Teacher Opt-Out Window Ends Monday, Know Where the Dues Go

Minnesota educators, don’t miss your once-a-year-only opportunity to resign from union membership. If you have decided that union membership is not the best choice for you, go here to get started. Education Minnesota—the state’s teachers’ union—will honor your opt-out letter if it is postmarked by September 30.

Teachers are deciding to opt-out of the union for a variety of reasons. For some, they don’t support the union’s political agenda. Others are hoping their resignation will get the union to focus more on teachers’ professional needs and put students first. Regardless of your decision, you are not alone.

Know where the dues go

If you had to guess what percent of every union dues dollar is going to the local chapter that handles most of the day-to-day representational activities and collective bargaining services, what would you guess?

A). 70-75%

B). 48-55%

C.) 34-39%

D.) 12-25%

Check your answer here.

The union’s primary function is collective bargaining, and most of the costs associated with this are incurred at the local level. Yet, the local receives the smallest portion of dues revenue. The rest gets eaten up in a political maelstrom by the state and national teachers’ unions. Teachers cannot choose to belong only to the local union, but they can, however, resign or opt-out of Education Minnesota and its affiliates and then send voluntary donations to their local association as a thank you for the collective bargaining services. This way, teachers don’t have to worry about their money supporting political candidates and organizations they may disagree with, it solves the “free-rider” claims, and it keeps the money local.

See below for a breakdown of where dues go.