Transcripts For CSPAN Labor Union Membership 20140817

I would ask everyone inhouse to make a courtesy check that your cell phones are off. We will post the program for your future reference. Youre always welcome to send your questions or comments. Hosting our discussion today is celine perth. Academic research focuses on the volatility in the developing world. Prior to joining us she was the assistant professor of economics at Amherst College of and a visiting Research Scholar at northeastern university. A masters degree in economics from rochester. Please join me in welcoming our speaker. [applause] thank you very much. It is good to see everyone here today. My colleague james, who really organized this event, apologizes he could not be here today. I am pleased to have the privilege of joining this panel to discuss unions and membership in unions. Labor unions are some of the largest political spenders in the United States. In the last midterm election, unions operated 10 of the 20 largest Political Action committees. They also made of three of the largest five outside spending groups, excluding the two Major Political parties. They spent approximately 1. 3 billion in the 2010 election cycle, not including local chapters you do not have to report spending. There is a potential for Union Members to discipline their unions by holding a vote on whether spending is being done properly or withholding their dues. 66 approved, and 14 this disapproved a statement that it was unreasonable that they were allowed to spend their dues on politics for getting member approval. 79 believe that employees should not have to participate in the local campaigns or parties. We are here with people who are working on these in very specific cases. We will introduce them and let them take it away. A coalition of 68 groups in 40 states dedicated to Union Members and the freedoms they have two leave Union Memberships. He oversees the execution of npris trategic plan and policy initiatives. Next is rebecca who has been an almond tree educator for 27 years. Shes been concerned about the policies and politics of the Teachers Union she is forced to financially support. She gained insider experience, she attended Teachers Union roberts is in california, and she knows from that experience that even Union Representatives have no real voice in politics and can be bullied into politics science if they disagree. Friedrichs versus the California Teachers Association has been filed with nine of the teachers. They are suing the California Teachers Association and 10 other unions. Robert wiersema has taught economics since 1991. This includes 17 years as a Public School teacher. He also served as the member of a local Public School board for eight years, including two years as president. He left his union and year ago this month. He wants to help members make informed decisions about their membership. Jennifer parrish has let the statewide coalition in minnesota for the last nine years that fights against meaning mean is a against the unionization of home care workers. Jennifer is also a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit who is challenging the constitutionality of compulsory unionism, of childcare providers and other independent business owners. Her legal efforts in addition to her grass roots efforts will lead to the change. Please welcome our panel. [applause] thank you. Thank you to the Heritage Foundation for hosting this event. Imagine talking to a friend having them tell you that were the last five years i have been a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. I do not like the Dallas Cowboys, i would would rather be a Washington Redskins fan, but i cannot opt out of being a Dallas Cowboys fan. You look at your friends and think he has a screw loose because that is not how it works in america. We have the freedom vote to join and leave associations. Go to a different church, switch political parties, canceling magazine subscription. Even become a Washington Redskins fan. People do these things every day without even a second thought. They would not have the ability to leave an organization they are dissatisfied with. We understand this in every area of life except for one, labor Union Membership. In 2012 the Nevada Policy Institute ran a small Information Campaign letting the teachers in the Las Vegas Area know they could leave the Union Membership by submitting written notice by july 1 and july 15. The reaction was stunning, teachers called us and let us know that they did not know they could leave their union. Because they put the opt out time in the middle of my summer vacation, i forget. One teacher signed his card, he did not realize he was signing up. Because he was a motivated teacher he decided that im going to be a member and be involved. He became a building are presented for the union. It wasnt until we told him that membership was optional that he was able to leave and he saved 770 a year. Nevada is a right to work state, but even a teacher who was part of the leadership did not know they have the ability to leave their union until someone told them. That was stunning to us. The teacher Union Membership decreased by over 800 teachers. That got us to thinking that if there are that many teachers in one school district, in one state to want to leave their union but do not know that they can, or when and how to do so, how many hundreds of thousands, or even millions of Union Members around the country want to do the same thing . Working with the association of american educators we called it National Employee freedom week. And that is this week. I am pleased to say that 81 organizations, which we have grown to, in 45 states, have come together with the sole purpose of letting people know that they have the ability to leave their union. You will hear from rebecca, robert, and jennifer and they will tell their stories about trying to leave their unions. I want to tell you about the numbers that their stories represent. We decided to conduct a poll, a National Poll of Union Members asking if you could out out of your union without any penalty, would you do so . We surveyed 454 Union Members across the country and over 28 said yes, i want to opt out of my union if i could do so without penalty. There is 14. 