Huntington Beach Educators’ Assn.

While your “Teachers on the Picket Line” (July 28) was generally fair and accurate, I must object to the frequent reference to “agency shop” and “mandatory union membership” as sticking points in negotiations, particularly as they were applied to the Huntington Beach Union High School District.

The Huntington Beach District Educators’ Assn. (DEA)--which is not a “union,” incidentally, but an association comprising 600 dues-paying members that represents all 770 of the district’s teachers, librarians and nurses in contract negotiations--has never demanded that anyone join the DEA. Instead, we asked for a “fair share representation fee” to cover the DEA’s cost of representing all 770 employees--a cost presently met solely by the 600 DEA members. That fee would have been significantly less than the $360 annual dues that DEA members pay.

All 770 teachers receive exactly the same contract benefits whether or not they contribute to the expense of securing these benefits. The DEA only wants the 170 freeloaders to pay their fair share; we do not insist that they join our association or CTA or NEA. For The Times to assert otherwise is an inaccuracy which I hope this letter will correct.

WILLIAM BROOKS

Huntington Beach

Brooks is the DEA representative at Edison High School.