Out with old, in with new: California educators throw off NEA-affiliated teachers’ union   

A bunch of California teachers have dumped their union in favor of an independent, dues-free group. 

Teachers in the Blochman Union School District have voted to leave their National Education Association (NEA) and California Teachers Association (CTA) affiliated union and start the brand new Blochman Teachers Group. 

The effort began last summer, when a Blochman teacher contacted the Freedom Foundation, which helps “liberate” public employees from powerful, hidebound public unions. 

After enough complaints were filed, an election was held by the California Public Employment Relations Board, and the teachers voted against the entrenched political unions in favor of local representation.  

“The Blochman Teachers Group is a brand new, unique independent union,” said Holly DeKorte, a Blochman teacher and president of the new union. “We have a strong relationship with the administration and each other. Being able to work together to represent the school’s best interest has always been our aim.”  

According to Allison Beattie, Freedom Foundation’s director of labor relations, the Blochman Teachers Group will not charge their members any dues.  

In contrast, representation by the CTA-affiliated union cost teachers $1,200 annually.  

Fact is, traditional teachers’ unions, both national and local, have been falling out of favor for a variety of reasons.  

Damaging and sometimes illegal teacher strikes, the failure to enforce national border laws, and millions of dollars in political lobbying far away from teachers and their classrooms have drawn public criticism and made educators feel as if unions no longer have their interests at heart.  

Meanwhile, their sometimes-outlandish negotiating positions – typified by Chicago Teachers’ Union’s demand for more “climate champions” and gender support coordinators – have made unions appear even more out of step with the average American.  

As a result, teachers’ unions nationwide are bleeding members. The NEA and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) lost over 59,000 members in the 2021-22 school year alone, the U.S. Department of Labor reported.  

Indeed, a 2022 report by the Commonwealth Foundation found the nation’s top four public unions – which include the NEA and AFT – lost over 200,000 members in the four years since the Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision, which ruled public employees could not be forced to join a union or pay fees to a union to which they did not belong.