Teachers unions loudly insist that collective bargaining agreements are necessary to ensure that teachers receive fair wages and benefits for the important work they do educating children. However, they fail to mention that many unions use those legally-binding contracts to compel school districts to underwrite the salaries and benefits of their own employees — i.e., tax dollars meant for the classroom are instead being used to pay full-time union officials.
For obvious reasons, school districts and teachers unions don’t advertise these arrangements, but there are efforts underway in several states to end the practice. Below are three recent examples…
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse resident Michael Hunter filed a lawsuit last month over a clause in the Syracuse Teachers Association’s current contract that requires the school district to pay the salary of the union president. Hunter and his lawyers estimate the arrangement has cost the Syracuse City School District approximately $1.1 million over the past nine years.