Contact Information

12434 12 Mile Road
Suite 203
Warren, MI 48093

Office: (586) 573-7750
Fax: (586) 573-7753

Email: office@warrenea.org

 

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History of the WEA

2 Paragraphs about the history of the WEA.

The History of the MEA

The Michigan Education Association (MEA) came into
being on October 12, 1852, in the John D. Pierce Hall at Michigan State Normal
School in Ypsilanti. The MEA was originally organized as the Michigan State
Teachers’ Association (MSTA) with about 200 teachers taking part in the founding.
Any Michigan teacher could join by sending in their name and the dues of 25
cents.
By October 1921, the Association had grown so large that the membership
called for establishment of a regional and district system, which we still have today.
In addition, a statewide movement by teachers’ clubs generated increased activity
to improve the welfare of the profession. These groups began considering issues
such as sick leave, retirement, higher salaries, credit unions, tenure and higher standards.
In 1926, the MSTA officially became the Michigan Education Association.
Three years later, in 1929, the MEA erected its own headquarters building at 935
North Washington Avenue in Lansing.
In 1958, with membership of nearly 48,000, the MEA launched an expanded
services campaign which included among other things, an intensive legislative program
and an all-around streamlining of the nation’s fifth largest education association.
By 1964, MEA had outgrown its headquarters in Lansing and moved to its
present location in East Lansing.
In 1965, membership in MEA took on new meaning. It was in July of 1965
that Public Act 379 was enacted by the Michigan legislature, giving public employees,
including teachers, the right to bargain with their employers as equals under the
law.
Overnight, the MEA became an aggressive force for teacher rights and welfare,
as well as other professional concerns. In the years since the advent of collective
bargaining, MEA membership has increased from 65,000 teachers, principals
and superintendents to 117,000 teachers and support personnel.
Since 1965, working conditions for teachers and support personnel have
improved tremendously through the bargaining of master contracts by MEA local
units in over 500 Michigan school districts.
In 1974-75 an in-house task force recommended that MEA pursue the formation
of an organization to represent educational support personnel for the purposes
of collective bargaining. In the spring of 1975, the MEA Representative
Assembly endorsed this recommendation and MESPA was on its way to becoming
a reality.
In the spring of 1981, MESPA became affiliated with the NEA and in the
spring of 1983, the MEA Representative Assembly voted to make active membership
available to MEA ESP-NEA members effective September, 1984. The final
step took place on May 19, 1984 when MESPA members voted to join the MEA
family. The combining of the two groups created one of the largest single unions
dealing with public education. As of June 2003 the total combined EA and ESP
membership tops 137,000 members.
The MEA has been responsible for many achievements which include securing
teacher tenure, defeating parochiad and voucher proposals, and improving state
financing of education. Giant strides forward have been achieved in modernizing
Michigan school personnel practices and upgrading the teaching profession. Today,
the MEA is considered one of the most powerful associations in the nation.