I recently heard someone say that if you’re against the teacher’s union then you must be against kids. 

The claim is based on the reasoning that, if unions are pro-teachers and teachers are pro kids, unions must therefore be pro-kids. 

In math, this is known as the transitive principle (If a=b and b=c, then a=c). With teachers, however, the equation breaks down in the first step, a=b. The union should only be spending their time and their members’ dues to advocate for better wages, benefits and working conditions. However, they are also using their platform and money to advance a radically liberal political agenda that is not representative of all their members. 

A teachers union that actually cared about those it claims to represent would respect their wishes to opt out of membership and dues rather than making it challenging for any teacher seeking to opt out of the union. 

As a teacher myself, I emphatically reject the union designated by the state to collectively bargain on my behalf. But that does not mean I don’t support teachers or kids. 

I work hard to ensure students have a safe, positive, nurturing learning environment in which they learn how to develop social, emotional and academic skills. It is because I strongly believe in protecting students that I oppose what unions do. 

So why am I not a union member? From a purely legal perspective, my First Amendment right to decline union membership, dues and fees and still keep my job was affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME. 

I choose to deny any more power to unions to advance their political influence rather than improving working conditions for public school teachers.  I choose to not support an organization that has a woke and radical agenda. 

I choose to not support an organization that recently promoted a homework assignment encouraging students to declare independence from their parents, disrespecting the family unit and infringing on parents’ rights to direct their child’s upbringing. 

I choose to keep politics out of the classroom by not giving the unions more power and money to levy their role in local and national elections by using union dues in the millions to fund left-wing candidates and issues. 

I choose to distance myself from a labor union that promotes indoctrination with critical race theory based on cultural Marxism. 

I choose not to bankroll government unions that actively promote defunding the police.  Moreover, I choose to deny the union any more power to influence the American education system.   

Even if the unions had ideals aligned with my own beliefs, I would still choose to keep my hard-earned money in my own pocket book because a labor union is not a place for political activism. So until a union can separate itself from a woke radical agenda and get back to improving work conditions with public school teachers, I will choose to be a proud and committed non-member.