5 Union Members, so that is about 4 Million People who want to leave. What is amazing is they already can. If they are a right to work state they can leave entirely, they do not have to pay agency fees. If they are in a nonright to work state, they have options. They can redirect their funds to a charitable organization. Should Union Employees without force of penalty be able to opt out of Union Membership . 82. 9 of americans said yes. Workers should have that choice, they should be able to make a decision about Union Membership that is best for them. 4 million americans want out of their union, the overwhelming majority of americans who support their right to make that decision, and now we have National Employee freedom week 81 organizations around the country telling Union Members when and how to leave and that they can leave. As you are going to hear, this is information that Union Officials do not want their members to find out about. Thank you. Rebecca . Thank you. Thank you for having me here today. Imagine with me for a little bit. Imagine that you have finished your College Journey and you have entered your dream job. Upon accepting your offer your told you have to join a labor union as a condition of your employment. You will pay 1000 a year to an organization that claims to have your best interest in mind. Imagine that this union fights for almost everything in which you believe. They badmouth the candidates for which you vote, they spend multiple millions defeating common sense propositions and things you believe would actually improve your community. They even send out voter guides that reflect the exact opposite of almost every vote to you personally cast, but they claim that you agree with the union stance on the issues and the candidates. Now imagine that your union is involved heavily in local state and national politics. They use your dues money to fund candidates that you opposed to become government officials. Now imagine that these Union Friendly government officials sit opposite your union at the bargaining table. They negotiate for the use of taxpayer dollars, but guess who was not invited . The taxpayer. Your union enters collective bargaining on your behalf, but they bargain against the taxpayers for things that are offensive to you personally. They constantly seek higher wages and sweeter defined pension programs just for you. Every time you win, unfortunately the taxpayers and the economy lose. Imagine your state and nation falls deep into debt. Of course, you do not have to imagine that. Unfunded pension liabilities, largely because of sweet deals that were negotiated on your behalf, you watch helplessly as your money is used to defeat all that you hold true and right. Now imagine you question your union on the use of your money. That is fair. You are bullied, you are shunned , youre treated with disdain. You dare to speak out against what they are doing. You are labeled radical radical rightwinger, and spoken of in shameful terms. Imagine many of your colleagues are so intimidated that they simply sit in fear and are afraid to speak up. I want you to imagine that you are against all of this, but you have to pay for it out of your own pocket. And you are continually associated with all of these behaviors on television commercials, a newspaper ads to my and simply through the title of your job. Your imaginary world is my reality. Welcome to the world of forced unionism. My First Experience with Teachers Unions was during my year as a student teacher in 1987. Every day i witnessed in horror as the neighboring teacher yelled at and belittled her adorable firstgraders, sixyearolds. They were terrified of her. There is no way that they could have learned in that environment. Nor should they have had to. When i asked my Master Teacher what could be done about this unjust, and what i thought was a dangerous situation, she told me because of tenure laws and strong union advocacy, districts had a hard time ridding themselves of abusive and incompetent teachers. So these kids did not have much hope. That was the day that my Master Teacher educated me with the other problems within Public Sector unions. Unfortunately the union impacted her career and my career, and my classroom in ways that were and still are very troubling to me. For over 26 years ive been forced to pay dues to a union whose core belief and Political Activities are in direct opposition to my own beliefs, my own morals, and my political leanings. For example, although i am for vouchers, and i believe parents should have the right to choose their childrens education, my union dues are used to fight the parents right to choose. Although im against tenure, against higher taxes, and ridiculously high pensions for Public Sector employees, my unions bargain for all of these things and more with my money. Currently in my state of california we have a 74 billion unfunded pension liability. Yet my union continues to bargain for deals that are harmful to our economy. Because of these issues and more, i opt out of the portion of my dues that the union admits are overtly political. I am called an agency fee payer, but unfortunately i still paid for highly political collectivebargaining against my will. I am not in a right to work state. Since the union controls teachers by controlling information, it was quite challenging to discover exactly how to opt out and even more how to receive my annual rebate