Teachers Union Unrest in Michigan

[Geee]

Front Page Magazine:

Michigan’s teachers union leader recently threatened that the union is “squarely on the path to our own Wisconsin” — a signal for an ugly and illegal walk-out.

The Detroit News carried a column by Michigan Education Association President Iris Salters March 23 attacking what she called “devastating budget cuts” by new conservative Governor Rick Snyder.

The governor’s 2012 executive budget and 2013 projected budget, proposed in February, is intended to “lay a new, sound foundation for Michigan’s reinvention and put an end to the significant budget deficits the state has experience for the past decade.” The state was then under the rule of left-wing, union-embracing Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm.

In education, the budget calls for “over $1.4 billion for special education students, as well as $1.2 billion in core education programs … protection of student financial aid, a ‘Pathway to Higher Education’ grant for needy students, and $670 million for workforce training. But it also cuts school money.
In a letter to teachers–a copy of which I obtained–union boss Salters calls for a membership meeting in April to vote to “initiate crisis activities up to and including job action (a synonym for strike).” Teachers have to be union members to teach in Michigan. An attachment to her letter says the union “will defend any member who is disciplined or discharged.”