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February 20, 2016
By Steven Wishnia and Neal Tepel 
Los Angeles, CA – With its leadership saying it needed money to defend public education and teachers’ workplace rights, United Teachers Los Angeles members voted by more than 4–1 to increase their dues by about one-third. The vote, announced Feb, 10, will raise dues to $1,000 a year.
“As billionaires are trying to cripple unions, our vote sends a national signal that educators are willing to invest more in our unions and in the fight for educational justice,” UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl told the Los Angeles Times. He said they needed to raise money to counter anti-union lawsuits and a plan to transfer half the city’s public-school students into charter schools over the next eight years. With talks about to begin on class sizes, teacher evaluations, and staffing levels for school nurses and counselors, the money will also help the union retain its recently hired organizing director, researcher, community outreach specialist, and field organizers. Read more
