Federal Judge Not Ready To Rule On AEA Lawsuit

As you'll recall, the GOP passed a law having the effect that AEA members can no longer have their dues auto-deducted from their paychecks. This means that they will have to ask their members to write checks for those dues. Fearing that they will lose members because of this (it's easier to part with money you never see than get a bigger paycheck and then send in the same amount as dues), the AEA filed suit in Federal court to challenge the new law. A hearing was held yesterday, but the judge has not yet filed a ruling.
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/03/federal_judge_not_ready_to_rul.html

Following four hours of testimony, U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith chose not to rule on the latest skirmish between public school teachers and Republican lawmakers.

Attorneys for the state teachers' organization, the Alabama Education Association, spent the day in federal court in Huntsville, seeking to block a new law set to take effect Sunday.

On Tuesday, Dr. Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of AEA was the only witness called by either side. Hubbert said 83 percent of AEA's 105,000 employed and retired members so far have signed up to have their dues collected via bank draft. If that percentage holds, AEA will lose between $2.3 million and $2.4 million in annual dues under the new system, he said.

If you ask me, the AEA's complaints are a bunch of hooey. Let's look at what the issue is.

State law now reads that no government employee may arrange for the automatic deduction of dues "to a membership organization which uses any portion of the dues for political activity."

AEA's initial complaint argues the ban violates the free speech and equal protection provisions of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and that AEA was discriminated against based on its political beliefs.

The new law doesn't specify AEA, it covers ANY membership organization that engages in political activity. As to violating free speech and equal protection, that's bunk. Nobody is saying that AEA cannot continue to pursue political activities, just that the state won't act as a dues collector if they do. And all such organizations are treated equally under the new law, as far as I know.

So this just looks like sour grapes to me. The AEA knows this will hurt them and doesn't want to be hurt. Sorry, guys, but this law isn't that unreasonable. If you can't manually collect the same dues you're getting now, either there is something wrong with your organization, or you have members who don't really want to be members.