Letter asks teachers to OK job action
Michigan Education Assoc sent it to local unions
Updated: Friday, 18 Mar 2011, 12:12 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 18 Mar 2011, 12:12 PM EDT
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The state's largest teachers union is asking its 1,100 local units to vote to give the union, the Michigan Education Association, "the authority to initiate crisis activites up to and including job action."
"Is something that could come out of this a large-scale job action? Yes. But that's a decision our members will have to make," MEA spokesman Doug Pratt told 24 Hour News 8.
It's illegal for teachers or any public employees to strikein Michigan -- but strikes have happened and MEA President Iris Salters used the term "work stoppage" in the letter.
Salters' letter said the group's members -- as well as the middle class in Michigan -- are "under assault in Lansing." It was sent to local union presidents to see how teachers are interested in responding to actions approved or