of the political portion of my dues , which you would think would be automatic but it is not. Early in my career received a very tiny rebate, but thankfully later i discovered california teachers empowerment network. Cten is a Nonprofit Organization that exists solely to help teachers discover their rights within forced unionism. I discovered how to opt out and how to receive my full annual rebate of the overtly political dues. When you opt out of Union Politics, you still have to pay 100 of the collective are dues. That is about 70 of the total dues. In exchange, you lose all rights of membership, and you lose your Liability Insurance, and you lose the right to vote within collectivebargaining, even though youre paying 100 . The loss of Liability Insurance scarce teachers so much that most will not opt out. Fortunately, cten also taught me how to find Liability Insurance from an independent source. I chose Christian Educators Association international for my insurance, and thankfully the coverage and service are far superior and my rebate more than covers the cost. My husband, who is a professor, was an agency fee payer for over 30 years before we discovered cten. They never once mentioned that he also needed to request a rebate of the dues that were used for over politics. For over 30 years, he paid full union dues, funded full Union Politics against his will. The union was too happy to keep his money, even though he made it clear as a fee payer that he did not want to support their politics. Cten taught both of us how to request our full rebate so we both receive them. Since fee payers have no collect no collective voice, at 1. I decided that im going to become a full union member so that i can have a voice. I joined, i served for three years as a union site representative, and as a local board member. I continually brought up the fact to many of my colleagues and i were disturbed and offended that our forced dues were being used toward politics and high political collective are getting that were against our moral codes. On every single location i was either ignored, or received this. Silence and shrugged shoulders. When i attended an annual cta conference, i asked during seminars come and another individual asked in the ballrooms. We were answered with hateful tones rhetoric that made it clear to everyone in the room that if you do not stand with Union Politics you were a bigot. On every occasion the entire room fell silent because of the extreme intimidation of the higher Union Officials. We literally felt like little children being bullied on a playground. Even Union Representatives are silenced if they do not toe the line of far left Union Politics. Those who disagreed with unions step down from leadership. 10 brave teachers in california and the Christian Educators Association have had enough. Thank god two powerful law firms have come alongside us to plead our case. On august 30, 2013, we filed a federal lawsuit against cta, and nea, and our 10 local unions. We decided to restore a constitutional, First Amendment right to free speech and free association. We desire to end forced unionism. We also desire to end the practice of allowing unions to collect our dues through paycheck deductions. You, the taxpayer, are funding dues collection for the union through paycheck deductions. We know this is a huge undertaking, but we believe that like david we have the truth on our side. We are being represented by an Incredible Group of lawyers who are lovers of liberty. Our counsel includes the center for individual rights, cir, a Public Interest law firm which specializes in First Amendment litigation and one of our attorneys is with us today if you have any questions for him. We are also being represented by one of the largest firms in the world. Were are currently at the ninth Circuit Court of appeals, and we wanted it to the United States Supreme Court as soon as possible. What we are asking for is very simple. We want teachers to decide for themselves without fear or coercion whether or not to join a union. Only the Supreme Court can vindicate our right to free speech and free association, so we are trying to get there as quickly as possible. I would like to imagine one more time. Imagine a victory for liberty. Imagine that all americans currently forced into unions would be free to make their own choices. They can keep their unions if they like them. They could leave them if they felt abused. Imagine that unions were low longer permitted to take many from unwilling donors, and that the bullying of others trapped inside against their will would stop. Imagine that unions could no longer thwart our political process so that the individual vote would not for something and the economy would work toward healing. Imagine that america could return to its former glory in education and our children could thrive in our schools again. A victory for the teachers in friedrichs versus the California Teachers Association could change our world for the good. Thank you for letting me speak today. Thank you. My dad was briefly a member of the united autoworkers union. My mother was a teamster. Im from michigan, one of the bluest states in the union. It used to be. I was member of the teachers association, but i am free at last. It has been a year ago this month and my story is such we had a bit of a rollback in the power of unions, through competition, overpriced labor and such. Things have happened. Michigan was doing very well. In the 1960s, 1970s, and then things happen. The Michigan Education associations power has been rolled back a little bit. Our union also collected dues and use them for political purposes. But several years ago our legislature and governor pushed through a law that was able to take the Political Action committee dues and make them an opt in. We are no longer forced to just pay