Tell Snyder and Schuette: Return the $550 million stolen from Michigan school employees!

Governor Rick Snyder & Attorney General Bill Schuette

This petition is now closed.  Thank you to the 33,578 people who signed since just last week!



Two men — Governor Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette — stand between more than 200,000 Michigan school employees and the money that a state appeals court has ruled is rightfully theirs.

Sign this petition today! Tell Governor Snyder and Attorney General Schuette to return the $550 million stolen from Michigan school employees!

For five years, MEA and AFT Michigan have fought long and hard to force the state to return money that was illegally deducted from school employees’ paychecks from 2010 to 2012, when a law mandated that all school employees contribute 3 percent of their salary through an involuntary payroll deduction to fund retiree health care (a benefit that they were not guaranteed to receive).

During that time, more than $550 million was taken from school employees — and thanks to our legal action, held in an interest-bearing escrow pending an outcome to this case.

Now, for the second time, a court has ruled Public Act 75 unconstitutional. But Snyder and Schuette may appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court — a complete waste of time and taxpayer resources in their efforts to continue attacking school employees. The move would further deny school employees the return of their compensation unlawfully taken by the state.

We can’t let that happen.

We are so close to bringing this legal battle to an end — if Snyder and Schuette don't appeal. The recent court victory is proof of the fact that strength in numbers wins. We’re giving this all we’ve got, and we’re not stopping now.

Urge Snyder and Schuette to respect the court's ruling and not appeal this case! They have less than 40 days left to decide whether they’ll appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court. Let’s keep the pressure on.

TAKE ACTION by signing this petition, which we’ll hand-deliver to their offices. And don’t forget to share this far and wide with family, friends, colleagues and anyone else who believes that school employees deserve their money back.

To: Governor Rick Snyder & Attorney General Bill Schuette
From: [Your Name]

We, the undersigned, urge Governor Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette to stop obstructing the fair return of millions of dollars that were rightfully earned by hardworking Michigan school employees. A trial court and the Court of Appeals twice have ruled that Public Act 75 is unconstitutional and that the state illegally deducted from school employees’ paychecks from 2010 to 2012.

Appealing this decision to the Michigan Supreme Court would be a complete waste of time and taxpayer resources and delay school employees from getting the hard-earned checks that are rightfully theirs. We urge Governor Snyder and Attorney General Schuette to respect the court's ruling and not appeal this case!