MEA Secretary-Treasurer Rick Trainor sets the record straight on who the Mackinac Center is really fighting for and how much their lobbying has cost school employees. He lists the state laws written by the Mackinac Center – the 80/20 healthcare premium law, the 3% retirement paycheck deduction, the reduced retirement multiplier and the elimination of retirement healthcare for new school employees – and says:
“After taking tens of thousands of dollars away from you, they propose to tell you its your union dues that are the problem.”
MEAMatters 
Rick Trainor”s , (Secretary Treasurer, Michigan Education Association” message to the members, should be the beginning of the Association’s vigorous public relations program. In recent years, the MEA has not been active in promoting its views to the public. A deliberate and well-planned public relations response, to those opposing public education and MEA’s role on behalf of its members, is absolutely necessary in today’s political environment. There a powerful forces seeking to privatize most of our governments services, using taxes to fund and operate profit making schools. Many government services are currently contracted out to privately managed operators. Democracy has suffered serious and corrupting changes that must be corrected. Public education continues to be the “foundation” on which democracy depends. The MEA and its members must accept this responsibility, in meeting this challenge,
with strategic and tactical public relations
You can’t afford to not pay your dues…remember they protect you.
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