Can I still resign from the Union?
Education Minnesota only allows teacher and ESP members to resign or “opt-out” of union membership and dues deductions during a very narrow 7-day window that just closed Sunday night, September 30.
What if you missed that window?
On June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court in Janus v. Afscme changed the law from requiring public employees to opt-out of union membership, to requiring public employees to opt-in to union membership. The Court also said that the union (and employers) had to have “clear and compelling” evidence that an employee had waived their their First Amendment rights by affirmatively consenting to the deduction of dues.
The High Court demonstrated a deep and overdue respect for public employees. They are citizens and taxpayers with all the rights under our Constitution, not second-class citizens just because they work for the government.
That is why we put up billboards near the NEA convention held in Minneapolis over the 4th of July holiday. The Janus decision is something all Americans should celebrate!
The Janus decision means the 7-day “September Window” is an unreasonable burden on the constitutional rights of employees who wish to resign.
But it will take time to get a court ruling, for unions and public-sector employers to fully cooperate with the Janus ruling, and thus for that decision to fully benefit public employees who wish to exercise their First Amendment right to resign.
In the meantime, any public employee who wishes to resign from the union, and end the deduction of union fees, is free to use this website to generate a resignation letter.
We do not know if the union will honor the wishes of teachers and ESPs but encourage you to try if that is the right choice for you. As far as we know, the next opportunity will be sometime next fall.
Please let us know what happens if you do resign after September 30. We are working on legal challenges to the September Window. You can email us at [email protected] .
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