TVA Conversation with Rebecca Friedrichs: Taking on Teachers Unions
April 7, 2022 | Megan West | |
When Rebecca Friedrichs discovered that her teachers union dues were actually funding a political agenda that intentionally indoctrinates kids, goes against Judeo-Christian virtues, and tries to undermine our free Republic, she took action. And her case went all the way to the Supreme Court.
With more parents becoming aware of the issues facing our schools through the attention being brought to school boards and the curriculum being pushed, our conversation with Rebecca looks at the surprising power that the teachers unions have and the need for teachers to be aware of where their dues are really being used.
- You can learn more about Rebecca and her work at For Kids and Country.
- Find out about the movie Whose Children are They? here.
- To watch our previous interview with Rebecca, click here.
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Full Transcript:
Jason: Rebecca Friedrichs. It's been a couple of years since we had some interaction and learned about your story. And I think it's fascinating to kind of circle back because you've been at the center of a fight around just what's happening in our schools.
Catch us up a little bit, for our audience what that was about. And then I know there's a lot going on right now and even a film that's coming out. And I think that's really important for us to talk about and share with people.
Rebecca: OK, so quick highlights. I was a student teacher in 1987. Learning from an amazing teacher, but next door to us was a teacher that was manhandling the kids. She was abusing them. And so I wanted to report the child abuse. And I went to my master teacher and she said, “Rebecca, today's the day you learn about teacher unions. District can't get rid of that teacher. The union's defending her.” I signed my first teaching contract the next year. I was told I had to pay these teacher unions. I didn't want to pay them. I didn't have to be a member. And I didn't have to pay dues. But I had to accept the representation and pay fees.
And the difference between dues and fees was very little. So my whole career, I taught twenty-eight years. I was forced to fund the government so-called teacher union that didn't really represent me or my friends and who are really using teachers as pawns to push a radical, leftist, very atheist agenda. So they were literally taking my money. Actually, your many taxpayer dollars to undermine our American free republic, our Judeo-Christian virtue to sexualize our children, to bring in critical race theory and all kinds of other destructive indoctrination sorts of curricula into our schools.
So it was about, I think it was my twenty fourth or twenty fifth year teaching. I finally realized I had served as a union rep for a while to try to change things from the inside. And that's when I discovered they didn't want to be changed. They were using us. They were purposely pushing a political agenda, indoctrinating the kids and trying to undermine our free republic. So I started writing editorials to expose them. I didn't even know how to pitch an editorial. I had no idea what I was doing, but I just God said, “Do it,” so I did it.
And so within six months of my first editorial, I found myself serving as a plaintiff with nine other California teachers, and we sued the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association, and our case went up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
And so our goal was to end forced unionism for all government employees in the United States of America. And in June 2018, that dream came true. No government employee, including teachers, has to fund a union anymore. But most of them have no idea.
Jason: No idea. I think just before that happened is where we met, and so it was before that decision was made. And so it's great to hear the outcomes.
Rebecca: Yes, it was quite the adventure. Our case was heard in 2016. A month later, Justice Scalia died. We lost his vote. So we ended up asking for a rehearing. Another case was built on our case, and eventually in 2018, we finally got the win. So no one has to pay those unions anymore. Also in 2018, I released a book called Standing Up to Goliath to expose really what's going on and to educate teachers because the unions have so much control in this country. Most government employees have no idea they've been freed, and a lot of their employers are not allowed to tell them that they've been freed.
So I've just been ever since then, just working. We started an organization called for Kids in Country, and all we do is message, message, message. You don't have to pay the unions anymore. The unions are behind all these nightmares. Let's get the unions out.
Jason: Is it true? I have good friends who are teachers, and I just get the sense that they don't want to believe that there's an agenda. And they want to believe that the unions are there for their good.
