Teachers Union answers questions about dues

DPEA United 0911

I agree with this. It's a shame our local president (Janice) couldn't provide an answer this good at last years meeting. Instead she resorted to scare-tactics that were not well accepted my the membership present.

"If you feel you are better off without a union..."

Since support staff in De Pere are some of the lowest paid positions in relationship to adjacent districts, a union makes sense.

But from the battles I have had, and everything I have seen... I like unions, just not this one (WEAC).

PAC Rebates

Rebate Available for Political Action Committee Contributions

A PAC contribution of $5 (full-time) has been added to your Bay Lakes United Educators dues for 2011-2012. The BLUE Board of Directors utilizes these funds to make contributions to: 1) The political campaigns of candidates for local or state office who have been recommended by our members for election because they are friends of education, and 2) committees that advocate for passage of school referenda. Any member wishing a rebate of the contribution must request such in writing by October 31, 2011.

Each request must be a separate letter including your name, address and local association name. All requests must be postmarked by October 31, 2011. A request is valid only for the year of that request. Rebates are normally issued by February or March.

For a refund of your Bay Lakes United Educators PAC contribution, write to: BLUEPAC, 1136 North Military Avenue, Green Bay, WI 54303. Telephone requests, multiple requests in the same letter, letters postmarked after October 31, email requests, and letters missing any of the required information (name, address and local association) will not be honored. They will be discarded. Fair share non-members do not need to request a refund. An automatic refund will be issued to all fair share fee-payers as soon as that person’s fair share status has
been certified.

At the state WEAC level, there is $10 for PAC that can be requested back. Write to: WEAC President, P.O. Box 8003, Madison, WI 53708-8003

Needless to say, I don't believe in giving money to politicians on either side of the political spectrum.

I'm a firm believer in Campaign reform. I don't want one penny of my money funding those political mud flinging ads. Think publicly funded campaigning. This guy has the right idea:

GREEN BAY — What we need in this country is an overhaul of the election process. We need to get back to the issues and get money out of the election process.

First, I propose to make it illegal for business and corporations to donate to a candidate. Why? Because people working hard to make their money may not be for the candidate they are donating to. So in a sense they are forcing their employees to donate for a candidate they don’t want.

Second, a business can only donate to a general election fund that is divided equally between all candidates.

Third, private individuals can only donate $1,000 per election to a candidate. That will eliminate millionaires from buying their candidate. It will make for more equal terms.

Fourth, all candidates will be limited to the same amount of money to spend in their election. Money will be given to each candidate out of the general election fund to bring all on equal terms. We don’t need big money buying elections and candidates. This will make the candidates talk about the issues, and not flood the airways with garbage ads that do nothing but drive the rest of us nuts.

Stephen Francies

Dues Are Going Down?

Dues For 2011-12

Dues For 2010-11

I intercepted this Blue Memo.

If you do the math, it works out to $24.94 per check for 2011-12. At the end of last school year our dues were $28.38 per check.

There seems to be some discrepancies here. We've been told that only $15 dollars (per year) of each members dues stays in our local treasury.


At a meeting early last year members inquired after dues went up slightly on how the dues increase process works.

It was explained that delegates from each local attend an annual representative assembly (RA) meeting as a voice for each local on such issues.

Ironically who attended from our local is never reported, nor is any information on what topics were part of the agenda. Under inquiry, President Janice said Sue and Kelly L***** typically go, but that it is open for anyone to attend if they express the desire.

Here is an interesting section from the Constitution of the De Pere Educational Support Personnel Assocation. Keep in mind that we recently all went though the bylaws so that we'd hopefully have a better understanding of how we are supposed to be operating.

ARTICLE XI - DELEGATES

The delegates to the WEAC or the NEA Representative Assembly shall be elected by secret ballot. Association officers whose duties include serving as delegated to Representative Assemblies or other official business meetings of organizations with which the Association is affiliated shall be as specified in the Constitution.

To the best of my knowledge for the last decade we have not even elected RA delegates.

WEAC issues layoff notices for 40% of staff

Aug. 15, 2011 By Erin Richards of the Journal Sentinel

In the aftermath of legislation that clips the power of public employee unions in Wisconsin, the state's largest teachers union exhibited the first signs of a wobble Monday when it issued layoff notices to 42 employees.

