She Paid More Than $1,000 a Year in Union Dues. Then She Started Asking Questions.
New Jersey educator Cassie Della Pesca once assumed union membership was simply part of being a teacher. After years of research, she chose a different path—and now she wants other educators to know they have a choice, too.
Cassie Della Pesca is in her 19th year as a health and physical education teacher at Ocean Township High School in New Jersey. She also serves as an assistant swimming coach, teaching students lessons in discipline, teamwork and resilience that extend well beyond the classroom or pool.
For years, Cassie was also a strong supporter of the teachers’ union.
“When I first began teaching, I strongly believed in the teachers’ union and what I believed it represented,” she said. “I trusted that the union would advocate for educators and protect the interests of teachers.”
But around 2018, Cassie started asking questions.
She looked more closely at the union’s priorities, how dues were being spent and the political causes the organization supported. What she found left her increasingly uncomfortable.
“It wasn’t one particular decision or moment,” Cassie said. “It was a culmination of factors over time.”
Her concerns centered on what she saw as a lack of financial transparency, a growing emphasis on political activism and an increasingly one-sided approach to political and social issues.
Cassie is careful to draw an important distinction: her concerns are not with the teachers who volunteer to serve their colleagues at the local level.
“There are a lot of hardworking people who give their time and genuinely do everything they can to support teachers,” she said. “My concerns are really with the leadership and direction of the NJEA and NEA at the state and national levels.”
$1,000+ a Year — And A Growing Question
At the time, Cassie estimates she was paying approximately $1,000 to $1,200 every year in union dues.
By the summer of 2020, she had made her decision.
On August 10, 2020, Cassie officially withdrew from the union.
She was already familiar with the Supreme Court’s Janus decision and had also received guidance from a fellow teacher, who helped her understand the process and research her options.
Leaving turned out to be far less dramatic than Cassie once might have imagined.
She emailed her district’s business administrator and payroll manager stating: “I no longer give consent for union dues to be taken out of my paycheck.”
She experienced no retaliation.
Finding Another Option
Cassie also wanted to make sure she maintained professional support and liability coverage after leaving the union.
After researching alternatives, she joined the Association of American Educators, which she says provided the coverage she wanted for approximately $250 per year—a fraction of the more than $1,000 she had previously paid annually in union dues.
That experience taught her something she wishes she had understood much earlier in her career:
Being a teacher and being a union member are not the same thing.
“When I started teaching, I assumed union membership was simply part of being an educator,” Cassie said. “I wish I had known to ask questions about where my dues were going, how much I was paying, what the union represented, and what my rights and options were.”
“You Are Not Alone.”
The COVID-19 pandemic only reinforced Cassie’s decision. She watched education become increasingly entangled with political, social and medical debates and heard from teachers who felt their views were not being represented.
Today, colleagues still approach her privately with questions.
How did you leave? Will I lose my benefits? Will there be consequences? What protections will I lose?
Cassie’s advice isn’t that every teacher should make the same decision she did.
It’s that every teacher should make an informed one.
“Understand your rights, understand what your dues support, understand what protections and benefits you receive, and understand your alternatives,” she said. “You don’t have to make a decision based on fear or pressure.”
And for educators who quietly wonder whether they are the only ones questioning the status quo, Cassie has another message.
“You are not alone. There are many teachers who feel the same way.”
That is one reason Cassie became a member of Americans for Fair Treatment. She wanted to connect with an organization focused on worker choice, transparency and helping educators understand their rights.
After 19 years, her commitment to education hasn’t changed.
“My decision to leave the union has never changed my dedication to teaching, my students, or my profession,” Cassie said. “If anything, it has strengthened my desire to advocate for educators and encourage them to be informed, independent, and confident in making decisions that are right for them.”
For Cassie, worker freedom starts with simply knowing you have a choice.