Rebecca: You are precisely right, there are so many Christian teachers who are still funding these unions and they see what the unions do. It's your typical, you know, if you were the devil and you wanted to tempt someone into sin, you wouldn't say, “Hey, do this sin.” You'd sneak them. You do it sneakily, right? Right. So this is what the unions do. They tell government employees, we're going to get you a raise. We're going to get you this great pension, which, by the way, is trillions underfunded. So it's not healthy for our economy, might not be there for you when you retire.
So they hook people in with those benefits and then people don't realize that billions are being collected annually by these unions, tax free. And they're spending it literally to destroy your Judeo-Christian virtue and your liberties. They are behind. They put Biden in office, they put Obama in office, they put every radical leftist. You can think of these unions. Teacher unions in particular, have put them into office. So what I say to people is we have a program called “Adopt a Teacher” at For Kids and Country dot org.
And we ask you, you know, a good teacher who is a loving teacher, put your arm around their teacher, bring that teacher to our movie. Whose Children are They And bring them to our website for Kids and Country. Help them to learn the truth about their union. Because when those good teachers find out the truth, they'll leave in droves and we help them. We teach them how to leave the union and we give them all the support they need, including legal support if they need it.
Jason: Yeah, fantastic. I think across America, we've been made aware of what's happening in school boards, so much attention to school boards, and I think that was most loudly seen in Loudoun County in Virginia. How much are the unions behind what happens in the school boards?
Rebecca: One hundred percent.
If you have a bad school board that is abusing you, abusing your children, bringing in critical race theory or sexualizing your kids, or saying, oh, we wash our hands, we, you know, our hands are tied. The unions are behind him. So the unions put millions behind local school board races nationwide.
Jason: Behind the race helping candidates win or lose.
Rebecca: They put money behind them. They have boots on the ground, helping them, things you can't even add up how much they would cost because they're coercing teachers to go, put out flyers and phone bank and all sorts of things. So the unions get their favored candidates on these school boards and then they do the bidding of the unions. And that's why parents are being abused and ignored.
Another thing people don't realize. School boards have one main function. They hire and fire the superintendent. So if your school board is captured by the unions, your superintendent is captured by the unions so that the whole thing is the fault of the unions.
It's a big deal for us to get teachers no longer have to pay them, but they can also stand together. If 50 percent plus one in a union shop says, “We don't want the union anymore.” They can de-certify them and kick them out, and that's what we really need. That's my goal.
Jason: So let's talk about the movie. This comes first. The title again.
Rebecca: The movie is Whose Children are They
So people can go to WhoseChildrenAreThey.com They can sign up for updates. They can also learn how to show it at their church. They can also click on Join the Movement, and that'll take them to our For Kids and Country website, where they can help teachers opt out of the union, where they can learn how to adopt a teacher.
Jason: Yeah, this is important. We've we've got to educate. So who is your recommendation that most needs to see this movie,
Rebecca: Everyone. Are you a teacher? Are you a parent? Are you a pastor or are you a community leader? Are you a legislator? Please see this movie! My people perish for lack of knowledge. America's I mean, she's about perished. We need to save her and our our founders told us something when they started this country. They said the only way to keep a free republic is with a well-educated and moral citizenry that can self-govern. That's why these people who want to destroy our republic infiltrated teacher associations, unions infiltrated, got into our schools.
They're purposely undermining the education, dumbing us down, indoctrinating, purposely undermining our morals, purposely undermining the institution of the family. Why? So they can bring down a republic? How do we save it? We save our schools. We save our families. We get our schools back to teaching truth. Great education and morals like we did before, virtue. We had the Ten Commandments in every classroom in the old days. We need to bring that back.
Jason: where you're fighting the good fight and this is important. I think you were in the fight before even America was woke to what's happening in our school boards. But thank you for continuing this fight in bringing attention to this topic because our parents, our teachers are pastors. Everyone, just as you just said, need to hear it. So, thank you for all that you're doing.
Rebecca: My great pleasure. Thank you for what you're doing.
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