Forced-Dues Drive Pennsylvania Public Union Salaries, Outpace Private Sector’s and Members’ Wages

On October 31, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

Forced-dues continue to fill the coffers of unions, as well as, union presidents’  and politicians’ pockets according to this recent study by the Commonwealth Foundation:

Government Unions and Forced Dues

  • Almost half of government workers in Pennsylvania are union members, compared to 9.3 percent in the private sector.
    • Pennsylvania is a forced union state, meaning that workers can be forced to join a union or pay a [so-called] “fair share fee” just to keep their job.  Most government units in Pennsylvania are “agency shops,” with a specified union to which workers must pay a fee.
    • When state and local governments automatically deduct dues and fair share fees from government workers’ paychecks—as is the practice in Pennsylvania—employees have little or no say in how their money is used.

Union Bosses

  • Union bosses collect hefty salaries derived from member dues and fair share fees. In most cases, the salaries are several times the average union member’s annual pay.
    • While acknowledging that budgets were tight, AFSCME Council 13 President David Fillman got a 6 percent raise in 2010, making his salary higher than Gov. Tom Corbett’s.
  • Dues and fees often go towards expensive conferences, outings and junkets.  For example, in 2009-10 the Pennsylvania State Education Association—the state’s largest public sector union—spent:
    • More than $250,000 on a board of directors retreat in Gettysburg.
    • More than $89,000 for a “political institution meeting” at the Radisson Penn Harris in Camp Hill, Pa.
    • $20,000 for advertising in the Pittsburgh Steelers Yearbook.
    • Almost $5,900 at Kimberton Golf Club and more than $5,100 at Concord Country Club in Chadd’s Ford.

Political Activity and Lobbying (more…)

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Posted in: AFSCME, Do Union Bosses Speak, Economics, Education, Exclusive Representation, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Legislation, NEA and Affiliates, Pennsylvania, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Right to Work, SEIU, Teacher Unions, UFCW
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Michigan Teachers could be getting Right To Work freedom, but what about the rest of MI workers?

On September 13, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

According to Michigan’s Capitol Confidential, teachers may soon have the right to choose whether they want to pay union dues rather than being forced to pay ever increasing dues without a choice.  Others are asking, When will the rest of Michigan’s workforce have the same choice?

From Jack Spencer:

Chances look good for passage and enactment of legislation to provide right-to-work status for Michigan public school teachers. Under the measure, called the “Freedom to Teach Act,” teachers would no longer be required to join or support a union as a condition of employment.

At the end of last week, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, announced the measure on Michigan public television’s “Off the Record,” and asserted that he strongly supported it. The legislation is expected to be formally introduced Tuesday or Wednesday.

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Posted in: AFT and affiliates, Education, Government Grants to Unions, Intimidation Tactics, Legislation, Michigan, NEA and Affiliates, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees, Right to Work, Right To Work States, Teacher Unions
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Will MI Union Bigs Force Teachers Out On Strike?

On March 18, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

Unemployment in double digits for years. Debt as far as the eyes can see. No job growth. Bailouts for major industry. Potential bankruptcy for cities and towns. This is the state of Michigan’s economy.

Gov. Rick Snyder is trying to take the bull-by-the-horns enacting legislation to appoint Emergency Managers with broad powers.

Guess who refuses to recognize the stark reality of the state’s finances?

Big Labor. The state’s teacher’s union is considering a strike.

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Posted in: AFT and affiliates, Economic Impact of Unionization, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Intimidation Tactics, Labor Organizations, Legislation, Michigan, NEA and Affiliates, Organizing, Political Activity, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees, Union boss power, Union Work Rules
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Free Spending Union Dues

On March 5, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

The New York Daily News reports that “As nearly 5,000 city teachers face the ax, their union shells out millions of dollars on feasting, boozing and partying, the Daily News has learned.  Free-spending United Federation of Teachers  brass last year spent nearly $1.4 million for the UFT’s 50th anniversary gala at the Hilton - complete with a movie, a book and a paperweight.

Records show they:

  • Ponied up $514,000 to 16 separate caterers.
  • Dropped $278,417 on the annual Teachers Union Day ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria.
  • Bought $6,100 in gift baskets from a lower East Side candy store – and plowed $179,000 into training retreats at a Connecticut resort boasting golf, scuba diving and aqua aerobics.

In one amazing feat of spending, they shelled out $114,870 for annual “coffee supplies” at their five offices across the city – paying the Coffee Distribution Corp. on Long Island  $324,000 over three years, records show.

