Coopersville kindergarten teacher Miriam Chanski, 24, speaks about her decision to resign from the MEA teachers union at her home in Grand Rapids on Tuesday, October 22, 2013. Chanski is one of eight teachers being represented by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation which is filing unfair labor practices against the MEA. In May Chanski indicated on an "e-dues" form that she wished to resign from the union and was informed by an MEA representative that her name could be turned over to a collections agency. (Andrew Kuhn | MLive.com)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A Coopersville teacher said other colleagues across the state are starting to reach out to her, a day after multiple unfair labor practices complaints were filed against the Michigan Education Association on behalf of her and seven others who allege they were kept from leaving the sprawling teachers' union.

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, which filed the complaints, said Miriam Chanski, 24, a second-year kindergarten teacher, and the others believe they’ve been “bullied and intimidated” by the MEA for trying to exercise their rights under Michigan’s new right-to-work law. The MEA is accused of not being upfront with members about its “August Window” to withdraw from the union.

Related: Mackinac Center files labor relations charges against MEA over alleged right-to-work violations

“A lot of them (teachers) thanked me for stepping forward and taking a stance,” said Chanski, who said people should realize it’s not just eight teachers who are frustrated about their rights not being honored.

“I don't thrive on the attention. For the sake of the case and to make other teachers comfortable with coming out and realizing that they are not alone, I understand that it needs to be public. I tried to keep this private but was forced to take legal action.”

Doug Pratt, a spokesman for the MEA, said the association has not received the filing yet, only Mackinac's press release. He said they need to formally receive and review the filing in order to comment.

The complaints filed with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission all allege the same basic facts: that the union refused to honor written requests to withdraw from the union during an opt-out period in August where under the state's right-to-work law, MEA members could decide to discontinue their membership.

Five of the complaints were filed against the MEA and the Saginaw Education Association, while the remaining charges were targeted at the MEA and unions in Petoskey, Coopersville and Clarkston.

Chanski, the primary complainant, said she wrote her withdrawal request on an electronic dues deduction form back in May.

She said she was told in a mid- July letter that there was more to the process of withdrawing but no specifics were given, and she was also informed they wanted to talk to her about her decision.

When she attempted to call the MEA UniServ director, Chanski said she was told that the person was out of the office and would not be back until the day Chanski started her summer employment.

“Not knowing about the August window and looking at the letter, I felt comfortable they knew where I stood,” said Chanski, about not pursuing it further.

But apparently they didn’t. In September, she said she was notified she was still listed as a member and told about the August window she missed. She did discuss with a MEA representative rumors she’d heard about the union trying to collect dues.

“I was told that just like a credit card, if you don’t pay your bills or dues in this matter, they would be turning my credit over to collections,” said Chanski, who said she paid approximately $1,000 in dues last school year. "It completely caught me off guard."

Why opt out? Chanski said the focus should be on denial of a right under the law.

"I think a lot of people are looking for an emotional reaction and a lot of people are looking for a political stance behind the reaction and that is not my point in being vocal about this. My point is that I had a right and it was not honored," she said.

After the September discussion, she tried to retrieve a copy of her May form but after being given a different form, was told it was not unavailable.

After some more research, she said she told her story to Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, an arm of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Midland-based conservative think tank.

"The MEA is a powerful institution on educational matters in this state, yet they are unwilling to educate their own members," said Wright, who said he received dozens of calls from teachers across the state who were unaware of the August window.

"The thing that's driving so many of these people is that they just believe it is inherently unfair."

MEA President Steve Cook said more than 99 percent of the union's membership had elected to remain in the union. His remarks came at the group's fall conference earlier this month in Lansing.

"My hope is that we would be able to opt out of an organization that we chose to opt into and I think that there shouldn't be a time frame, and if there is, it should be a very public time frame and all members she be notified," said Chanski about what she hopes her coming forward will lead to.

In the meantime, the 2011 Grand Valley State University graduate, said she is going to continue to do her job well.

"I hope that my staff and co-workers know me well enough to know that I am a principled woman, and I am going to do my job and this will not affect how I teach my kids."



Monica Scott is the Grand Rapids K-12 education writer. Email her at mscott2@mlive.com and follow her on Twitter @MScottGR or Facebook