Ex-WEAC President’s Prediction?
Ohio Education Association President Becky Higgins, repeats Dan Burkhalter’s words for Ohio members. Burkhalter was president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) when Act 10 was enacted.
Neither president is optimistic about the ability of unions to continue collecting forced dues, or retain members if agency shop clauses are declared moot. Was Burkhalter a Cassandra, able to foretell the future, but destined never to be believed? Perhaps the most telling sentence is the last one, where Higgins/Burkhalter admits that the “masses” of protestors at the Wisconsin State House did not include many teachers. Mike Antonucci has the story in Intercepts.
He used the analogy of a tree, and he said before their troubles began, he thought that the Wisconsin Education Association tree was solid. Its core was strong. The roots were in the ground and nothing could topple it.
But then along came that mighty, mighty storm, and quickly the 100,000-member Wisconsin tree was toppled, just like that. In one fell swoop, they lost everything. Gone. The tree that they thought was solid and would never fall fell, and fell hard.