State of the Union

I just got a letter in the mail today from the Union.  It's titled "Not Waiting for Superman".  As you may have heard, there is a movie out in theaters right now, a documentary, that more or less attacks the public schools system and the unions and places the blame for the failure of the public education system at the feet of the unions.  Now, I haven't seen the movie yet so I can't say one thing for or against it - but I'm going to see it this Friday with my roommate, and I'm stoked.

They say the truth hurts.  I'm guessing the Union President, the same man who wrote the letter to me, was writhing in agony as he saw the movie.

May the Union go down in a ball of flames.  I can't stand it.  Not only have I paid over $400 in Union dues over the last year for an organization that I can't personally endorse, nor do I morally support, but I just realized that I was paying less than 1/2 of full member fees.  Turns out that since I was an "intern" last year, I didn't have to pay the full fee, but now that I'm no longer an intern, I get to pay the full fee for full membership.

What in the world am I paying for?  Due to the Union and their increased fees this year, as a credentialed teacher I am making LESS this year than last year, all to support an organization that I don't want to be a part of.

Woes of the Union.  For starters, when I was hired in to SFUSD, they required me to sign the paperwork to join the Union or to pay something like 8% of my paycheck to the charity of my choice.  Granted, I haven't checked in to see if tithing would count towards that, but it would seem to me that the Union has fitted itself into a tidy little, self sustaining position where it REQUIRES every single employee of a state organization to pay a good portion of their paycheck to it.  Sounds almost as great as having a job where you can essentially obtain job security for life after only two years of service, regardless of your performance.  Did somebody say  tenure?

Even more, I'm required to pay 1.5% of any BONUSES (yes, strangely enough, I do get certain bonuses) I may receive to the Union.  Where's Superman when you need him?