In moves that are anti-worker and anti-student, public school privatizers are aggressively working to dismantle the employment rights of public school teachers in California and throughout the country.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, with its “My Pay My Say” campaign, has been flooding public school teachers nationwide with emails advising them how to leave their unions. The Freedom Foundation has taken out Facebook ads targeting CTA members to drop their union membership and sent representatives door-to-door to convince them.

These organizations, along with Choice for Teachers, the California Association of Educators, and the California Teachers Empowerment Network, are fronts for public education privatizers who want to weaken our union.

“Some groups will try to discredit us and confuse you,” says CTA President Eric Heins. “Don’t be confused. Stand with us for students and the middle class.”

In states where these forces have taken away the freedoms of union members, salaries are lower, pensions are diminished, and rights are stripped away.

Don’t be fooled

• Beware of emails, Facebook ads, websites and people dispensing false and misleading information.
• Research where the content is coming from.
• Talk to colleagues and members about deceptive campaigns and information, and spread the facts and truth instead.
• Report contacts to your chapter leader or CTA staff person.
• Learn how to mark fallacious email as spam and report it, and get more resources and tools, at cta.org/unionstrong.

Say YES to your union!

CTA has a long and distinguished record as a champion for public education, educators and students. It has made sure educators have a voice in teaching and learning, and a seat at the table to negotiate better learning and working conditions, as well as fair wages and benefits.

These days, CTA and its partners are standing up to corporate CEOs and billionaires seeking to privatize and profit off public education by weakening our union.

In fact, it’s never been clearer that unions such as CTA are critical to our future. Unions promote fairness and equality for working men and women and their families, collectively enabling us to counter corporate special interests that have rigged the economy in their favor.

“For 155 years, CTA has been standing up for working people, our students and the communities we serve,” says CTA President Heins. “We’ve always stood firmly in the way of those wanting to make profits out of public education coffers. And we always will.”

Despite the recent U.S. Supreme Court  decision in Janus v. AFSCME, which overturned a 41-year-old ruling allowing fair share fees, CTA will continue to advocate for all students, for public education, and for educators and their families.

Stand with CTA and spread the message. Go to cta.org/unionstrong for social media shareables and posters you can use to let others know: “I’m sticking with my union!”

Learn more about CTA’s track record of advocacy at cta.org/150. And get the tools and resources you need to fight for public education at cta.org/unionstrong. #unionstrong