Are members' contributions to NEA truly voluntary?

A Spectrum, by David Baker

Your annual NEA extortion refund request is in the mail. I said all this once before, but it may have fallen on deaf ears because there has been no change or responses since then, so what the heck. Is heck printable?

Last year, I addressed an issue regarding a mailout that employees of the Mat-Su School District and probably most any other school district in the state, receive for being a voluntary or an involuntary member of NEA. For the benefit of all readers, this is the national union that allows us the privilege of working for the school district in exchange for whatever amount of money they choose to take from us.

The mailout.

It usually shows up around mid-September disguised like all the other junk mail from NEA, but this is the one piece we really must read closely. They call it a refund request, but they do not even bother to proofread it with any sort of ethical conscience. It's enclosed with three pages of useless propaganda, unless of course you wish to create your own junk mailing list. This letter appears to be intended to bore us to the point of throwing it away, before we get to the Catch-22 part on the last page.

In short quotations, with a little paraphrasing, "The Association requests a yearly voluntary contribution of $15/certified, $7.50/classified . . . Any member choosing not to contribute to PACE," shall have the option . . . to request a refund."

What's wrong with this picture?

First: If this was truly a voluntary contribution, then we would not have to ask for a refund, would we? We are never asked for this contribution. They simply take it without our permission.

Webster's Dictionary describes this sort of behavior as "extortion" -- a gross overcharge. Why are we not given a form to sign when we are forced to join the union that asks us for this donation? This would eliminate NEA's practice of sending out bogus refund requests every year, which in turn would probably help them financially in the long run as well.

Think of it as being like the presidential contribution box on our federal tax returns that we never check.

Oh, I am sure that there are those who would check this box if it existed, and who probably already contribute to the union without questioning its unethical practices, but I personally do not.

Second: We are required to send this refund request back to them using an enclosed postcard by Nov. 8. We are asked to include our name, address and Social Security number for identification purposes. Normal postage to return these request costs 20 cents, but wait! There is another catch.

We live in a time when identity fraud is at an all-time high. Last year more than 200,000 cases occurred in the United States alone. How many of you are willing to scrimp on 14 cents? Not me! I am sending my request in a secure envelope with first-class postage. Gross negligence NEA, shame on you!

Third, and final: Thousands of dollars are most likely wasted in the drafting, proofreading, massive copying and bulk mailing of this document each year. Any member who does not request the refund, as well as a major roto-rooting of this scam, deserves the junk mail that they pay to throw away.

If you did not receive their notification or you threw it away by mistake and you would like to have this misappropriation of your hard-earned money returned, send your request to:

NEA-Alaska

1840 S. Bragaw St., Ste. 100

Anchorage, AK 99508

Be sure to include your name, address and Social Security number in a secure envelope. If you share this opinion and are angry about what they are doing, then express your comments as thoroughly as possible. Or, if you would prefer, feel free to photocopy this opinion and include it with your request. Tell them David sent you. They know who I am even if you do not!

If enough people speak out, eventually they might come around and stop this illegitimate fund-raising tactic.

David Baker is a self-described union watchdog and Wasilla-area resident.