Accusations that teachers unions are breaking Michigan’s new right to work law could take center stage this week in Lansing.
As The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Jake Neher reports, a newly-formed state Senate panel is getting set to explore the issue.
The right to work law makes it illegal to require workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. A lawsuit filed earlier this year claims the Michigan Education Association illegally denied some teachers’ requests to leave the union.
Doug Pratt is a spokesperson for the MEA. He says those teachers missed a deadline to revoke their membership – and there’s nothing illegal about setting deadlines.
“This has been the process for more than 40 years,” he says. “And we don’t believe the right to work law did anything to change that.”
Pratt says he’s not sure why the state Legislature needs to be involved in a legal case that’s already being considered in another venue.
