Teachers file suit against union

A statewide class-action lawsuit filed by a group of California

teachers and professors against the California Teachers Assn. has

local teachers baffled as to why their peers would be working against

them.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, seeks to bar union officials from

enacting a mandatory $60-per-teacher dues increase to help fund

political action campaigns, including those targeted at countering

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s propositions affecting education.

“I can’t imagine anyone why in their right mind would feel that

now is a good time to sue anything pertaining to public education,

especially the CTA, which is spending millions of dollars to protect

public education,” Mike Marcos, Vice President of the Burbank

Teachers Assn. and Burroughs High School teacher Mike Marcos.

The Burbank Teachers Assn. had surveyed its members on how they

felt about the issue, and over two thirds of them approved the

increase in dues, said the association’s co-president, Kim Allender.

Based on the survey, local representatives for the group voted to

approve the increase at theCalifornia Teacher’s Assn. assembly in

June.

“I think it’s important for CTA to have the resources to oppose

these things,” Allender said of the struggle against Schwarzenegger’s

proposition. “But I can’t comment on the technicalities of the $60

dues increases; I’m not an attorney.”

Members of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation,

who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the teachers, said that teachers

should not be forced to pay for political action they may not

support.

“We believe that teachers should be free to decide for themselves

if they pay for union political activities,” said Justin Hakes, the

director of legal information for National Right to Work Legal

Defense foundation.

Many teachers are opposed to the funding of the campaign against

the governor’s initiatives, Hakes said.

“We’ve encountered many teachers in the past two weeks, as they

become more aware of what’s going on, they’re fuming mad about it,”

Hakes said. “They don’t want their money going to political causes

that they don’t agree with.”

Lauren Marcos, an English teacher at John Burroughs High School in

Burbank, was baffled that any teacher would participate in the

lawsuit.

“It’s absolutely asinine for teachers to be suing over this,” she

said, noting the $60 dollars amounts to merely $5 a month. “It’s hard

to believe anyone in the teaching profession would support what

Schwarzenegger is doing.”

Proposition 75 prohibits using public employee union dues for

political contributions without individual employees’ prior consent.

Among other measures proposed by the governor that relate to

education is Proposition 74, which increases the time teachers have

on a probationary basis from two years to five.

Teachers who are probationary, according to the measure, can be

fired at the end of the year without explanation from administration,

while those who are not are given a documented explanation and a

chance to respond.

Allender fears the propositions will serve to silence teachers,

who he said are often the best source to learn about what’s going on

in schools, because they will be afraid of losing their jobs.

“It’s playing people’s fears; they’re afraid you can’t get rid of

bad teachers,” he said. “It’s not true, teachers are dismissed every

year; it’s just a matter of going through the process of

documentation and dismissal.”

QUESTION

Should the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation sue the

California Teachers Assn.? E-mail your responses to o7burbankleader

@latimes.comf7; mail them to the Burbank Leader, 111 W. Wilson Ave.,

Glendale, CA, 91203. Please spell your name and include your address

and phone number for verification purposes only.