November 4, 2011  

UEA Issue Brief Payroll Deduction of Public Employee Association Dues

A proposal may be put forth in the 2011 Utah Legislature to end the practice of collecting public sector union dues via payroll deduction.

Key Points:

At the request of its chairs, the Utah Interim Education Committee agreed to “study whether to prohibit a public entity’s payroll system, or a public education entity’s payroll system, from collecting union dues.” To date this has not been debated.

A few states have passed bills that eliminate payroll deduction for Association dues. These are in various stages of legal challenges. Some states have simply elected to collect dues in a different manner.

UEA’s Position:

The UEA, along with coalition partners, will fight any attempt to silence our voice by ending payroll deduction.

This battle is all about politics. The attempt to eliminate payroll deduction for Association members is about weakening UEA and our locals.

There is no evidence to suggest this move would in any way improve teaching or student learning.

This fight diverts us from the important issues facing public education – such as the need for adequate funding, class size reduction, and the resources to provide a quality teacher for every child.

This is a national strategy to weaken the Association and silence educator voices. The Utah Education Association will continue the battle to protect the rights of our

teacher members and the students they serve.