AR Handbook – 15
• NJEA field staff bring
negotiations expertise to your
local’s doorstep.
These are only a few of the services
brought to you from NJEA headquarters
and 21 UniServ offices
located across the state.
Answering the
hard questions
How will I afford it?
Your membership starts as soon
as you enroll. Fortunately, through
automatic payroll deduction, just
a portion of your dues is deducted
each month. This way, you have the
entire year to pay. However, your
membership benefits such as free
legal protection, discount consumer
services, conference offerings, and
negotiations service begins immediately
at the time of enrollment.
I just don’t believe in joining
anything. Why should I join
now?
Your association serves many roles.
It not only works to improve your
working conditions, salaries, and
benefits, but it also provides many
professional development and
mentoring opportunities. Because
of your association, you no longer
have to worry about being dismissed
for unfair reasons or losing your
health benefits. You will have the
chance to attend a variety of enriching
workshops and conferences.
You can play an important role in
the continual improvement of your
profession. Your membership alone
will strengthen your association.
And perhaps as you get more familiar
with your association, you might
even want to take an active role.
As a new member, will I have a
voice in the association?
Our association is proud of its democratic
principles. Every member
has an equal voice and a vote every
time your association takes action.
You also have direct representation
to the NJEA Delegate Assembly
(DA), Executive Committee, and
NEA Representative Assembly (RA)
through the representatives you
elect to office. New Jersey also has
11 representatives to NEA’s Board of
Directors.
Why are dues so expensive?
Dues are actually comparable to
membership in many professional
associations. However, in addition
to the professional development
opportunities, you also have a strong
organization striving to improve
your working conditions, salaries,
and health benefits.
I don’t see what the state association
or NEA does that the local association
can’t do.
Wouldn’t it be better to
spend my money for a local
association?
Through your state and national
dues, you have a powerful presence
in our state and national capitals.
Your state and national organizations
give you a voice on important
issues such as school funding, facilities,
curriculum standards, standardized
testing, and privatization.
In addition, we benefit from statewide
public relations programs
and are able to attend high quality
regional, state, and national advocacy
and professional development
workshops and conferences.
What if I don’t agree with a lot
of things that the association
does?
That’s okay. If you think about it, we
seldom agree with every activity of
both the Senate and House of Representative
s. And we would never
consider giving up our voting rights.
As a member, your voting power
would give you a chance to make
changes.
Why should I join when I will
get all the salary benefits
negotiated anyway?
Maybe. School boards are getting
more and more sophisticated and
want to know how many people
the association represents. Joining
shows the school board that all of us
are together behind negotiations.
My wife (husband) is also a
member. Why should we pay
double dues?
Because you’re guaranteed double
benefits. Membership isn’t altogether
unlike an insurance policy. If one of
you has an accident, it doesn’t help
if the other is covered. The same
thing applies if one of you needs
legal assistance. If only one of you
join, then the other one doesn’t
have the chance to attend any of the
advocacy and professional development
offerings. Membership benefits
come with membership. Both of
you have a big stake in the success
of your association. Unless both of
you join, you are only giving half of
your support to your own cause. We
need strength and numbers in local
negotiations and in state and national
lobbying.
Why should I be involved in
politics if I don’t believe school
employees should be involved
in politics?
There are lots of ways to get involved
in your association besides politics.
But it is still important that your
local, state, and national organizations
stay involved. Their efforts help
elect friends of education who work
to increase school funding, improve
facilities, reduce class sizes, and
protect threats to public education.
NJEA’s involvement in political campaigns
is driven by PAC (Political
Action Committee) funds, not dues
dollars.