Four Numbers Showing the Michigan Education Association’s Huge Decline

Nine offices. 60 employees. 40,000 members. $60 million.

These four numbers show the enormous decline in the Michigan Education Association’s power and influence. Since its peak 15 years ago, the MEA has closed nine offices and laid off 60 internal employees. That’s the direct result of losing 40,000 members and $60 million in revenue.

The MEA is the state’s largest teachers union and by far the largest union representing government workers in Michigan. It has used its power for politics and coercion. For decades, the MEA gained power largely because state law required most school employees to join as members or pay fees to it. Those who refused would lose their jobs.

When workers tried to leave the union, the MEA fought hard to keep forcing them to pay. The union has bullied and threatened members who tried to resign, and it sent thousands of people to collections after they tried to stop paying.

Nearly all of the MEA’s political spending has gone to Democrats and left-wing causes. Even when half of its membership voted Republican and claimed to be conservative, the union didn’t care.

That changed in 2012. That’s when Michigan became a right-to-work state. Teachers and other workers could no longer be fired for fully resigning from a labor union. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision cemented this law for public employees by ruling they had a First Amendment right not to pay dues or fees to government unions.

The Mackinac Center has been fully engaged in the fight to protect the rights of teachers and other school employees. For over a decade, we argued for a right-to-work law. We highlighted stories of teachers who wanted to do their jobs without the influence of a far-left political union. We sued on behalf of dozens of school employees for their right to resign. We filed a brief in the Janus case arguing for the constitutional rights of public workers nationwide. And we’ve launched and executed major campaigns to explain and defend the opt-out rights of workers in Michigan and beyond.

Your support makes this possible, and the results are undeniable: 9, 60, 40,000 and $60 million.