “a voice” in government consists of shouting out well-phrased slogans at the Capitol dome and carrying signs comparing the governor to Hitler and Mussolini.

But they already have some politicians on their side.

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The Michigan Education Association is growing more pathetic by the day.  The union is beginning to act like the crazy drunk uncle at the Christmas party – spilling his drink on himself and acting rudely to the point where others are embarrassed for him.

Seemingly unable to stop any legislation that it opposes after being neutered in the last election, the union is on the floor, kicking and screaming.  It’s a pretty pathetic scene to watch.

After getting rolled by legislation that would create Emergency Financial Managers in the worst municipalities and school districts, the MEA is now complaining that the legislature is taking a two week break.  The masochists write to their members:

“After barely 30 days in session and no meaningful action to create jobs, legislators think they’ve ‘earned’  two weeks of paid vacation,” said Glenn Freeman, president of the Greater Lansing Labor Council. “Instead of spending time working on their tans, we need our leaders to get back to work and come together to create quality jobs for Michigan workers.”

That’s an interesting assessment.  Detroit Public Schools has a drop-out rate well above 50% and it’s test scores are absolutely dismal, but employees see no problem taking three months off during the summer – but I digress…

The MEA has thus far demonstrated zero ability to stop any legislation it doesn’t like.  Wouldn’t the union want the legislature to stay out as long as possible?  Or do they truly enjoy pain and griping?

It should be noted that the union is criticizing the legislature at a time when many of its own members are on spring break.  While I’m not defender of the work ethic of the Michigan legislature, for unionized teachers who are contracted to work somewhere around 180 days a year, the criticism is a bit hollow. Is this the best spit ball the union can lob?  I’d hate to see the follow up.  It would probably  involve the word “meanies” and other medaphorical open-handed punches.

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This week the Michigan Education Association encouraged its local affiliates to consider whether the union should have the power to consider “job actions” – code words for a sick-out, strike, or other childish antics – to get its way in Lansing.

While MEA President Iris Salters and her hefty six-figure salary wouldn’t suffer if teachers chose not show up for class, the union’s proposed “job actions” would put Michigan teachers at risk of losing their jobs if school districts made the appropriate decision to terminate those who refuse to come to work.

Does Salters view the state’s hard-working teachers as mere pawns in the union’s power game?

There is no doubt that Michigan is in a perilous situation, and if a good education is key to fixing the state’s problems – as the MEA claims - it would make much more sense to put the needs of students first, and avoid the foolish games.

On the other hand, a strike in some the state’s worst districts could finally provide the motivation for parents pull their kids from failing schools, and enroll them in schools that put their needs ahead of the MEA’s special interests.

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There’s a dirty little secret in public school governance: for a few thousand dollars, unions can run the table. How? Elect the school board. Then, at negotiation time, they’re sitting across the bargaining table from their friends.

Who is looking out for taxpayers? In far too many school districts, no one. The inmates are running the asylum.

When unions have the ability to elect their boss – the Michigan Education Association actually has a how-to manual on the subject – a conflict of interest presents itself.

Watch ‘Choose Your Boss: Electing Politicians’ – Episode 7 – “Kids Aren’t Cars”

What can be done about it?  Some have proposed banning unions from giving campaign contributions to those that would oversee collective bargaining agreements. That’s a good move.

The union in Michigan has brazenly gone so far as to actually initiate recall campaigns to take out board members who don’t see things the “union way.”  It’s right out of the Jimmy Hoffa handbook.

And if there’s a reform-minded, troublesome superintendent?  Take over the board and fire him!

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   Now we have “furlough Fridays.”

What more is it going to take to convince the public of the pressing need to transform our schools into student-based institutions, instead of the labor-based cesspools they’ve become in recent years.

In case you haven’t heard, the state of Hawaii, facing the same type of budget crunch as other state governments, has to cut more than $400 million from its education budget over the next two years. Logically, that would lead to some teacher layoffs in a number of school districts.

But the Hawaii State Teachers Association has a better idea. It wants to adopt a four-day school week, with unpaid “furlough Fridays,” to avoid any layoffs. In other words, the teachers are willing to sacrifice one-fifth of their students’ education to keep the paychecks rolling in.

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