Oklahoma lawmakers try to dismantle unions, weeks after teachers strike for education funding – ThinkProgress
[ad_1] Weeks after tens of thousands of Oklahoma teachers ended their nine-day strike after securing major wins, including teacher raises and additional education funding, legislators introduced a bill that aims to hamper membership in the teachers unions that helped organized the walkouts. The measure, Senate Bill 1150 , began as a bill tackling child abuse, but was completely rewritten this week thanks to an amendment by state Rep. Todd Russ (R). The current version of the bill would require a majority vote by teachers every five years in order to keep their collective bargaining unit. It would also prohibit school districts from automatically subtracting union dues from teacher paychecks, leaving teachers to make their own plans with the union to make the payments. “There’s teachers that have been there for 20, 30 years and never had the opportunity to retain their union or change representation, or quit paying the dues and not have representation,” said Russ, according to Th...