The new legislation limits collective bargaining, but it also requires local unions to hold annual recertification votes, prohibits employers from automatically deducting union dues from a public worker's payroll and allows bargaining-unit members to opt out of paying union dues altogether if they wish.

The announcement of layoffs at the Wisconsin Education Association Council, which affects about 40% of its workforce, comes at a time when the organization is reaching out to members to rally support for the union.

WEAC Executive Director Dan Burkhalter said Monday that the layoffs and budget cuts are based on a projected loss of revenue as a result of Gov. Scott Walker's "union-busting legislation."

Burkhalter said WEAC's membership decreased because of extra retirements last year and districts limiting their hiring of new employees this year.

He said the cuts were not related to any prediction that there would be a further drop in membership as a result of the upcoming re-certification elections for local unions around the state.

The recertification elections are to be conducted by Dec. 1 for all bargaining units that don't have a contract in effect.

"By law, to continue on as the representative, the union needs to garner the re-certification votes of 51% of all eligible voters," said Peter Davis, general counsel for the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, which will oversee the elections.

WEAC is made up of about 98,000 state teachers and education-support professionals. It collected about $23.5 million in dues in 2009, the latest year of data for which federal tax filing information is available.

It's been holding membership continuation drives this summer in districts where teachers and other workers are no longer covered by a contract and even making house calls to connect with people in person.

WEAC spokeswoman Christina Brey said home visits were a choice made by local union leaders, and she heard positive feedback.

"We really need to look each other in the eye at this point," Brey said.

Burkhalter said that a little less than a third of WEAC's membership does not have a contract covering it anymore.

He wouldn't say how many people have volunteered to continue their WEAC membership - it's internal information, he said - but he added that the organization has signed up members since the bill passed.

Membership is steady in districts that signed or extended contract agreements with unions before the new legislation passed, he said. That includes large districts with lots of members, such as Milwaukee and Kenosha.

In Fond du Lac, where a contract was not extended, Fond du Lac Education Association President Hedy Eischeid said her group and WEAC are working in concert to recruit members and talk to people about why the union is relevant. Persuading teachers to pay dues comes at the same time another element of the Walker law requires most public employees to pay more for their health care and retirement benefits.

Eischeid said the local organization traditionally forwards a portion of members' dues to WEAC, the national organization (for WEAC members that's the National Education Association) and UniServ ("united service"), the regional offices that help deliver services to members.

She said Walker's legislation was intended to break the power of WEAC and local unions and make them ineffectual, and that's "a slap in the face" to people who consider the work that unions do important.

Eischeid said that in Fond du Lac, teachers have united in shared anger over the new legislation, and more than 90% of the local membership has committed to stay in the union.

"We won't have 100%, and there are some people that we will not get to join," she said. "We didn't have people who were 100% with us even when (the district) took dues out automatically. But now we're having important conversations about that, and the power of dialogue is strong."

Eischeid didn't disclose the cost of union dues in Fond du Lac.

In Milwaukee Public Schools, where teachers are operating under an extended contract, most Milwaukee Teachers Education Association members pay about $1,000 per year in dues. Teachers who decline membership still have to pay a $700 "fair share" payment for contract enforcement and bargaining.

U.P. school could cut freshmen sports

U.P. school could cut freshmen sports- Menominee cuts about $50,000 to athletic programs

www.fox11online.com Thursday, 21 Jul 2011 Reporter: Ben Krumholz

MENOMINEE, Mich. - Facing a $2 million budget deficit, the Menominee, Mich., School District has reduced costs in many areas. With about a $700,000 hole remaining, many freshman athletic programs are on the chopping block, including football, basketball and volleyball.

“Our board of education believes our core business is academics and so everything we tried to do back with the budget this year was to keep those cuts as far away from our academic programs as we possibly could,” said superintendent Erik Bergh.

The district's budget woes are similar to others throughout Michigan. Bergh says state funding usually reserved for kindergarten through 12th grade schools is now being shared with higher education.

“I fully believe that the solutions to the problems that we face, we shouldn't be looking at state government to solve those issues for us,” said Bergh.

