LANSING, MI — The Michigan Education Association says less than 5,000 of its 110,000 active members left the union during a controversial August opt-out period, as allowed under the state's new right-to-work law.

"Despite a relentless campaign by outside forces determined to discredit and destroy the MEA, more than 95 percent of our members stayed,” President Steve Cook said in a statement.

“Our members’ message to these groups is that they believe in the MEA and no amount of outside rhetoric is going to dissuade them. They believe the MEA is the voice for what's best for public education and for school employees.”

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy spearheaded an informational push this summer encouraging members to withdraw from the union. The Michigan chapter of Americans For Prosperity also promoted the opt-out period via full-page ad in the Detroit Free Press.

The Mackinac Center estimates that only 60,000 members were eligible to opt-out this year because of contract provisions pre-dating the right-to-work law. The other 50,000 may have had to pay fees even if they wanted to stop paying dues.

Ted O'Neil, a spokesperson for the conservative think tank, noted that the union said 1,500 members left during the opt-out period last year.

“It’s not about the numbers for us,” said O’Neil. “We just wanted to get that information out to members because the MEA had been hiding it from them. The group that really cares about numbers is the MEA, because instead of treating members like professionals, they treat them like piggy banks.”

Michigan’s new right-to-work law prohibits mandatory union dues or fees as a condition of employment, and as the Associated Press recently reported, a labor judge ruled this week that the MEA’s opt-out period is too restrictive.

Administrative Law Judge Julia Stern on Tuesday recommended that the Employment Relations Commission order the MEA to let members leave the union anytime they choose.

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation had sued the MEA on behalf of teachers.

“This ruling is a huge victory for workers throughout the state whose rights under Michigan’s Right to Work law are being denied by unscrupulous union officials,” Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation, said in a statement.

MEA General Counsel Michael Shoudy said the union disagrees with the decision and plans to appeal by seeking exceptions from MERC. He noted that Stern, in her ruling, said the MEA provided evidence showing that the opt-out window benefited member interests.

“There are numerous reasons why the August window makes the MEA a more efficient organization and advocate for its membership as a whole, and the ALJ agreed with the MEA's rationale for the window,” Shoudy said. “…We remain hopeful that MERC will find the August window to be consistent with the law.”

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.