Minneapolis
The potential consequences of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31 loom large here at the National Education Association鈥檚 annual convention.
Delegates are very much aware that their teachers鈥� union is facing serious revenue and membership declines, now that 鈥渁gency鈥� or 鈥渇air share鈥� fees are prohibited, and teachers must affirmatively opt into the union rather than opt out. The NEA is expecting a over the next two years.
NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garc铆a sat down with 澳门跑狗论坛 to talk about how the nation鈥檚 largest teachers鈥� union is bracing for the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision, and how she believes the union will regain its strength. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
After Janus, how do you see the NEA repositioning itself?
We are coming into this preparing on two fronts. ... What [union opponents] did when they got [the Michigan] state legislature to do away with those fair-share fees [in 2012], they parachuted in people to knock on doors, put fliers in your mailbox, emails鈥�"Good news, members, you now get all those services for free. Let me show you how to drop your membership.鈥� They had a full-on attack on our members, and they used fair-share fees for the pretext. That鈥檚 exactly what鈥檚 happening now, in Washington state, in California, in Maryland, in New Jersey. It is a multi-million-dollar 鈥渄rop your membership鈥� campaign. We have to be prepared.
Knowing that鈥檚 happening now, we are . We鈥檙e going to do a lot more with electronic meetings. We鈥檙e not going to publish as much as we鈥檝e published before, we鈥檙e going to put things online. We鈥檙e going to cancel some of our conferences. And what we鈥檙e going to do is fund the Defense Against the Dark Arts for the drop campaigns. We鈥檙e going to put money in places that will help our affiliates fight those things.
On the other side, we knew this was coming. There was no reason to think that Justice [Neil] Gorsuch was all of a sudden going to be a friend to working people and agree with Abood [the precedent that established agency fees]. Since Friedrichs [the 2016 Supreme Court case on the same issue that deadlocked 4-4 after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia], we鈥檝e been doing membership drives of a very different nature all over the country, in all of our affiliates鈥攑erson-to-person, human contact, 鈥淗ere鈥檚 why I belong to the union; here鈥檚 why I鈥檓 proud of what we鈥檙e doing.鈥� What we found out is even our own members who are loyal members didn鈥檛 know what we were doing in the social-justice arena, didn鈥檛 know what we were doing in terms of poverty or racial justice.
Especially these new folks coming in, ... those brand-new teachers, [union opponents are] going to try to convince them, 鈥淵ou know, you don鈥檛 need a union.鈥� We鈥檙e already reaching out to new folks on college campuses so they know who we are and what our work is. And we鈥檙e already seeing the impact of doing that.
The budget . Do you see that as a temporary setback and that NEA will recoup those members, or do you see the union becoming leaner going forward?
What we saw in Michigan was a precipitous drop, especially with the new people coming in that have no idea what a union does, and they鈥檙e getting all of this information from Koch-funded organizations [i.e., those backed by anti-union billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch] about why you shouldn鈥檛 join. ... Michigan Education Association was not prepared to bring in their own voice to those new folks. So we anticipate that, and we are preparing for that drop. But we also know what happens when you have your own campaign to let people know who you are and what you鈥檙e doing and why they should join鈥攊t goes up.
Our greatest membership growth [has been] in our right-to-work-for-less states [i.e., those right-to-work states where teachers have recently protested low pay]鈥擶est Virginia; Arizona鈥檚 up 2,000 members after their march; Oklahoma. People ... went, 鈥淲ait a minute. When we really let our voices be heard, and we came together, people listened to us. The public was appalled to hear what we made. They had no idea we were paying for our students鈥� supplies because we didn鈥檛 have money in our budget for that.鈥� They made some noise, they got folks listening.
You鈥檙e not going to have marches like that every year鈥攊t can鈥檛 become our new normal. But what it instilled in those folks, whether they are members or not, [is the power of] collective action. None of us have the power to just stand on the street corner and shout what you need. The collective action means the governor listened to us, parents supported us, and we looked around and said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e in this together.鈥� We know that it is impacting states that never had fair-share [fees], and they鈥檙e growing [their membership].
When you actually get people together, and they see each other and they hear each other, they don鈥檛 go back, they go forward. And forward is growing your collective voice. Forward is your union.
So you think when people see what it鈥檚 like to not have a strong union, the membership loss will reverse course?
Exactly. In those states like West Virginia and Arizona, where folks looked around and said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 been bad for so long and we haven鈥檛 joined; we haven鈥檛 been a part of the union"鈥攖hat鈥檚 why 2,000 educators in Arizona said, 鈥淪ign me up. You鈥檙e right, this is the only way we move forward to something better.鈥�
[Editorial note: As 澳门跑狗论坛 has reported, most of the recent labor actions were led by rank-and-file teachers, with the unions playing a supporting role.]
We will prepare for the worst, and we will prepare for the best simultaneously, because what we didn鈥檛 cut out of that budget was the human-to-human contact, the information with members and potential members. There are no more nonmembers, there are only potential members.
Now there are dozens of teachers running for office across the country. What do you make of that?
It鈥檚 so exciting. ... Folks are saying, 鈥淚鈥檓 tired of banging on the legislators鈥� door. I want to be the legislator, somebody can bang on my door.鈥� We鈥檝e got plenty of business people, we have plenty of rich people, we have plenty of lawyers, ... why not have somebody with that common sense community grounding that a school teacher would have?
So whether they鈥檙e running for school board, ... state legislature, we鈥檝e got a couple of Congressional candidates, county commissioners .... We鈥檝e got a whole lot of our own members, and we put together , which is a program where we train folks. Here鈥檚 what you need in a campaign team, here鈥檚 how you do fundraising, here鈥檚 what you need to watch out for, the laws you need to follow, here鈥檚 how you organize your volunteers to do a phone bank or to knock on doors.
There are so many ways we can show our power. I had somebody on a NPR show鈥攊t was a call-in show鈥攁nd she said, 鈥淭he problem with NEA is you鈥檙e too political, you should get out of politics.鈥� Hello! In my head, as a 6th grade teacher who had 39 kids [in my classroom], get out of politics means be quiet and sit down and let someone else decide who those political leaders will be, who decided it鈥檚 OK for you to have 39 kids. ... These are political decisions.
We are a political society. The responsibility to say, I would like to serve my country as a candidate, or I need to find out where these candidates stand on the issues that matter me, and I need to come together and make decisions on whether or not we want to collectively help a candidate鈥攈ow is that bad? How is that not the most profound patriotic act that anyone could have? It just still shocks me that saying getting involved in our political process is something that teachers should silence themselves over. Oh no, no no, no, no.
澳门跑狗论坛 is tracking the teachers running, and we haven鈥檛 seen anything like this before.
It鈥檚 a new phenomenon. It鈥檚 part of this process of being woke and not taking things for granted. Now folks are not taking their unions for granted.
A lot of those fee-payers, we鈥檙e not taking it for granted that they won鈥檛 be our future members. We鈥檙e actually sitting down, one fee-payer at a time, going, 鈥淥n this day, you stopped paying fees. You鈥檙e still going to be in the collective-bargaining group, but we need you to be a member. What would it take to have you be a member? Because other people are paying for that service, and we need you to be a member not just to pay for that service, but to be a part of that greater voice.鈥� And a lot of them have already flipped to being full members.
Image: Eskelsen Garc铆a speaks in May, by Patrick Ryan/NEA. Courtesy of the National Education Association. All rights reserved.
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