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Good afternoon,
You may have received, or will soon receive, an email, phone call, or postcard about dropping your union dues. This is a targeted attack to weaken state unions and ensure we don’t have the collective power to bargain for better wages, better benefits, and improved working conditions. Funded by wealthy special interests, these organizations spend billions of dollars because they KNOW that labor organizing empowers workers like you and me. They would prefer if we accept the status quo, stop fighting against the 1% and allow millionaires and billionaires to keep profiting from our labor. The ~$25.00 per paycheck you would save in dropping your dues would directly benefit special interests who want to see you disenfranchised and unable to advocate for yourself. For example, Opt Out Today, the non-profit behind this email, is sponsored by anti-public education foundations like PragerU and Turning Point USA.
Your dues to USA and the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) ensure you and your coworkers voices are heard at every level across this state and provide you with legal representation to protect your job. UMass admin and the state government would certainly prefer us quiet too, but we have seen time and again how raising our voices collectively, demanding the attention we deserve, pushes them to treat workers more fairly. Weakening your union today by dropping dues will lead to a weaker contract, fewer rights, and less money in your paycheck in the long term.
The MTA makes all decisions - when and where to get involved, how to advocate for members, what fights are worth the risk - as a democratic body. You have a say in how the union functions, but only so long as you are a dues-paying member. If you are dissatisfied with any decision the union makes, dropping your dues undermines your rights and weakens the rights of all your coworkers. Instead of dropping your dues, speak up! As your representative on the MTA Board of Directors, I genuinely want to know what you care about, what you want the MTA to focus on, and how you want your dues spent to best benefit your life. Email me at alydick@bod.massteacher.org at any time!
Please, when you receive an email from the “Opt Out Campaign,” the “Freedom Foundation” or anyone claiming to be looking out for your best interests, know that they are actively working against you, and want to see you, your coworkers, and our union too weak to fight back. Mark any of these emails as junk, throw the mailers in the garbage where they belong, and then come out swinging, because “when we fight, we win!”
In Solidarity,
Andrea Lydick,
University Staff Association, Steward + Special Projects Coordinator
Massachusetts Teachers Association Board Director, 48H
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