(The Center Square) – Exactly one year after the terrorist attack on Israel, a group of Jewish California teachers is suing state officials and the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District over regulations they say force them to associate with a union that promotes anti-Israel rhetoric.
The federal lawsuit against Alberto M. Carvalho, LAUSD superintendent, and the California Public Employee Relations Board argues the teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District should not be forced to be a part of the teachers union, called the Unified Teachers of Los Angeles, because it “publicly advocates acts violating their deeply held religious beliefs.”
Kimberly Krieger, Carli Goblin, Anna Kingston and another Jewish teacher who is unnamed in the complaint say the UTLA “supports calls for the destruction of Plaintiffs’ religious homeland, and promotes animosity and violence towards people of Jewish descent.”
The UTLA did not respond to Chalkboard’s request for comment in time for publication.
Shella Alcabes, litigation counsel for the Freedom Foundation, a legal advocacy organization representing the teachers, told Chalkboard News that California’s law prevents Jewish teachers from disentangling themselves from an organization that is at odds with their identity.
“UTLA hates Israel,” Alcabes said. “It supports causes, organizations and speech that is anti-Israel, and is really anti-Jewish, but Jewish teachers are forced to be a part of it. This law is unconstitutional because it forces these teachers to be represented by an organization that hates them.”
The complaint and exhibits allege that the UTLA was vocal in its support for Palestinians and condemnation of Israel even before the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on a music festival, but that after the attack, the union ramped up its support for anti-Israel measures and curriculum and took action against teachers who spoke out.
While the UTLA’s actions and influence are specifically mentioned in the lawsuit, it is not listed as a defendant. Instead, what may become a class-action lawsuit says the state and district should not be able to force teachers to associate with the union.
“The Defendants, through enforcement of the [state employment law and collective bargaining agreement], force the Plaintiffs to associate with anti-Semitic individuals: UTLA’s representatives, members, and associates such as other members of the bargaining unit,” the lawsuit alleges. “UTLA’s leadership and many individual members have long adopted and publicly promulgated anti-Semitic viewpoints.”
The lawsuit alleges that union members are “openly hostile” to the teachers and their beliefs and that they “have been ostracized and excluded by fellow members of their bargaining unit” and have “seen colleagues and students demeaned for being Jewish.”
The lawsuit also alleges that the state law and collective bargaining agreement with LAUSD force the teachers to “associate with anti-Semitic writings and instructional material: UTLA’s anti-Israel curricula, with no means of separating themselves from its ideology.”
“UTLA has also supported professional development that teaches anti-Israel and anti-Semitic content,” the lawsuit alleges. “The UTLA-supported Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum is patently anti-Semitic, and has been adopted by LAUSD in various ways and at various schools at the behest of UTLA.”
The lawsuit says those curriculum materials “denounce the idea of a Jewish homeland.” Other lawsuits have been filed challenging ethnic studies courses alleging they are antisemitic.
While the lawsuit lists specific positions and actions of the teachers union, it is directed toward California’s provisions that require a sole union to represent all employees in a workplace.
“In California and other left-leaning states, only one union can represent a bargaining unit – a group of employees – and that union has to represent you,” Alcabe said. “The problem with the California model is that you’re stuck with a union that hates you.”
Alcabe said the UTLA, as a private organization, can say what it wants, but the teachers are asking why they have to remain members even if the union says things they disagree with or even violates their deeply held religious beliefs.
Alcabe said such a provision conflicts with the teachers’ constitutionally protected freedom of association.
“The government forces you to associate with people who may not like you or agree with you politically,” Alcabe said. “That is what violates the First Amendment.”