Bergh believes the community is part of the solution. With some help from general funds, school officials believe fundraising can offset $50,000 in cuts to the district's sports programs.

School officials say in the coming days, the fundraising should be in place to save at least the freshman sports for this fall. From there, officials will address the other freshman sports in danger of being eliminated.

“If you ask me right now, I'd say we have a 99 percent chance that we'll have all the freshman sports this fall, because we think we can secure that funding,” said athletic director Dale Van Duinen.

While school officials are confident the programs will be saved this year, they say they need to come up with a plan to fund them for future years.

Officials say a committee is being formed to focus on major fundraising to keep athletes on the field for years to come.

“Money is dwindling for schools and you've got to find creative ways to do things,” said Marye Mathieu, the president of the Menominee Sports Booster Club.

Mathieu says the booster club is stepping up its contributions. In the past it helped pay for things like coach buses for long road trips. This year it will help fund a majority of some of the athletic programs at risk of being cut.

Members don't appreciate scare tatics

What Does the Union Do for Me

So lets rewind shall we?

November 2010 was the last union meeting. By February a metric-shit-storm erupts at that state capitol over the governors proposed plan.

The superintendent make his rounds to each building to field questions and concerns about the changes being enacted into law in Madison. (Feb 17-25) In many cases there was no support staff union officer presence.

At the time, the superintendent said De Pere was mostly likely exempt from the 12% health requirement as we do not participate in the state plan. (or something to this effect)

Friday March 4th, we heard rumors that the superintendent was checking with his lawyers about possibly extending our contract as well as the teachers.

Tuesday, March 8th union members were presented with a tentative agreement. It’s my belief that since there were no revisions showing the 12% clause that many members were making misinformed decisions on their vote.

The support staff health insurance / fringe benefits in Appendix B of their contract use the language “the District will contribute.... on the same basis and amount that is contributes for the full-time professional staff.”

Members may have made misinformed votes. As there was no meeting prior or real explanation on this impromptu vote March 8th. It was reported (March 11th) that our voting results were: 115 yes, 6 no, and 13 abstaining. And that the school board ratified the agreement at a special meeting (March 10th).

Then May rolls around, and staff cuts and layoffs are announced. Keep in mind most members were probably under the false assumption that if they agreed to the contract extension provisions that their jobs would be safe.

The issue I have, as well as probably others is the lack of communication. While I don't agree with Walker, I can say the same about how this was handled.

While some may feel it was or is immaterial as the contract vote would have passed either way (as historically they always do, and realizing this was a take it or leave it offer), again this issue is members have the right to be informed. And the first and foremost function of the union should be to inform them and answer their questions.

Then finally a general membership meeting on June 4th.

It's explained that after our contract expires, (and assuming that the governors bill sticks) that in order to maintain a certified bargaining unit the membership will have to vote each year to keep the bargaining unit. This requires 51% of the total membership will have to vote in favor under the bill.

The "what does my union do for me" handout is in front of everyone. Someone asks the UniServ rep "how many grievances have been processed from start to resolution in recent years?"

What might not be obvious to the union officers is that the handout is a hypothetical list of services. It will probably very difficult yo maintain the union as is. As the more members take cuts, the people look for the value of their dollar.

The local doesn't have a good track record. There were 32 members present for the June meeting out of 100 some.

It's human nature to recall the bad over the good. I'd be willing to bet that a majority of members who have approached a union officer on an issue haven't received an answer that made them feel glad they were paying dues. Most have reported phone calls not returned, and other standoffish attitudes.

Yet the president is on cloud-nine apparently:
"The reason why so many people don't attend meetings is because they are fine with the way things are and don't want to give up their time."

It couldn't possibly be that they have been beat into submission and have given up on the union.

The summary here is there is 2 years to "show us" what the union does. And get in touch with the membership, and erase that unapproachable attitude that many officers have.

Again, people have a natural tenancy to remember the bad over the good about things in general in life. This is why it is of the utmost importance to always try and make a good impression and put your best face forward.

What I remember about this union is that you have to call, call again, send certified letters, and email WEAC in Madison just to have local meetings and treasury disclosure.

They seem dead against any type of social gathering or networking. As a union roster has been requested a few times.... so tell us to "stay strong" or put your money where you mouth is.