those, and if you want to participate again. Choice reared its head. And then we had about two years ago the Legislature Passed a law that said new the union never will no longer have your dues or agency fees collected by your local school district. If you want to be a part of that human that is great, but you will pay to the union nor self, we will not and clued the business offices of your local schools. So we either wrote checks, or give them a credit card number. And like an idiot i give them my credit card number. [laughter] that is in 2012. And then suddenly, december 2012 in lansing michigan, out of nowhere, kept under incredible wraps politically the legislature in michigan came out with right to work legislation. It was prepared well ahead of time, it had a lot of groundwork but nobody heard word until suddenly the separate came through and a lameduck legislature that was denigrated in the media stormed through. I was so happy, i thought it would have choice. According to the right to work law, you can opt out of the union once your current contract was over. I was in a contract that ended june 30. I anticipated on june 30 to be my last day. I mailed my letter on july second. I fugured i was free. About a month and a week later i saw on my statement a charge for my monthly dues. I anticipated no charge at all and was very curious. Let me to establish, anticipating this glorious day of freedom i had emailed and phoned called asking the process to opt out. I heard nothing. When i saw that charge, i thought maybe all of these attempts of communication did not make it through. [laughter] you never know. I told my Credit Card Company to stop payment, i disputed the charge. I looked online as to what was going on and then i discovered this opt out window that appeared in a bylaw. No one was aware of it before. My local president. When we signed him back in the day as newborn teachers, we apparently agreed to the bylaw that no one was aware of. Once i knew that i found the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. They had a wonderful letter that i tailored and sent it registered mail. I also canceled my credit card. I did pay the july dues because i did not want to put my Credit Card Company through that nightmare. That is great and wonderful, i am out. It was about a month later that i received a phone call at my home. It was from a vice president. He was very nice and friendly asking exactly why would i want to opt out, and what caused me to make such a decision. That was the only communication i ever received. It is a Nice Organization if youre in that kind of thing, but i was not. That was my story then. Unfortunately, not many were made where of that opt out window. Many others did not know until afterwards. August, in michigan by law, Public Schools will not start until after labor day. Some schools will have professional Development Days for the week before. They do not tell you these things. This last school year i was the only fulltime teacher to my knowledge in my district to have opted out. I was a target for some. It was not real overt, it was somewhat subvert. I had a disciplinary hearing, they were looking at every jot and tool to make sure that i follow the line. You will face a little bit of resistance. That is how it is. It is all right, because nothing of value is free. In michigan right now the mta has made a form letter that asks you as a member wishes to opt out to go down the list and check off or initial that you agree you will no longer accept their wonderful preplanned package of coupons. [laughter] nowhere on their does this say i opt out. That is a bit of dispute. There are several teachers who have contacted me in michigan who have said they wanted to opt out and asked how i did. Over 8000 teachers in michigan this last school year, from july 1 to june 30, over a thousand michigan teachers decided not to pay their dues. They opted out by saying i am out. They do not give their credit card number. [laughter] the question that was brought forth to me later, was will the Economic Impact to the unions or the Education Association . Will that not impact the revenues . I said i do not care, it could. If it does, they will like any other business or Service Organization taylor their services to meet the demand of the customers, or they will with wither and die. Survival of the fittest was going fine economist about business. Members that pay for their services suddenly decide not to pay more, most Service Organizations with a we are not we can provide you with the services. It is more like youre conscripted into the military and you cannot leave. It is amazing to myself. Some ask the question in michigan that we have a free rider problem. I am now denigrated as a free rider, you do not pay any fees but you benefit from their actions. To which i respond, i will no way take advantage of and in these opportunities. I become a member of the association of american educators. They provide equivalent protections and arbitration. All of these things are made available and double the Liability Insurance for about 1 5 of the annual cost. As a teacher of economics and would be a moron if i did not take that. So i did. That was a question of choice, i chose to do so. Others may choose to stay in the union, that is fine. It is supposed to be about choice. If you do not want to invite someone over to your Birthday Party because they are not in the union, that is fine too. [laughter] this week being so special, not that we are trying to get the message out, across the country the should be a question of choice. If you could choose to contribute, that should be your choice. If you choose not to play, that should also be a choice. Thank you. Thank you for having me. My story is a little bit different in the sense that i am not an employee at all. Nor do i have an employor i