Across America, it is back-to-school time for students ... and teachers.Within
the next week or so, virtually all of the elementary and secondary
schools on traditional schedules will be back into the classroom, and
summer vacation gives way to a new school year for students and teachers
around the nation.
In Michigan, teacher unions are confronting a
perilous new reality, as a recently passed "right to work" law now
gives individual teachers the ability to opt out of their unions.
Predictably, a coalition of right-wing ideological and business groups
have put maximum effort into their drive to crush the teachers unions:
With
the teachers given a 31-day window in August to decide, representatives
for the state's largest public-sector union are imploring them to stay
or risk losing their clout in how schools are operated.
"If I don't
stand up and stay in my union, then we don't have a voice," said Chandra
Madafferi, a high school health teacher and president of a 400-member
local in the Detroit suburb of Novi.
Meanwhile, conservative
groups are running ads and publicizing the chance for teachers to "grow
your paycheck and workplace freedom."
Americans for Prosperity,
the right-wing front group bankrolled by the Koch brothers, are among
the most active architects in driving the opt-out effort. They paid for a
full page ad in the Detroit Free Press with a pre-printed form for
opting out of their local union. Other groups are running ads trying to
goad teachers into leaving their unions.
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