Union Goons Trying to Fire ROTC Instructor Over Dues

This is what it's come to with these thuggish teacher's unions. They try and run roughshod over their members and force them to pay dues or their lives are made miserable. Even if they don't want any of the plush benefits, they're forced to pay up. When a politician dares to take them on all sorts of ill will is directed their way. Well, now it appears they may have just picked a fight with the wrong man.

A retired U.S. Marine who runs a high school ROTC program in Worcester says he faces the boot for refusing to pay local union dues, leaving the 58-year-old father of two crying foul and school administrators bewildered.

“It just seems crazy that they’re gonna fire me over $500,” said Maj. Stephen L. Godin, senior naval science instructor at the Naval Junior ROTC Unit of North High School. “Everyone’s talking about finding good teachers - I haven’t missed a day in 14 years.”

You can guarantee that's a better attendance record that any teacher in the school.

Indeed, North High School Principal Matthew Morse praised Godin yesterday as an “excellent” instructor who has turned his program into a top junior ROTC academy.

Godin, a 20-year Marine veteran until 1994, who flew F-4 Phantoms and was deployed five times, said he refuses to join the union because he receives all his benefits, including health insurance and half his salary, from the military. Unlike other teachers, he doesn’t earn a stipend for after-school activities, such as the hours he spends coaching the high school’s regional champion drill team. His salary is dictated by the U.S. Military, not labor negotiators, Godin said.

Officials from the Education Association of Worcester did not return repeated calls, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association declined comment.

Whenever these "officials" have a demand they're always ready for some camera time, moaning and whining over their lot in life, but now they're mysteriously silent.

State law requires certain public employees to join unions as a condition of employment or pay a so-called agency fee, which goes toward the cost of collective bargaining. But Godin said he shouldn’t have to pay the $500 fee because he receives no benefit from the local union. He provided a letter from the local union demanding he join or pay the fee by the school year’s end. Godin said in 14 years of teaching in Worcester public schools, he’s never been asked to pony up for the union.

I suspect there's more to this story believe it's probably an anti-military sentiment from some in the union. Whatever the case is, is $500 worth the incredibly bad publicity they're going to get just to mess with the man?