Friedrichs Case Threatens To Take Away Fairness
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Monday in a case over whether teachers in California and 22 other states working under a union contract must pay union fees even if they are not union members. Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association seeks to make it harder for educators to come together to bargain for smaller class sizes, safer schools and better learning environments for all students. It would overturn commonsense jurisprudence that allows states and localities to choose for themselves whether to require public employees to pay their share for the union representation they receive.
As educators, we are fearful about these consequences not just for us and our families, but for our communities and students.
The Friedrichs case is fundamentally about something we teach our students every day: fairness.
Read the rest of this San Francisco Chronicle op-ed by Eric C. Heins, an elementary school teacher in the Pittsburg Unified School District who serves as the president of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association
More on Friedrichs:
You don’t have to look far to see what happens when states outlaw fair share fees in an effort to weaken unions.The results have been lower wages and worse benefits for working people. In states without full union rights, the average worker makes $1,500 less per year, and workers are much less likely to have health insurance—let alone other benefits that help them support their families.
President of @PatersonEA writes on what's at stake in #Friedrichs https://t.co/iVNSAEz8Yq Bottom line: unions #worktogether for all of us— AmericaWorksTogether (@amworkstogether) January 9, 2016