Court ruling: Michigan teacher can't be forced to join union, pay dues

[Geee]

Watchdog.org

A Michigan appellate court this week ruled that a teacher has the right to resign from his union and stop paying it dues despite the union's refusal to allow him to do so.

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, which represented teacher Ronald Robinson in his legal fight against the union, said the decision further enhances Michigan's right-to-work laws.

“The court ruled that these tricks couldn't stop the teachers from exercising their rights under the right-to-work law,” Derk Wilcox, an attorney with that Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, said in an email.

In an unpublished appellate court decision, the court ruled that the Michigan Education Association (MEA) and the Ann Arbor Education Association (AAEA) committed an unfair labor practice by continuing to charge Robinson dues after he opted out of the union following the passage of Michigan’s right-to-work law.