And while most New Yorkers spend hours trying to find a parking space, the UFT rents 25 slots in Brooklyn’s  Renaissance Plaza Garage for members at an average annual cost of $75,000 over three years.

“I’m not going to apologize for spending money to service our members,” said  UFT President Michael Mulgrew.

 

 

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Posted in: AFT and affiliates, Exclusive Representation, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, NEA and Affiliates, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining
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NEA Doubles Dues for Politics

On February 28, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

From Hot Air (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/02/26/nea-to-double-member-dues-contribution-to-political-war-chest/)

Amid substantial membership losses and a $14 million shortfall in its general operating budget, the National Education Association plans to double each active member’s annual contribution to the national union’s political and media funds.

Currently, $10 of each active member’s NEA dues is allocated to these special accounts. The more than $20 million collected each year is then disbursed to state affiliates and political issue campaigns – such as last year’s SQ 744 in Oklahoma. A portion of the money also pays for state and national media buys to support the union’s agenda.

But the most recent numbers show NEA lost more than 54,000 active K-12 members since this time last year. Coupled with less-than-expected increases in the average teacher salary – upon which NEA dues are based – the union will find itself with $14 million less revenue than it had planned. This includes about $500,000 less in the political and media funds.

Faced with unfriendly legislatures and governors seeking to roll back the union’s influence, the NEA Executive Committee decided to double down – literally. It proposed raising each active member’s assessment to $20, effective in September 2011. The union’s board of directors ratified the decision, and it will go before the NEA Representative Assembly for a vote this July in Chicago. If passed, NEA’s national dues for teachers will total $178.

The increase in the assessment has a five-year sunset clause, but this is just eyewash, since the last time the contribution was doubled – from $5 to $10 in 2004 – it also had a five-year sunset clause. The 2007 NEA Representative Assembly made the $10 contribution permanent.

NEA is already the top political campaign spender in the nation. This increase will give the national union an additional $40 million per election cycle. The increase alone is larger than all but two other groups spent during the entire 2007-08 cycle.

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Posted in: Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Legislation, NEA and Affiliates, Political Activity, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees
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Keeping the Gravy Train Rolling

On October 17, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

After bailouts and billions of dollars worth of taxpayer handouts, the big public employee union bosses are spending freely to keep the train rolling.  From the Wall Street Journal:

The National Education Association, the largest U.S. teachers union, has independently spent more than $3.4 million that must be disclosed, including ad buys and direct-mail campaigns, for the key electioneering period from Sept. 1 to Oct. 14. The NEA spent $444,000 during the same stretch in 2006.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has nearly matched its 2006 midterm outlays. It has spent $2.1 million on electioneering since the beginning of last month, according to FEC filings for two campaign committees associated with the union. That is just shy of the $2.2 million spent for that period in 2006.

Unions that represent government workers say this year’s election is crucial to them, given the uproar over public-sector budget issues. Officials elected this year will face tough choices on matters such as further fiscal assistance for the nation’s cash-strapped states and local governments.

The issue of campaign-related spending by public-sector unions has received more attention in recent years, as state and local governments struggle with pensions and other costs. Conservative critics and business leaders have said the unions largely seek to expand their influence at taxpayers’ expense. Some states have approved restrictions on political use of union dues, for example requiring unions to obtain permission from workers before spending dues on campaigns. (more…)

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Posted in: AFSCME, AFT and affiliates, Economic Impact of Unionization, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, NEA and Affiliates, Public Employees
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Keep Bailing

On August 18, 2010, By NRTWC Staff
Bailouts for big banks and Wall Street firms.  Bailouts for car companies and the United Auto Workers. Proposed bailouts for union pension funds.  And now this — a massive $26 billion bailout for state government and teacher’s unions.  Not only is the country on its way to bankruptcy but it appears the moral bankruptcy of this Congress has already come.
The Wall Street Journal takes on the latest bailout head-on:

To treat Washington’s spending addiction, the November elections are the taxpayer’s best chance to stage an intervention. But until then, President Obama and the Democratic Congress are determined to keep pushing strung-out state governments to take one more fix.

Witness yesterday’s 247-161 largely party-line House vote to approve a Senate bill shovelling another $26.1 billion out to state education and Medicaid programs. The White House has promoted the bill as emergency assistance for strained state budgets. But this unique brand of therapy drives states to spend more, not less. The “assistance” is so expensive that several governors were begging for relief even before Mr. Obama (more…)

Posted in: AFT and affiliates, Big Labor Payback, Mississippi, National Right to Work Committee, NEA and Affiliates, Public Employees, Texas, Wisconsin
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