opened a Small Business, a small child care business that i run from my home to this day. As any other Small Business owner i set my own rates, i create my own working conditions, i choose which clients i will serve. All of the aspects of my business are under my control. About a year after i opened my business i had a gentleman walk into my home without knocking during the day while i was busy making lunch. It was the busiest time of day. Imagine at dinnertime, and that is with just two or three, but i had six that were crying and hungry and lunch was on the stove. He walked into my home without knocking and asked me to sign what he said was a petition asking the state for childcare providers like myself. I was a little intimidated so i told him i was not interested. This man was a professional at what he was doing. He would not leave. For every answer i gave him as to why did not want to sign it, he had a prepared response. He grew more and more upset with me each time i said no. It was a very intimidating experience. I just about signed to get him to leave. The way i got him out of my hope was that i told him i would sign his petition later if you would just leave it or me to look over what i had time. He had been there for quite a few minutes and i could hear the lunch boiling over on the stove. I needed to get away. I told him i would sign if you would leave it and he would get up later that day. I think he was convinced i would not be interested after i read it. When i did have an opportunity to read it, that was the first time i saw the word union. The entire time he was in my house he never mentioned anything about being from a union or working for a union. He had no identification, telling me who he was working for. When he was trying to pitch this when he was trying to pitch this to me he dropped the name of our local state care child association. I thought he was affiliated with them. He said the child care supported his efforts. But never once did he mention the word union or anything to do with unionization. As im reading the fine print of the card i was so shocked. Not only was it a signing up to be a member of the fciu, it was authorizing him to take dues. The way they are trying to pull this scheme, even though we are paid privately, some families sometimes qualify for child care assistance. The Program Works like any other government welfare program. The family fills out the paperwork and qualify for a certain amount. They choose how to spend that. That is the same type of scenario with childcare. The parent qualifies for the benefit. They choose which Childcare Program to use that benefit at. One of my families at the time happened to qualify for childcare assistance. This union, if i had signed that card, would have taken dues out of that check. I wouldnt have known i had signed up to do that. After that first initial experience i thought this has to be illegal. There is no way this man can lie to me and get me to sign a card and get away with it. I discounted it. I thought that is never going to happen. Then they sent another one. Within a couple of months. They are really trying to do this. I started to do research. In 2006, if you googled there was no information out there other than buried six pages back in the search engine. So, i saw they were successful in another state. I knew this was something that was a threat to my business. I found some other childcare providers who were also upset. They were fighting back against this at the northern tip of the state. We formed our coalition. Our purpose was to educate childcare providers on what the Union Organizers were doing at their homes. They promise a lot of things. Free health insurance. A raise. They would ask, what would you like to change about your profession . Parents are showing up late. We can fix that. Whatever the issue was, we can fix that. We will get that done. Parents were signing these cards are not fully understanding what they were. The unions have admitted it is Standard Practice to come during Business Hours and we have children in our charge. They mislead us. They flat out lie about what these cards are. They collect signatures and then take those cards with them so you dont see what you signed. They collect these cards over six years. At the time we had a republican governor who would made aware that this was happening. He promised he would not he would veto any legislation that came his way. In 2011 we had a new governor. He had promised before he was even elected if he was elected he would sign an executive order unionizing childcare providers. He wasted very little time. We created a website to get the information out. At this point, and many other states have fallen victim to this. A dozen states at that point had faced this new breed of unionization. We knew it was a real threat. We had a governor who promised to do it. He signed an executive order. In november 2011, that was subsequently thrown out in state court on a technicality. It challenged the means for which it was done. The governor cant write law. They threw out the executive order because they cant be used for that purpose. At the time he had a Republican House and senate. The next election cycle, that was gone. 2013, just a year ago, our Union Friendly legislature and evan are introduced legislation that reclassified childcare providers as state employees. Only for the purpose of unionization. We dont get a pension. We dont get benefits. We set our own rights. The state cannot give us a raise. They have no control over working conditions. We joke around that they want to come by and give us a break for half an hour and change diapers, then that would be a benefit. There is no tangible benefit that comes along with this. They are trying to argue they can bargain and negotiate over the childcare system rates. It is a matter of Public