Educators are powerful when we have a collective voice. Working in union gives us the ability to make meaningful improvements for students, our profession, public education and our communities.
Unfortunately, corporate interests today won a politically-motivated case in the U.S. Supreme Court. The 5-4 decision in the Janus v. AFSCME case makes it harder for working people to join together in strong unions to build better lives for families and communities. Janus is the culmination of decades of attacks to try and financially destabilize labor unions.
Despite these efforts, educators will continue to work together to make our children smarter, our working conditions better and our public schools safer and more welcoming environments for students, staff and families.
We need you to show your administrators, our students, our communities and each other that we are committed to working together to improve public education by renewing your commitment to the union. Why does belonging to Education Minnesota matter?
- Our voices: Our voices as professional educators are elevated and heard when we join together as Education Minnesota. It will be harder for us to have influence when decisions are made about public education if we are smaller in number.
- Our strength: The strength of educators to advocate for their profession and their students increases with each individual who chooses to work in union toward shared goals, but it weakens us all when even one educator opts out. Only together can we improve our learning and working conditions, bargain enough pay to sustain a family and win the time and training to constantly improve as educators of our students.
- Our pay and benefits: Minnesota educators enjoy better pay and pensions than educators in many other states because previous generations of educators fought for them. Teachers in so-called right-to-work states earn $7,609 less on average than Minnesota teachers.
- Justice for all: Those who want to weaken unions want more power in the political process. Unions have fought for the rights of all Minnesotans, and we still have the responsibility to help alleviate the racism, discrimination and income inequality that hurt our students and their families.
Join me in showing your union pride. Change your
Facebook profile picture, take a
Norma Rae-style selfie or
share videos from educators across the state talking about why they value belonging to Education Minnesota and choose union. Use the hashtags
#ChooseUnion and
#BetterLivesMN.
We can be a convincing force for change when we have a collective voice. That is why it’s so important for educators and other public workers to stick together, no matter what happens in our courts or at the Capitol.
Together,
Denise Specht
President
Education Minnesota
