A teacher in Michigan's West Branch public school district has filed a legal complaint against his union, challenging its practice of restricting the times when members can resign and stop paying dues that support union causes with which they disagree.

Frank Dame, an English teacher at Ogemaw Heights High School, has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC). The charge alleges that his union, the West Branch/Rose City Education Association, a local affiliate of the Michigan Education Association (MEA), violated his rights when it would not allow him to resign his membership in April 1998. MEA bylaws designate August as the only month during which union membership may be terminated.

"I believe that the union was violating my First Amendment rights every day by restricting my right to resign," said Dame, who was permitted to resign in August. "I aim to change that."

Dame filed his complaint with MERC on October 2 with the help of labor attorney Mark L. Fischer, who is also a labor research assistant for the Midland-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy. MERC is the agency that oversees labor relations between municipal government employers and employees, including school districts.

"Government school teachers have a constitutional right to resign from their unions," said Fischer. "Teachers who resign are not required to financially support the union's ideological activities, such as political lobbying and public relations campaigns."

Resigning teachers can instead exercise their right to restrict their union payments to cover only the union's cost of collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance processing, he said.

MEA has asserted that its workplace representation costs consume 83% of dues monies, but a U. S. Supreme Court decision in 1991 found the actual figure to be just 10%.

Dame said that restricting the use of his union payments was the primary reason for his decision to resign. "I've read the resolutions that the MEA endorses, and they didn't speak for my beliefs. I don't want my money used to support some of those positions," he said.

Dame is not alone. Six of his fellow teachers who learned of their alternatives to full union membership joined him in resigning from the MEA during the August resignation period. "All teachers need to know that they have options," said Dame.