2006 PRESS RELEASES

June 30, 2006

EFF delivers a message from teachers to the NEA Convention: 'No Means No!'
www.teachers-vs-union.org

ORLANDO—An organization that defends the First Amendment rights of teachers will deliver a message to union officials at the National Education Association’s (NEA) convention in Orlando, Florida this weekend.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s Labor Policy Center will be at the Orange County Convention Center during the convention with a professionally prepared billboard truck (click here for images). The truck will have three key themes:

• “It pays to be a union boss.” When it comes to salaries, benefits and perks, union officials are better off than teachers. The average NEA employee’s salary is nearly twice as much as the average teacher’s. Further, the union spends more than $68 million on payroll, benefits and expense accounts.
• “Fair Representation?” Teachers are a politically diverse group, but the union’s political spending typically benefits only one political party.
• “No means No!” A stern-faced teacher reminds union bosses that “No means No” when it comes to keeping their hands off her paycheck.

“The National Education Association calls itself the world’s largest democratic body,” said Michael Reitz, director of the Labor Policy Center. “But its hostility toward teachers’ values, out-of-control political spending, and coercive policies are hardly democratic. Unfortunately, rather than representing teachers as professionals, the National Education Association treats its members as cash cows for its own radical agenda.”

The billboard truck will be parked in strategic locations near the Orange County Convention Center during the convention. An Evergreen Freedom Foundation spokesman will be available for comment. Inquiries may also be directed to (360) 956-3482.

More information on how NEA officials abuse their privileges representing teachers is available at: www.teachers-vs-union.org.

Additional Information

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation is a non-partisan, public policy research organization based in Olympia, Washington. Its mission is to advance individual liberty, a free-market economy, and limited and responsible government. The Foundation is assisting a group of teachers in a lawsuit against their union going before the U.S. Supreme Court, and has sued the National Education Association for illegally spending collective bargaining dues.

 

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