Teacher Objects to Union Philosophy

Students are settling into the fall routine. Lessons on reading, writing and arithmetic are creatively being taught by dedicated teachers. As teachers continue to reach out to help students learn and grow, a portion of their pay may be withheld to promote the destruction of innocent, unborn children.

Sound ridiculous? As a teacher and concerned prolife person, Judy Celano followed her heart and prolife convictions to learn about the unions which represented her.

Celano, who is a Reading Specialist in Western Michigan, spent more than a year investigating the National Education Association and Michigan Education Association. She wanted to know how her union dues were being disbursed. After this research was complete, Celano stated in a letter to union officials, “I can no longer be a member of the union or financially support it based on my sincere religious beliefs.”

This article will focus on one of Celano’s serious concerns, the intentional destruction of innocent unborn children – abortion.

To understand why Celano objected to being a member of the union and paying union dues, all one has to do is look at what the union states in its resolutions and bylaws.

The National Education Association (NEA) defines its agenda by its resolutions that encourage abortion.

Resolution I-12: “The NEA supports family planning, including the right to reproductive freedom. The Association also urges the implementation of community-operated school-based family planning clinics that will provide intensive counseling by trained personnel.” According to the NEA’s own literature, “reproductive freedom” includes the right to have an abortion (2003 NEA Convention).

The NEA adopted its pro-abortion policy in 1985, amended it in 1986, and has affirmed it every year thereafter. The NEA is not only supportive of abortions in its resolutions but also in the programs it supports and in its financial expenditures.

Some of the many pro-abortion organizations that the NEA endorses include the National Organization for Women, People for the American Way, EMILY’s List, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

At the state level, the Michigan Education Association (MEA) unites with the NEA in advancing the abortion agenda:

MEA Resolution E-6: “The Association supports the right of women to have freedom of choice to make their own decisions regarding their reproductive health” (1998).

At the local level, the Grand Haven Education Association (GHEA) defines itself as “an affiliated unit of the Michigan and National Education Association” (2005 Constitution and Bylaws of the Grand Haven Education Association, MEA-NEA, Inc.). Dues paid to the GHEA are a combination of local, state and national dues which provide funding of activities to all three levels of the union. The majority of our teachers’ dues flow upward to the state and national affiliates.

When Celano became aware of what her union dues were supporting, she knew she had to act.

“As a Catholic, I found myself face-to-face with what was probably the most important question of my life: would I stand up for Jesus or not? No matter the cost or emotional turmoil, I understood what I had to do,” Celano said.

To remain silent, she felt, would be a mortal sin. As a practicing Catholic, the activities of the union could not have been more at odds with Celano’s religious beliefs.

In Michigan, members of unions have mandatory bargaining laws which require that a union represent members even when they oppose the union. Those who choose to resign from the union can resign as religious objectors and redirect all union fees to charity or resign as political objectors and not pay a portion of the union dues that support the political agenda of the union. What does a person lose when they resign from the union? Those who resign from the union no longer vote in union matters, are not covered by the union’s liability coverage and no longer receive any union literature.

Celano initially felt alone in this process but then felt spiritually led to several organizations such as the National Right to Work Foundation which supports teachers as religious objectors by providing expert legal representation free of charge.

On January 29, 2005, Celano contacted the president of her local education association and stated her opposition to their activities. Also included in Celano’s letter were numerous biblical references supporting her beliefs as well as the teachings of the Catholic Church. As a religious objector to the NEA/MEA/ GHEA, the accommodation Celano sought was for her union dues to be given to a charity. She listed four to choose from rather than give to a union which supported activities that flew in the face of her religious beliefs.

What followed was a meeting Celano described as being very similar to a job interview which was attended by a panel of local union representatives and an MEA lawyer. Celano was asked a number of questions designed to determine if her religious objections were sincere. Celano received a great deal of support from her priest and a friend who attended the meeting with her. She found her attorney’s legal advice to be “invaluable” at this time.

Celano received a partial victory weeks later when she received a letter from her local union president informing her that her “sincere religious views were accepted” and that her dues money would be redirected to a charity. There was one problem, however. The union decided her dues should be redirected to the union’s own scholarship fund. Not surprisingly, Celano found this shell game unacceptable and notified the union that their choice of a “charity” continued to violate her religious beliefs.

Eventually, Celano received the full accommodation she initially sought. Her union dues, about $900 a year, now go to a local Hospice organization.

How have her coworkers responded to her campaign? Celano reports that she has received no negative feedback. Celano states that many of her coworkers have never heard that such a right even exists.

Celano admits that while it was a draining ordeal, it was also a time of great spiritual growth.
Celano said, “Other teachers ask me the question posed earlier, what do I lose? More importantly, I should be asked, what do I gain? I gain self-respect. I definitely gain God’s Grace. And maybe, just maybe, my actions can gain respect for an innocent life.”

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