« Coast Guard Logs Show Administration Knew Extent of Oil Spill within 24 Hours | Main | Union Dues and OUR Taxes At Work ~ SEIU Anti-AZ. Illigal Immigration Law Hotline! »
June 09, 2010
Marine: "Union bullying me to pay $500"
Marine: Union bullying me to pay $500
A retired U.S. Marine who runs a high school ROTC program in Worcester says he faces the boot for refusing to pay local union dues, leaving the 58-year-old father of two crying foul and school administrators bewildered.
“It just seems crazy that they’re gonna fire me over $500,” said Maj. Stephen L. Godin, senior naval science instructor at the Naval Junior ROTC Unit of North High School. “Everyone’s talking about finding good teachers - I haven’t missed a day in 14 years.”
Indeed, North High School Principal Matthew Morse praised Godin yesterday as an “excellent” instructor who has turned his program into a top junior ROTC academy.
Godin, a 20-year Marine veteran until 1994, who flew F-4 Phantoms and was deployed five times, said he refuses to join the union because he receives all his benefits, including health insurance and half his salary, from the military. Unlike other teachers, he doesn’t earn a stipend for after-school activities, such as the hours he spends coaching the high school’s regional champion drill team. His salary is dictated by the U.S. Military, not labor negotiators, Godin said.
Officials from the Education Association of Worcester did not return repeated calls, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association declined comment.
State law requires certain public employees to join unions as a condition of employment or pay a so-called agency fee, which goes toward the cost of collective bargaining. But Godin said he shouldn’t have to pay the $500 fee because he receives no benefit from the local union. He provided a letter from the local union demanding he join or pay the fee by the school year’s end. Godin said in 14 years of teaching in Worcester public schools, he’s never been asked to pony up for the union.
“I’ve always worked hard,” he said. “I’m a loyal Marine. Now they’re chasing me away.”
Worcester schools superintendent Melinda J. Boone said she has asked the district school attorney to investigate a way to keep Godin on board, but added, “this is really a union matter.”
Wild Thing's comment.......
Way to go, Marine...Maj. Stephen L. Godin!. God bless this man.
I have yet to ever read how wonderful Unions are..... because they aren't. Not across the board how they do things, treat people and run things. THUGS just like Obama!
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at June 9, 2010 06:49 AM
Comments
Amazing. The NEA wants its pound of flesh, how dare he think he can work at a school without joining the useless Teacher's Union.
I thought the Unions were so concerned about the student's education, I guess that concern is directly proportional to the payment of your Union Dues.
What a bunch of hypocrites. The Teachers Union is another one like SEIU whose pension fund is in the toilet and want the government to bail them out too.
Posted by: Mark at June 9, 2010 08:38 AM
I hate unions. Herd mentality and thug enforcement. Union leaders live like kings while they practice extortion. The deteriorating Rust Belt cities of America and jobs sent overseas are examples of unchecked union power.
Posted by: TomR at June 9, 2010 02:01 PM
There are many people who are not strong enough to negotiate their work condition, wages, and benefits. I suppose they need a union. I have not only not needed one, but learned after 7 years in the Teamsters Union, that I can make a living, under better conditions, and in a much more amicable situation; outside the clutch and control of a trade union. Never in my working career was I ever criticized by an employer for not doing the job well enough, but was told by a Union Shop Steward and Business Agent that I was working so well that I was killing the job for others.
Suits me.
Posted by: Southern Class at June 9, 2010 02:17 PM
Technology has provided paths in the last twenty years to accelerate the productivity of teaching to where we need perhaps a third od the teachdrs. The Democratws need the Guilds to get elected and the teacher guilds but the bar association Keep the unions in business.
Posted by: Avitar at June 9, 2010 02:59 PM
I hate unions. Unionizing a company caused me to lose a job I loved because I refused to join the union. Bullying tactics were used. Finally, management asked me to join the union just to avoid problems. So I walked down to the recruiting station and reupped in the Army.
Posted by: TomR at June 9, 2010 03:25 PM
Incidents like this are becoming more and more frequent. It is days like this that I am sometimes ashamed to be an American. We didn't used to be like this. If we don't turn this country around soon and I mean soon, we are doomed.
Posted by: Eddie (A libs worst nightmare) at June 9, 2010 05:36 PM
How much of the $500 he would have paid would go toward election campaigns of liberal-progressive -demorats?
Posted by: Willy at June 10, 2010 03:09 AM
Thank you sooooo much everyone! You all are so awesome!!!!!
Posted by: Wild Thing at June 10, 2010 03:44 AM