Policy. Not something the legislature should do in the open with testimony and all those things from the public. They should not be set behind closed doors. After that law was passed with the help of the national right to work Legal Defense fund weve filed a lawsuit challenging those fees were a violation of the First Amendment. We took it a step further and said just the exclusive representation, taking private citizens and collectivize and them into groups, and allowing a group, an organization to represent these private citizens exclusively on matters of Public Policy is a violation of the First Amendment. We had a victory after we filed our lawsuit. The law was enjoined for close to a year. The union hadnt been recognized yet. The court of appeals to dismiss our case. They said we had to move until the case is ready to be determined. So we wait for the union to file their election. A significant victory on june 30 of this year, the same organization an attorney that brought our case also brought a case called harris versus quinn, which was argued in front of the United States print court in january 2013 2014. On june 30 they issued a ruling that forcing individuals who are not fullfledged employees icon like care providers to pay compulsory union fees is a violation of the First Amendment. For the first time, many of these providers for the first time in over a decade have the option to choose whether or not to financially subsidize these unions that are highly political and often times working on matters that not only you dont agree with but can be harmful to your profession. For childcare providers, Union Support mandatory universal preschool, those are the children we care for. Those are your clients. You are taking paying clients. We are paying for them to lobby for this. To take clients out of our program. The big issue for us now is getting the word out. National employee freedom week is a great event. Like the others mentioned, people dont realize they have this right. Not only do the unions not tell you, but they are dishonest. I cant tell you the number of providers we have spoken to who have tried to doubt only to have the union tell them that doesnt apply to you. You still have to pay your dues. They wont let them. It is important to educate, have an opportunity to educate individuals who are facing compulsory unionism so they understand what their rights are and they can opt out. They dont have to subsidize that activity. The home care providers in michigan, when they have the option, when the state revealed that option to choose, 80 of them left. This is a huge financial blow to the unions, as it should be. As you were saying, this is about the option to choose. To have choice. It is about freedom. We should be able to choose with whom we associate and choose with whom we dont want to associate. The argument allowing people to choose whether or not they are going to pay a union is so detrimental to unions. The nra and they are a political powerhouse. They survive on voluntary dues. They provide a benefit to their members. Unions can do the same thing. That is why leaving a union is important. Thank you. Thank you. Were going to do some q a. We have microphones. If youre late question, way into my microphone is brought to you so that viewers watching online and on cspan will be able to hear you. Please identify yourself and any affiliation. One of the things that emerges from every story is the sense of a monopoly you only have. You have one union. Would one result of a employee freedom be that you could end up with a situation where there are multiple unions offering better services, and competing to offer services . I think it could happen. A lot of times they will push for that exclusive representation. The union is the biggest barrier. They recognize the benefits of having a monopoly. I think if that was taken away, teachers and other professionals would come together and say this is a group that i want to form. You see that throughout society. Different organizations forming. The exclusive representation is the barrier. Some mentioned aae as a group that Officers Services the union offers. How would people who want to get involved, what services are they offering . How does that work . Sure. As a consumer i dont want to spend too much time. I want to buy and go. If you go to the website, it explains clearly from insurance and coupons. They have more businesses that im going to use. They provide Arbitration Services and other things along those lines. There is transparency. If an individual wants to send a check or a credit card number. Stick with checks. A question from the audience. It sounds like there is a lack of communication. I had never heard of the American Association of educators. Im sure a lot of teachers havent either. Based on what happened in wisconsin, how does only 25 of the nevada teachers thought having free choice was a good idea when as soon as right to work was put in place in wisconsin, 80 of wisconsin Educators Association members quit . What happened in nevada, there is the paycheck deduction. The union represents 60 of the teachers throughout the state. There were a good number of teachers who knew or who have never joined. What our campaign focused on was the teachers who had joined the wanted to leave. The union has fallen steadily over the last couple of years. They represent 60 of the cheap teachers now. Hello. Can any of you comment on the department of education and its role in this . Basically that agency was created by a Teachers Union in a way. What role does the government play in promoting unions and making it harder for people to have choices . What happens a lot of time, the state level, the collectivebargaining laws are made. They stop the union from taking the money out of the paycheck. That is a great protection. Then taxpayers