Teachers Sue Union Over Political Spending Washington Education Association Official Defends Actions Of 65,000-Member Union
Nearly 150 Washington teachers filed a lawsuit Thursday against the state’s largest teachers union, claiming it spends too much of their dues on politics.
The teachers also accuse the Washington Education Association of keeping inadequate records on how it spends money and time.
The Spokane Education Association and numerous other union affiliates are also named as defendants, along with the National Education Association.
“It’s not because we think the union is terrible,” said Joy Baird, a Spokane teacher in the class-action suit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
“But I think the union shouldn’t take political positions,” said Baird, who teaches kindergarten at Logan Elementary School. “I don’t want them to take a position right or left or in-between.”
WEA spokeswoman Teresa Moore said the 65,000-member union has done nothing wrong and will prove it.
“This suit is being filed by a handful of individuals who do not want to pay a fair share of the cost of union representation despite the fact that under the law they benefit from that representation,” she said.
She declined to discuss specific details about the claim.
The dissident teachers are upset about what they view as excessive, one-sided spending on politics.
The WEA’s political action committee typically throws its financial muscle behind Democrats. This year, it has spent the maximum allowed by law to support Democrat Terry Bergeson for state schools superintendent.
Another $200,000-plus has gone to fight Nov. 5 ballot initiatives for charter schools and school vouchers.
Teachers filing the suit aren’t union members yet pay reduced dues for basic benefits, such as labor negotiations.
Those teachers are getting a 17 percent break on dues but deserve much more, said Steve O’Ban, a Seattle lawyer who is representing the plaintiffs with help from attorneys from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
When teachers threatened to file a similar lawsuit two years ago, the WEA settled out of court by refunding half their dues, which range from about $400 to $600, O’Ban said.
Moore said that’s because the union simply didn’t want to spend the time and money fighting the teachers. This time, no such settlement was offered.
An independent arbitrator who looked into the dispute last summer sided with the union, Moore said.
Patrick Carroll, a math teacher at Spokane’s Garry Middle School, said he joined the suit because he wants the union to stick to collective bargaining and stay out of politics.
“I’m in it because I don’t want someone else to dictate what my political choice will be,” Carroll said. “I want to make my own choices.”
, DataTimes