Teachers are getting targeted anti-union emails from conservative groups | PBS NewsHour

Teachers are getting targeted anti-union emails from conservative groups | PBS NewsHour

Teachers are getting targeted anti-union emails from conservative groups

Conservative, free-market groups across the country have launched campaigns aimed at persuading teachers to drop out of their unions, in the aftermath of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that will put a dent in unions’ finances and membership numbers.

For the past year, union officials had been preparing to face both an adverse ruling in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31 — which in June determined public-employee unions could no longer collect fees from nonmembers for collective bargaining—and subsequent efforts by anti-union groups to get teachers to end their memberships. But the speed and scope of the anti-union messaging has been striking.

In some cases, school district officials have even stepped in to block the flow of these outside messages on school system email servers.

Right-leaning think tanks and advocacy organizations have placed anti-union ads on Google and social media and sent targeted emails to teachers across the country. Some plan to go door to door to reach educators during the summer.

Ashley Elpern Chapman, a public school teacher and union member in Newton, Massachusetts, received a message from one of these groups, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the day after the Janus decision came down on June 27.

“The wording of [the email] sounded very manipulative, and very, ‘We’re here to help you,’” she said. “They’re there to push an agenda — not looking out for teachers.”

National unions and state affiliates have been quick to highlight that many of these organizations receive funding from prominent conservative donors and have ties to the Koch family foundations, which have donated millions of dollars to conservative and libertarian groups. The groups see the Janus decision as an opportunity to gut money from the unions, who support Democratic candidates and issues. The Mackinac Center also receives funding from The Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, a philanthropic group started nearly three decades ago by the now-U.S. secretary of education and her husband. Unions argue that these email and social-media campaigns are designed to suppress workers’ rights and benefit corporate interest.

But Patrick Wright, the Mackinac Center’s vice president for legal affairs, says that his organization is simply providing teachers with the facts necessary to Continue reading:  Teachers are getting targeted anti-union emails from conservative groups | PBS NewsHour