Your guest commentary, “State teachers’ union subscribes to an odd notion of free speech” on Saturday had very serious factual errors that broke the truth. This is not surprising because of the agenda of the people who wrote it.
The first factual error occurred in the opening paragraph where Helland and Gipson say “An organization taking an unwilling worker’s money to spend on politics (unless he or she completes a lengthy objection process).” This is a falsehood. Where I work, the process for getting a refund of money spent on politics consists of signing a form that is sent to you once a year. That is all you have to do and that is not a “lengthy objection process.” This process is the same everywhere because it is mandated by court decision.
In one of the later paragraphs, the statement “people who don’t want to join the union shouldn’t be forced to do so,” is also incorrect. No one has to join a teachers union and some do not, but everyone has to pay a representation fee that covers contract negotiation and other union-provided services. The overwhelming majority of teachers join various unions because they help protect education in this state.
While I believe everyone has a right to express their opinion, I think you should have provided some background on the Evergreen Freedom Foundation and their bias.
Everett
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