arent funding it. I think when it comes to the issue of unions and leaving unions, i dont know if it is as much as the department of education as what happens of the state legislature or the county level. Those states where the decisions are being made. Have you thought about assembling other teachers . Informing them . Asking them to join the lawsuit. There is not to join our lawsuit. But i am fond of informing them about our lawsuit and educating them as the gentleman behind you mentioned. There is a terrible lack of communication out there. Because of the monopoly, they actually control teacher email and mailboxes. If i wanted to say that my fellow educators know that there are other choices out there, or even about my lawsuit, if i slip a flyer in their mailbox at work i would be written up for that. If i sent them an email, same thing. That is why there was a lack of communication for teachers. No one is allowed to get that to us in an easy form. If i could jump in, i should mention your lawsuit will have implications for the Public Sector Union Members. If the Supreme Court rules in their favor that will have repercussions. A question in the back. I would like to mention that but he was a product of the depression. Unions have outlived their time. It seems like in the teaching arena, you have civil search protection. You layer that on top of that. It is a double date at the taxpayers. Do any of you note the history . I dont seem to remember when i was in school that education unions were so militant. Is there an explanation of how this evolved . Would you like me to take over . In 1977 there was a u. S. Supreme court case. In that case a teacher like myself was arguing that it was unconstitutional to have to pay union dues. He lost. The Supreme Court decided that in order to prevent freeloaders, and keep labor peace, the unions were given a monopoly leadership over publicsector employees. Public sector employees were given no choice in the matter. It became a condition of employment that you had to fund the union. Here is where people get confused. I dont have to join the union. But i have to fund the union. I am not a member, i am a union funder. It was clever on their part. It is hard for the public to understand. Many say what is your complaint . You can opt out. They dont understand i cant opt out of all of the political collectivebargaining that is going on out there. That case is the reason that we are in this situation. Our lawsuit seeks to overturn it. If i could speak to that freeloader question. It is funny to call someone a freeloader when you force them onto the bus, you make them sit there. And then say pay your bus fare. In no other place in society is another Organization Able to for someone who is not interested and make them pay for something they arent interested in. If a Magazine Company did what a union did there would be lawsuits throughout the country. We can leave organizations we dont like except labor unions. There is bullying involved as well. You dare to try to leave. I will give you the last question. For audience members today, Public Service employees and are thinking about potentially leaving their union, where can they go to get more information and help them make an informed decision . Go to our website. Employee freedom week. The best source of information would be to go to your local union, asked the procedure for opting out, ask to see a copy of your signed union car. That is supposed to have when the window periods are. If youre in a right to work state, there is often these restrictions in the time periods of when you can leave. Find out when that is and let them know that you want out. Employeefreedomweek. Com has good information. There is a lot of good resources out there for you to leave your union if you run into resistance. Can i add . I dont mean to disagree with you. I just have to say if you go to your union rep, or your Union President , most likely they will give you a blank stare. They dont know how to help you opt out. Went to mi hyun onrep myunion rep and i said what do i do . Wait a minute that box looked clearly. That box is money that goes to a Political Action committee thats a separate donation that were all making even though were not making the separate donation. And thats going to give me that 20 a year. She said thats what you do. You check that box. Im still a full union member and am still paying fullion onpolitics if i check that box. And she argued this point with me for days. And finally i asked her to please go ask the c. T. A. She finally came out and said oh, you want to be an agency fee payer. I said i used that term 20 times. And so she is a very kind person. She had no idea how to help me opt out. And i have never met a Union President. Im talking local level. Local Union President. I have never met one that knows how to help you opt out. So its really important to go to the website. For me if youre from california cthome. Org. Theyre incredible. They know everything. And theyll help you get through this national right to work. All these organizes that weve mentioned today, thats where you need to go for help. Or you need to find a teacher or if youre a Public Sector employee, if youre a firefighter if youre a Police Officer whatever you are, find an employee who is already a fee pay or. Fa thats who could help you. Dont go to your union rep. You do need to give them letters which is receive return requested, all that. Thank you. Thank you so much. Please thank join me in thanking our panel. Heres a look at our prime time lineup next week on the cspan network each night starting at 8 00. On monday, a debate on genetically modified food. And then General Motors recalls. D this years idea Forum Thursday well look at climate change. Monday on cspan2 its a discussion about fracking. Tuesday night at 8 00, afterwards with