Rebuilding trust is paramount... and remember that the dues paying members are the reason there is a union.

DeForest school administrators get hefty raises while district cuts elsewhere

From The Capitol Times

How often do you find teachers, parents and tea party partisans on the same page regarding school spending?

That's the unusual scenario playing out in DeForest, thanks to a quiet deal resulting in salary increases of up to $26,000 a year for school administrators.

Meanwhile, the DeForest area school board recently voted to eliminate elementary teaching positions, increase class sizes and phase out German and French language offerings to address about $1.7 million in local school aid cuts anticipated from Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget.

The hefty salary increases for about 20 administrators while the school district is trimming teaching staff and school programs has parents steaming.

"In a climate where most people are just grateful for a job, why are these kind of raises -- up to 20 percent and more -- necessary, especially all at once?" asks Terri Treinen, who has two young children in the DeForest school district and is a graduate herself of DeForest schools. Her husband is a teacher in the district.

Treinen says she had heard "rumblings and rumors" that significant raises for administrators went into effect early this year. But, she adds, "from looking through board meeting minutes online we couldn't find any record of public discussion and it's only been recently that we got the numbers. When it comes to transparency and school issues, this district is about as easy to see through as a window painted black."

DeForest Superintendent Jon Bales, who himself received a 5.1 percent raise and now receives $146,243 a year, notes the salary increases were approved by the school board almost a year ago on June 14, 2010. There is no indication in the minutes of the meeting that there was any public discussion of the proposed raises.

Like parents, teachers and other unionized employees in the district are also upset about these administrative salary increases. Over the last six months, district employees conceded over $700,000 in benefit dollars, and agreed to a pay freeze to help the district weather the financial storm.

"These kinds of pay raises at this time are most unusual. Frankly, it's shocking," says David White, the WEAC union representative who works with the DeForest teachers group. "As far as I can tell, they (the school board) granted very significant pay increases to administrative staff during roughly the same period they were arguing that there was very, very little money for negotiations."

Furthermore, the large salary increases for administrators might not have become public knowledge if union leaders had not asked to see current compensation figures for non-represented staff, says White, noting it is fairly routine for union representatives to ask for salary information for school administrators.

"If there's belt-tightening going on, we just want to check to see how the non-represented staff is faring," White says.

In April, following the ratification of an extended contract with district employees, local union leaders Rick Hill and Gayle McFarlane requested an update on administration compensation from the district's human resources department.

Initially, the administration deflected the request, saying the information was on a document the union had gotten the previous year, according to Hill, DeForest teachers union president, and White.

When Hill received the requested document with the current information he was "dumbfounded" by the new salary rates for administrators.

"Given the concessions we made, and the pressure we were under to hold the line financially, this felt like a slap in the face," Hill says.

The document, marked confidential, reveals that about 20 local school administrators got pay increases beginning in January 2011 that average over $10,000 from previous salary rates.

Bales says these salaries reflect two factors: a hike of around 2.5 percent per year from 2008/2009 salary levels, similar to what district union staff saw over the same time period, and a larger jump to bring compensation for DeForest administrators in line with comparable posts around Dane County.

Bales says DeForest administrators were making significantly less than their peers in the other 17 Dane County school districts.

In a few cases, the difference was just a couple of thousand dollars but in more than a dozen cases the difference was more than $8,000, and in several cases was more than $20,000.

According to Bales, school board policy in DeForest calls for paying staff at the average wage of the surrounding area or better. While this effort to pay an "average" wage for the county has been accomplished for union staff, it was deferred several times for administrators in recent years, he says.

"The board has wanted to treat all employees fairly. If you understand the guiding principle that we want to pay our staff at or above the Dane County market average, from a governance standpoint, these increases make sense," Bales says.

Though Bales says that is not uncommon for such financial issues to be approved by the board without public discussion, others are uncomfortable with what they see as a lack of transparency.

"For many of us, this isn't specifically a union issue, it's a public issue," Hill says. "If there's the feeling we're all going to pull together to make shared sacrifices to weather the storm, that's one thing. But if that's apparently not the case, and no one has had a chance to discuss this openly, that's a very different situation."