Recently a teacher from rural Manitoba contacted the CTF about a teachers' union (Manitoba Teachers Society) proposal to collect $1.5 million from members ($91/teacher over 5 years) and spend it on naming rights for the new classroom at the federal government's Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

The teacher would rather be the one to make that donation decision rather than his union.

Can't blame the guy. After all, people make decisions each and every day as to whether or not they wish to donate to certain causes.

As we're talking union dues (not tax dollars) it's not really an issue near the CTF's "sweet spot" in terms of what we focus on.

However, many unionized workers over the years have told us they're fed up with their unions spending some of the dues collected on activities they don't support; political attack ads, donations to political parties, donations to causes they don't support, etc.

Thus, we're on the record as urging governments to restrict union dues to bargaining and union related duties only. That way the individual will have more power over how their pay cheque is spent. 

Regardless, if you're interested in seeing the teachers' union documents, here are the links - 

Speaking Points - /media/Talking Points CMHR January 2013.pdf

Letter to teachers -  /media/Corr - President CMHR January 2013.pdf