The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Follow the Money

Aug 6, 2018

Teachers all over the state of Maryland–and in other states–have recently received an email at work from the “My Pay, My Say” campaign.

This campaign contacts public workers, like those in government offices and school systems, urging them to leave unions.

It accelerated after the Janus decision, just brought in by the Supreme Court, that allows workers in agency shops to stop paying what are called “agency fees” if they choose not to be union members.

Previous law required that workers who declined union status would still be covered by the unions’ collective bargaining agreements. So these workers were required to pay as much as 80% of regular union dues.

Now that they are no longer required to pay, workers could decide to quit the unions, in order to avoid any fee.

How did this “My Say, My Pay” campaign get into email servers all over state school systems? Was hacking involved? Did administrators in the school systems give away the email addresses?

Even more interesting is that one foundation supporting the campaign, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, belongs to Dick and Betsy DeVos. DeVos, the current U.S. Secretary of Education, has made clear her opposition to unions, to teachers and to public schools.

Maybe the Mackinac Center needs a new name, like the Anti-Worker Center? That would be truth in advertising!