When Michigan Republicans passed right-to-work in late 2012, the state’s largest teachers’ union set out to make it as difficult as possible for members to ditch the union.
The Michigan Education Association decided it would only accept membership resignations sent in August. Paperwork had to be mailed to an address that could be changed without notice, as happened in 2015.
Now the MEA is admitting those restrictions broke the law — not out of goodwill, but because the Michigan Employment Relations Commission ruled as much in September 2015. That ruling also required the union to publish the rule changes in its online and print publications.
The union is now accepting resignations all year long. They can be emailed to a designated address or mailed to the union’s headquarters.
The MEA is appealing the ruling, in hopes it can resume the August resignation window. The suit was filed by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation on behalf of four teachers. “The MEA [was] threatening to turn them over to a collection agency for not paying their dues even though they had notified the union of their desire to leave,” the Mackinac Center says.
Right-to-work laws allow workers to choose whether they want to join a union or not, even if their workplace is unionized. Employers cannot mandate union membership as a condition of employment in right-to-work states. There are currently 25 right to work states, with Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana the latest to adopt such laws.
Despite its former restrictions, the union has lost one-fifth of its membership since right-to-work became law.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
